Countdown to the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, 2 - 4 September 2008
The final draft of the  Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) is now available while the Round Table 8 outcome paper, dealing with sector applications of the Paris Principles, will be published shortly. Agriculture is one of four sectors considered in the outcome paper, namely: health, education, agriculture and infrastructure.
Agriculture and the Accra HLF
Despite the importance of agriculture and rural development with respect to poverty reduction, sustainable natural resource management and the fight against hunger, the agricultural sector has been remarkably absent on most of the key international development events during the last years, although this is changing rapidly due to the current food price situation.
A major upcoming key event is the  Accra High Level Forum (HLF 3) on Aid Effectiveness, taking place on September 2-4, 2008. This third HLF is to assess the status of the implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and is to address some critical “new” challenges. The Platform has decided to engage into the HLF 3 process given that the implementation of the Paris Declaration and its principles is having a major impact on global development cooperation.
Initially, three sectors were included in the HLF 3 process as “tracer sectors”, namely health, education and infrastructure. In 2007, and on invitation of the Canadian International Development Cooperation (CIDA), the Platform was invited to support OECD/DAC’s ‘Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and Aid Effectiveness work stream’ with a best practice paper from agriculture and rural development.
Led by CIDA, the Platform supported a 13-country consultation on CSOs and aid effectiveness and contributed to the International Forum on CSOs and Aid Effectiveness in Ottawa on February 3-6, 2008. Please see the final report of the 13-country consultation. The Platform’s follow-up to the study led to the inclusion of agriculture into the HLF process.
Now, agriculture has been included into:
- ‘Round Table 8: Sectoral application of the Paris Declaration’; and
- OECD/DAC ‘Progress Report on Aid Effectiveness’.
With support of different stakeholders, the Platform prepared a document for Round Table 8 summarising the Agricultural Sector Experiences in implementing the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Furthermore, the elaboration of the 'RT 8 outcome paper' and the preparation of the Round Table itself have been supported. Full information on the Round Table 8 issues are available at http://www.honduaccra.gob.hn.
In addition to Round Table 8, the Platform is providing input to
- the ‘Accra Action Agenda’ (which is to deepen the implementation of the Paris Declaration),
- ‘Round Table 1: Ownership’, and
- ‘Round Table 6 on Civil Society and Aid Effectiveness’.
Furthermore, the Platform will support the participation of agriculture and rural development stakeholders at the HLF 3 in Accra to further advance aid effectiveness in the sector and to emphasise the relevance and importance of agriculture and rural development.
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