Africa Revises Developmental Effectiveness of Aid

By NewsfromAfrica

MAPUTO--- African institutions have come to the conclusion that 50 years of aid from donor countries have not had a significant enough impact on poverty and that Africa’s economies have not benefited to the extent they should have. They wish the emphasis of the aid debate be placed on development and regard aid as a catalyst for development more than a measure for poverty reduction. These are just some of the conclusions reached at the SADC Regional parliamentary conference on aid effectiveness held in Maputo, Mozambique last week.

Mr. Bert Koenders, Co-Chair of the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, and, former Minister of Development in the Netherlands stated, “If we want to make aid effective and transparent, first and foremost, parliaments have to be part of the game. They have to be able to control the budgets of their governments. In donor countries, they have to control and ensure that there is enough money and that it goes to the right countries and right programmes. And in many African nations, you want to ensure, with your government, that aid is being dealt with in an effective way.” He further emphasised how parliamentarians can support this path to effective development. This position represents a shift from the previous decade of aid reform efforts in which parliaments were not sufficiently recognised or incorporated in the OECD-led international dialogue on aid. There is now an African consensus that parliamentarians, both from donor and recipient countries, are integral parts of the aid oversight process.

These discussions unfolded during a meeting held last week in Maputo attended by 80 parliamentarians from the whole of the Southern African Development Committee (SADC) region, together with experts from various international organizations. The seminar was held in preparation for the 4th High Level forum on Aid Effectiveness to be held in Busan, South Korea in November.

The Maputo Seminar titled “Parliamentary Engagement in Supporting Aid for Development” endorsed the AU position on aid as well as a policy document from the Network of African Parliamentarians which will be taken forward to Busan. It also served to collect and highlight evidence of good parliamentary practices in oversight of aid and other resources for development. With sufficient transparency from international donors, recipient country executives, and members of civil society, parliaments will be able to exercise oversight of aid allocations in both donor and recipient countries in the interest of accountability, transparency, and democracy. The seminar was held from 3-5 May and organised in partnership between the parliament of Mozambique, the SADC-Parliamentary Forum, and the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA).

AWEPA’s principle objective is to support and strengthen the effective functioning of parliaments in Africa as well as keeping Africa high on the political agenda in Europe. In Africa, AWEPA works with development partners to implement national and regional capacity-building programmes for parliaments, their members and staff, in democratic development, poverty reduction and conflict management. AWEPA also promotes the attainment of gender equality at all levels of political decision-making.