4 A Global Push for Poverty Reduction
31. International development, as it is currently
understood, is about a collective effort to meet the MDGs. Bilateral
aid relationships are an important part of this collective endeavour.
32. DFID's draft Country Assistance Plan for Kenya
sets out how DFID intends to support Kenya's Economic Recovery
Strategy. The expectation is that successful implementation of
this strategy will contribute to poverty reduction and progress
towards the MDGs. In effect, the CAP sets out the role which DFID
intends to play in partnership with the Government of Kenya.[41]
Whilst the draft CAP does a good job in this regard, it could
still be improved: the MDGs should be more prominent; DFID's plans
and priorities should be explained as well as described, in part
by reference to what other donors are doing, and where DFID's
comparative advantage lies; and, it should set out more clearly
a framework for monitoring Kenya's progress towards the MDGs and
for evaluating the effectiveness of DFID's assistance. In short,
DFID's CAP should be more goal-focussed, and should show more
clearly how DFID fits into the wider picture of development and
development assistance in Kenya. In this way, DFID's CAP for Kenya,
and other CAPs following this model, would more accurately, and
more helpfully, paint DFID's bilateral aid relationships as part
of a wider picture.
33. The Africa Commission, announced earlier this
year by the Prime Minister, has a real chance to inject momentum
and urgency into the global push for poverty reduction in Africa.[42]
It is an opportunity for the international community to reflect
on what needs to be done for Africa to make progress towards meeting
the MDGs, as well as to learn from the success stories that can
be found in Africa. It also provides a forum in which donors and
recipients can—in the spirit of partnership, mutual accountability
and collective effort—learn about what makes for effective
aid relationships. We recommend that the Africa Commission
considers the value of, and mechanisms for, joint monitoring and
evaluation by both donors and recipients. By making mutual accountability
and learning a central part of aid relationships, the aid effort
could be put on an upward spiral of increasing effectiveness,[43]
and the delicate balance between local ownership and external
accountability might be more easily achieved. Initiatives
to increase the effectiveness of aid should go alongside equally
important efforts to increase aid volumes, such as the Chancellor's
proposed International Financing Facility. We welcome the Prime
Minister's initiative in establishing the Africa Commission, and
look forward to hearing more about its plans and to engaging with
its work.
41 On development partnerships, see IDC, Fifth Report
of Session 2001-02, Financing for development: Finding the
money to eliminate world poverty, HC 785-I, paragraphs 82-92
(see footnote 36 for full reference). Back
42
Q 30 [Hilary Benn] Back
43
Tony Killick, 2004, "Monitoring partnership-based aid relationships:
A note", Development Policy Review, volume 22, no.2, pp.229-234. Back
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