New knowledge needed for more effective dev cooperation: Economists

Economists have emphasised new evidence and knowledge to make development cooperation more relevant and robust as the recipients and providers of development finance have undergone significant changes in the recent past.

Many recipients are now low middle income countries (LMIC), and many are graduating from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) category. The evolving situation is also witnessing the rise of new providers such as private philanthropy and Southern institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), on 12 December, the first day of the 2022 Effective Development Cooperation Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.

Moreover, due to the post-Covid-19 aftermath, the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war and the looming global recession, there has been a palpable decline in the political traction for foreign aid in provider countries, Dr Debapriya said at the summit organised by Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), the official global platform that brings together the provider and recipients of development finance, said a press release from the CPD.

He said the GPEDC agenda is based on the grand assumption that good processes will inevitably lead to good results. However, experience shows that this is more complex than that and is greatly dependent on contextual realities at the country level. The resultative inclusive stakeholder partnership in the recipient countries is critical for effective development cooperation.

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya noted that the GPEDC principles were still relevant but needed to be revitalised and reenergised by up taking new content and being responsive to evolving realities.

In the keynote presentation at the session, Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow of CPD said there is a lack of accountability mechanisms for countries providing development finance. 

The lack of familiarity with regard to the GPEDC agenda and its processes in both provider and recipient countries was also pointed out as a major hurdle in the presentation that was based on the findings of a global research project anchored in the CPD and conducted in six countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Towfiqul Islam Khan also said there was a lack of shared understanding between the providers and the recipient countries' key stakeholders regarding the design of result indicators and the process of attaining sustainable development outcomes.

However, the extent of inclusive partnership required to reach a consensus on the design of result indicators was largely dependent on the democratic accountability prevalent within the recipient country, he continued.

Moreover, the extent of ownership of key stakeholders within the scope of foreign development financing was largely concentrated at the project design level and declined down the process chain, he added.

The session was also addressed by Dr Rachel Gisselquist, senior research fellow of UNU-WIDER, Karla de Palma, general director of the International Cooperation Agency of El Salvador, Laura Aghilarre, deputy director general for Development Cooperation, ministry of foreign affairs, Italy and Blanche Simonny Abegue, regional representative of Dynamique Oscaf-Gabon.

The 2022 Effective Development Cooperation Summit will end on 14 December 2022.