Accra Agenda for Action: 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, 2-4 September 2008
Commitments in: Financing for Development - Quality of aid
“We will increase aid’s value for money
18. Since the Paris Declaration was agreed in 2005, OECD‐DAC donors have made progress in untying their aid. A number of donors have already fully untied their aid, and we encourage others to do so. We will pursue, and accelerate, these efforts by taking the following actions:
a) OECD‐DAC donors will extend coverage of the 2001 DAC Recommendation on Untying Aid to non‐LDC HIPCs3 and will improve their reporting on the 2001 DAC Recommendation.
b) Donors will elaborate individual plans to further untie their aid to the maximum extent.
c) Donors will promote the use of local and regional procurement by ensuring that their procurement procedures are transparent and allow local and regional firms to compete. We will build on examples of good practice to help improve local firms’ capacity to compete successfully for aid‐funded procurement.
d) We will respect our international agreements on corporate social responsibility.”
Commitments in: Development partnerships - International partnerships and support for Pan-African institutions
“To strengthen and increase the use of country systems, we will take the following actions:
a) Donors agree to use country systems as the first option for aid programmes in support of activities managed by the public sector...
...c) Developing countries and donors will jointly assess the quality of country systems in a country‐led process using mutually agreed diagnostic tools. Where country systems require further strengthening, developing countries will lead in defining reform programmes and priorities. Donors will support these reforms and provide capacity development assistance.
d) Donors will immediately start working on and sharing transparent plans for undertaking their Paris commitments on using country systems in all forms of development assistance; provide staff guidance on how these systems can be used; and ensure that internal incentives encourage their use. They will finalise these plans as a matter of urgency.
e) Donors recollect and reaffirm their Paris Declaration commitment to provide 66% of aid as programme‐based approaches. In addition, donors will aim to channel 50% or more of government‐to‐government assistance through country fiduciary systems, including by increasing the percentage of assistance provided through programme based approaches.”
