The time is right for a bold attempt to draw all countries together behind clear principles that matter for development finance. Unless Busan begins to grapple with this broader agenda, it will be playing out the end-game of a previous era, rather than defining the new one.
There is a broad consensus in the development community on the importance of governance both as a precondition for aid and as an essential aspect for social and economic development. Each year billions of dollars are spent on supporting interventions aimed at combating corruption, promoting democracy, strengthening state institutions, upholding human rights and preserving peace.
Yet our knowledge of the effectiveness of these interventions remains very limited. Donors have made extensive use of outcome monitoring and cross-country analysis to demonstrate results in governance. Although these approaches can sketch out the progress of governance support, they do not provide convincing evidence that the observed outcome can be attributed to a given intervention alone.
New International Crisis Group report on the political scene in Liberia
Report from the ODI Africa Power and Politics Programme
From the perspective of Mary Robinson, President of the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice and former president of Ireland and U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights, donors should do much more in supporting health in developing countries – especially when those nations take bold steps to improve health care.
Four years after stepping down as Britain's premier, Tony Blair is taking lessons learned in office and applying them in Africa.
Phillippa Young writes about Liberia's inaugural marathon, due to take place in Monrovia on 28 August 2011.
ODI reflecting on what may happen after the MDGs expire in 2015
Charles Kenny argues that famine is not an act of God, but an act of mass murder.
Emerging partners bring with them a whole range of new opportunities, financial tools and modalities. However, many of these instruments are complex and should be analysed carefully in order to assess their real economic effect. Increased transparency in financial transactions between African countries and their partners is crucial to analyse their impact on growth and debt sustainability, especially for the most fragile African states, and would also strengthen the credibility of the emerging partners as key actors of development co-operation.
