A global partnership for development
49. The developing world may be wary of the policy
coherence for development agenda, fearing that it will become
a way of the developed world promoting its own ideas about what
is good for development and developing countries.[57]
Such fears are not without foundation. At first glance the policy
coherence for development agenda might seem to suggest that there
is consensus about what is good for development and that all that
is needed is for governments to ensure that their policies are
driving in the right direction. For some issues, this is clearly
not the case. On trade for instance, the EU and many of its Member
States argued prior to the Cancún Ministerial that including
the "new issues" on the WTO agenda was in the interests
of developing countries. Many developing countries disagreed vehemently.
If the developed world had pressed successfully for "coherence"
around the inclusion of the new issues in the WTO's agenda—perhaps
demanding their inclusion in return for reducing agricultural
subsidies—this would not, in the view of most developing
countries, have been a good thing. But on other issues—including
the harm caused to most developing countries by agricultural export
subsidies, the need to better regulate the export of small arms,
and the need to tackle corruption and increase transparency in
the extractive industries and beyond—there is near-consensus.
50. For instance, it is clear to us that Africa needs
more financial assistance. There are legitimate concerns about
the ability of some countries to spend more aid effectively, but
the appropriate response to such concerns is to work harder to
increase such countries' absorptive capacity rather than to hold
back aid indefinitely. If the G8 and the EU are serious about
helping Africa to develop, they need to double aid as well as
increasing its effectiveness. Also clear to us is the necessity
of rapidly increasing the funding for the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria. As regards putting our own house in
order, our reports have made recommendations about many issues
(see Annex 1); some are worth reiterating. The developed world
needs to make more rapid progress as regards: developing a treaty
to prevent the transport of small arms and light weapons to conflict
regions; improving banking transparency, preventing money laundering,
and tracing the proceeds of corruption; and, controlling the activities
of mercenaries from G8 and EU countries.
51. To re-state an obvious but important point; coherence
in support of misguided policies, or in support of policies around
which there is no consensus, is counter-productive. Policy coherence
must not become a way of depriving developing countries of their
policy space, their right to formulate laws and regulations suited
to their own contexts and needs, based on their analysis of the
evidence. This risk can best be avoided by ensuring that developing
countries have an equal role in shaping the agenda, and ensuring
that policy-design is driven by evidence, rather than by ideology.
52. Enhancing the voice(s) of developing countries
in agenda-setting and global governance, and building a global
partnership for development, requires action by the G8, as the
Commission for Africa rightly recognises.[58]
The Commission for Africa
should encourage the G8 to design mechanisms of mutual accountability,
so that not only do developing countries have to show that they
are making good use of the aid they receive, but so that the developed
world also has to show that it is working hard to ensure that
its development objectives and policies are not undermined by
policies relating to other issues. This
might be done through an extension of peer review processes, to
peer-and-partner review processes, assessing the development impact
of policies across the board. Or, starting from the recipient
end of the aid relationship, it might be done through joint monitoring
and evaluation by aid donors and recipients.[59]
More emphasis too might be put on the role of parliaments in developing,
as well as developed, countries. Parliamentary scrutiny can play
an important role in monitoring and enhancing policy coherence
for development, and in ensuring that the coherence promoted is
supportive of locally-owned development strategies.
53. The Commission for Africa has the opportunity
to make an important contribution to building a global partnership
for development. For this emerging partnership to be one which
works, and which improves over time, each partner must be accountable
to the other for its actions. Policy coherence for development
offers a way of pushing and enabling the developed world to be
more accountable for its actions and inactions. The Commission
for Africa can do much to shame and encourage the G8 to take more
seriously the issue of policy coherence for development; to ensure
that the rich countries' policies are truly supportive of development
goals; and, to amplify the demands of developing countries that
the developed world keeps its promises. If the Commission for
Africa can promote this agenda, and put pressure on the G8 to
change the policies which undermine Africa's ability to prosper
in the global economy, then 2005 may be a turning point. The opportunity
must not be missed.
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