Mr. Eckhard Deutscher has been the Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since January 2008. Read more...

Development cooperation needs greater coherence: how can all policies be geared towards development goals?

Policy Coherence is a key concern for development, so it is very relevant and timely to discuss this issue broader deeper.

If we want to see development as the result of our development co-operation investments, we have to look not just at the investment itself, but at the investment environment in which this is taking place. Policy Coherence for Development can significantly increase the impact of development resources contributing to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

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The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and the arrival in Brussels of a new leadership team, together provide an opportunity to re-invigorate European collaboration and collective action in the realm of international development. This publication is the result of a collaboration between 25 researchers from four of Europe’s leading think-tanks on international development. It stems from a shared commitment to European development cooperation, and a sense of urgency about the need to rethink policy for new and challenging times. A new Europe, facing new challenges, will be tested in many fields and sectors. The authors assess the task of reaching the Millennium Development Goals, and rethinking the goals for the period beyond 2015. They make the case for joined-up thinking across the institutions and policies of the EU, emphasising the importance of Policy Coherence for Development. And they examine specific policy areas – trade, state/peace-building, climate change, migration, finance, and the private sector. They lay out an agenda for partnership with developing countries, and examine how actors in the EU system can work better together. The report makes the case for five priorities:

New EU leadership in thinking about how development cooperation can help deal with shared global problems.

EU states to meet their aid promises and improve the targeting and effectiveness of aid spending.

New efforts to ensure coherence between development and other policies.

Providing new life to development partnerships.

Improved cooperation between Member States, so that the EU really does work as one.

You can read the entire report here.
 
 

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Since the 1990s, some donor countries have made part of their aid conditional on a set of policies, including economic liberalization, political liberalization and democratization. This triptych, which can be assembled under the heading of 'good governance', has also been promoted by multilateral financial institutions.

Today, because of the economic crisis, forceful criticism of this gamut of conditions is again being expressed in both North and South.

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My colleagues are finalizing the preparations for a two-day brainstorming session on the future of European aid. It is a good occasion to open the floor to its participants (and beyond: as always anyone should feel free to join in!) to reflect on the way Europeans envisage their development policy: what is it for? How should we go about it? Here are a few initial thoughts.Europe is a giant of development assistance. Combining funds from member states and the Community, EU aid totaled 46 billion Euros in 2007, making it by far the largest contributor to this global endeavor. This amount equates to 93 Euros per capita, compared to 53 and 44 Euros per capita donated by the United States and Japan, respectively.

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Images of the Beijing sky-line, seemingly bathed in a soup of smog and haze have been never far from the world's TV screens over recent days and weeks.

International reporters with hand-held air pollution detectors have been popping up on street corners checking the levels of soot and dust.

Everyone seems keen to prove that the city's air will be a decisive and debilitating factor for one of the world's most high profile sporting events.

Without doubt Beijing is facing a huge challenge. There are real and understandable concerns for the health of competitors, especially those in endurance and long distance events such as cycling and the marathon.

But the current frenzied focus is marked by a modicum of amnesia-air pollution was a major concern in Los Angeles 24 years ago.

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I come back from Kenya. AFD and other donors including the World Bank and EIB are financing a large-scale public geothermal investment program that will supply most of Kenya's future power generating capacity. The power generation mix that will fuel Kenya's rapidly growing economy over the next decade will be carbon-poor.

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