Senior finance officials prepare for Accra Aid Forum

Senior finance officials from across the Commonwealth started a two-day workshop at Marlborough House in London on 23 June 2008, to prepare for the forthcoming meeting in Accra, Ghana, on how to effectively manage aid.

The workshop, organised by the Economic Affairs Division of the Secretariat, is meant to equip member countries with the issues of the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness which will take place in September this year, and provide an opportunity to brainstorm on various experiences from around the Commonwealth.

Speaking at the event’s opening session, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Ransford Smith said that the association’s work in the global aid system arose out of the realisation that while there was a lot of attention on the volume of aid, there was less international attention to the mechanisms for the delivery of aid, both bilateral and multilateral.

“Consistent with the Commonwealth’s aspiration to be a trusted partner for its smallest and poorest members, we felt that there is an imbalance in the aid machinery, with the voice of developing partner countries inadequately heard: both in the setting of the agenda for the international community and in the implementation of policies,” said Mr Smith.

He noted that the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness for which the officials are preparing, is a key opportunity to take stock of progress under the Paris Declaration — a roadmap developed in 2005 that lays down a practical, action-oriented mechanism to improve the quality of aid and its impact on development.

The Declaration is an international agreement to which ministers, heads of agencies, including the Commonwealth Secretariat, and other senior officials adhered and committed their countries and organisations, to continue to increase efforts in harmonisation, alignment and managing aid for results with a set of actions and indicators that can be monitored.

“We hope that through your discussions over the next two days, you will ensure that your concerns and priorities are heard; and provide a forum in which you can share experiences, brainstorm about what works, so that across the Commonwealth, we can help each other in the achievement of lasting prosperity and poverty reduction,” said the Deputy Secretary-General.

Participants heard presentations from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Overseas Development Institute, and the Centre for Public Policy in Bangladesh.

Secretariat Links:

• Country Profile: Ghana
• Economics