[APWW-Meet] Donor Governments Continue To Ignore Developing Country Demands \

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For Aid Reform
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Civil Society Voices for Better Aid

Better Aid coalition calls for concrete commitments and timelines as
negotiations


Donor Governments Continue To Ignore Developing Country Demands For Aid
Reform stall

As ministers arrive in Accra for meetings of the reform of aid, donors
continue to block Southern governments' pleas for reform.

Governments have gathered at the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness
in Ghana to agree an agenda for action for improving aid.  New evidence
from the OECD shows that donors in particular are not meeting their side
of the bargain. Negotiations have stalled as some donor governments,
particularly Japan and the United States, are refusing to agree real
actions to meet the commitments.

"If developing country concerns are not genuinely addressed, then donors
are paying little more than lip-service to the promises of partnership,"
says Yao Graham of Third World Network Africa, "Once again we see global
power relations being reinforced and the demands of civil society and
developing country governments sidelined."

All governments present in Accra accept that developing countries need
to determine their own priorities if aid is to work.  But the proposals
made by developing country governments to reform aid are being ignored
in last minute closed-door negotiations.

Developing countries have set out their key priorities where they want
to see real action.
*	Removing harmful policy conditionality that undermines
democratic processes
*	Ensuring aid doesn't bypass domestic processes and scrutiny
*	Making aid much more predictable over the medium term so that
they can plan effectively
*	Untying all aid from the purchase of rich country goods and
services, including food aid and technical assistance. 75% of food aid
comes directly from rich countries, undermining local markets and
developing countries are often forced to contract expensive consultants
from donor countries rather than drawing on their own expertise.

The Better Aid coalition of civil society organisations is calling for
Ministers to agree concrete commitments and deadlines for delivering on
these commitments. More fine words will not suffice.


Contacts (in Accra)

Henri Valot, Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, +233 (0)
240230273
Yao Graham, Third World Network Africa, +233 (0) 244577102
Lucy Hayes, European Network on Debt and Development, +233 (0)240230271


Editors notes:

Donors and developing countries agreed the Paris Declaration on aid
effectiveness in Paris in 2005.  The Accra High Level Forum on Aid
Effectiveness is the first major review of the progress made in
implementing those commitments.

Thursday 4thSeptember is the final day of three day Forum, when
Ministers arrive to agree the final Accra Agenda for Action, which will
be the political agreement from the Forum. Government officials have
been trying to make progress with last minute negotiations over the
first two days of the conference (2nd and 3rdSeptember).

Since January 2007, CSOs networks have worked in an International CSOs
Steering Group (ISG) to coordinate CSOs' analysis, proposals and plans
for the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.  The ISG maintains
a website,www.betteraid.org, as a portal for CSO initiatives on aid
effectiveness, including a Policy Paper signed onto by more than 350
CSOs on aid and development effectiveness reform. The ISG have been
meeting with the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, based at the OECD
DAC, setting out CSO concerns and proposals for the Accra HLF.
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