Conclusions and recommendations
Contributing to international targets whilst addressing
country needs
1. In many developing
countries the involvement of other donors and the development
of joint donor-government approaches has been effective particularly
in the health and education sectors. The Department should ensure
that its contribution to the water sector complements the programmes
of other international development agencies. In countries where
the Department has a dedicated water programme, it should take
the initiative in developing a joint action plan with key stakeholders
to address the country's water and sanitation needs.
2. There is scope
to make better use of the Department's research into the impact
of development assistance. The Department should explore innovative
methods of disseminating research results and raising awareness
of its applicability. The uptake of research should be monitored.
The Department should also give greater emphasis to proposed dissemination
techniques when assessing the merits of research proposals.
Managing the risks involved in the provision of aid
3. The Department
should conduct annual reviews of the measures that have been implemented
to mitigate the risks of budget support and the progress made
by the recipient government in strengthening its systems. The
Department should be able to provide reasonable assurance that
funds provided through budget support have been used for the purposes
intended, and to act decisively when doubts over the use of funds
arise.
4. Budget support
offers the potential for the harmonisation of donor practices.
Given the Department's international standing, it should take
the lead amongst bilateral donors to develop a common set of reporting
requirements for budget support funds.
5. The poverty reduction
strategies of poor countries do not always reflect fully their
water needs. The Department should determine whether there is
a coherent, credible government plan for meeting water and sanitation
targets, and should employ appropriate expertise in its country
teams.
6. A key risk factor
in delivering better public services in poor countries is the
lack of capacity in local government to manage and spend resources
effectively. To date, the Department has focused predominantly
on strengthening the financial management and reporting systems
of central government. The Department should recognise the importance
of local government capacity to deliver public services in considering
the case for budget support.
7. The Department
needs to be able to form a clear view in each country on the progress
being made towards poverty reduction targets. In many poor countries,
government statistics do not provide reliable data on the true
extent of poverty. The use of budget support places greater emphasis
on the need to create timely and reliable data to measure progress
towards targets.
Achieving a sustainable impact from projects
8. The Department
has identified the key components that increase the chances of
achieving a sustainable impact and should take these factors into
account in the design of projects.
9. The Department's
project evaluation should give greater attention to assessing
wider impacts and sustainability. The Department should explore
the potential for making greater use of tracking UK funds to assess
whether they have had the intended impact. It should build evaluation
requirements into projects at the outset and collect appropriate
baseline information.
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