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What NEPAD implies for African policy makers
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CONCLUSION: TRANSFORMED PARTNERSHIPS DO NOT JUST HAPPEN-THEY REQUIRE MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
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One of the imperatives of forging and sustaining this new more mature partnership between donors and Africa is the need for mutual accountability. What does this mean? It means that both Africa and its development partners must agree to a set of binding commitments and a way to monitor each side's promises (see Box 8 below).
In other words the practical implementation of mutual accountability involves the exchange of a concise set of key complementary commitments between African countries and their external partners.
- While African countries have been accustomed to making external commitments in the form of conditionalities, the African countries themselves will advance the commitments under mutual accountability.
- For the bilateral donor community, mutual accountability will involve exposing their aid efforts to the critiques of their development partners.
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Box 8
Tanzania - best practice in donor performance monitoring
One practical way to improve aid effectiveness and promote greater partnership in aid relationships is to institute systems for donor performance monitoring at the recipient country level as part of the PRSP process. At the present time, the major official source of aid performance data and performance evaluation is the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of OECD.
Such a system has already been set up in the United Republic of Tanzania. Efforts have been made to improve the aid relationship since 1995, when an independent assessment of that relationship, funded by the Danish Government in agreement with the Tanzanian Government, made a number of concrete recommendations for the Tanzanian Government and the donors. Agreement was reached between the Government and the Nordic countries on how the aid relationship could be improved, and this led to a broader discussion with the donor community on concrete steps, which needed to be taken. At the meeting of the Consultative Group in 1999, it was agreed in principle that an independent process of monitoring of aid relationships should be instituted. This was followed in 2000 by the preparation of the Tanzanian Assistance Strategy (TAS) to govern the ongoing aid relationship between the Tanzanian Government and its development partners. At the meeting of the Consultative Group in 2000, it was agreed that implementation of the TAS would include independent monitoring and evaluation of donor performance as well as of Tanzanian performance.
Since then the Economic and Social Research Foundation, an independent Tanzanian not-for-profit NGO, has been appointed to work as an honest broker coordinating the independent monitoring with donor funding coordinated by UNDP. The Independent Monitoring Group consists of three Tanzanians, three experts from donor countries and one African non-Tanzanian. All members of the Group were selected on the basis of their independence from the Tanzanian Government and from donor administrations. The work of the Group started in early 2002, and its report will be presented at the Consultative Group meeting in 2002. All parties are committed to supporting the work of the Group up to the end of 2002, after which the situation is to be reviewed in the light of the experience gained.
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The commitments required for mutual accountability, discussed in various points throughout this document, are summed up below.
What is needed from development partners?
Binding commitments and actions to:
- Ensure that all policies affecting Africa's development prospects-including those in the areas of ODA, market access, and debt-are consistent with achieving MDGs.
- Ensure that assistance is provided through direct budget support, where appropriate.
- Harmonize aid practices, so that there is a decisive reduction in the burden of aid management and a clear contribution to increasing the scope, quality and capacity of African countries' public sector management and public finance systems.
- Make local capacity-building a specific objective in the design and execution of country assistance programmes.
What is needed from African countries?
Binding commitments and actions to:
- Establish and maintain peace and security, democratic transitions of power, and inclusive political systems that guarantee the rule of law.
- Maintain sound macroeconomic policy frameworks.
- Establish medium-term fiscal frameworks supported by accountable and transparent public finance systems.
- Foster private enterprise and entrepreneurship.
- Implement national development strategies incorporating MDGs, with particular emphasis on health and education.
- Mainstream national comprehensive capacity development strategies, incorporating the public sector, private sector and civil society.
What modalities can be used to monitor mutual accountability?
The key concept underlying mutual accountability is that all development partners should be accountable for outcomes-and that all should have a responsibility to promote best practices among themselves. The way accountability is framed around outcomes, which are commonly stated in terms of MDGs, means that the process of mutual accountability can draw on the mechanisms for monitoring MDGs. Modalities for mutual accountability can also, in principle, be the subject of the African Peer Review Mechanism.
Mutual accountability holds out the potential to become the key interface between OECD donors and African countries. Enhanced by such regional mechanisms as the African Peer Review, it can proceed independently at the country level. It will occur in the context of PRSPs, CDFs, and other best practices for development partnership. It requires that all partners agree on the desired outcomes and on best practices. It also requires that donor agencies examine their own best practices, and bring them into conformity with the principles of long-term predictability, transparency, and accountability. It is a work in progress, with much to be done to establish workable mechanisms.
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