 Major aid and debt relief commitments were made in 2005. The global donor community rallied around the UN’s Millennium Development Goals aimed at alleviating world poverty by 2015 and took unprecedented steps to work mutually to meet the goals. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness adopted by OECD countries in March 2005, was followed by vigorous campaigning for the MDGs at the 2005 G8 Summit led by the UK. With the support of multilateral development banks, the momentum culminated at the United Nations in September 2005 with the landmark World Summit on achieving the MDGs.
As the UN’s 2006 General Assembly convenes on September 12 followed by the annual IMF/World Bank meeting later in the month, the Development Gateway has updated its Special Report on Aid Harmonization published during last year’s World Summit. Where has the momentum of 2005 led us today? According to the MDG 2006 Global Monitoring Report , despite increased donor commitments, the results are mixed. Many developing countries, particularly in Africa and South Asia, are lagging far behind in meeting the MDGs. Governance and capacity-building at the local level have gradually emerged as the top priorities for aid effectiveness in poverty reduction.
Donors now recognize that better aid practices and vigilant monitoring are critical to effective implementation. Starting in Spring 2006, research reports and new tools to monitor aid projects began appearing. Some of those recent resources are listed in a new section in the right column of this report. For more updates, visit the websites of our Special Report partners. To paraphrase Hilary Benn, head of the UK’s DFID, what is needed to meet the MDGs is not only more aid, but more and better—possibly smarter—aid.
Updated September 8, 2006 |
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