Development Co-Operation Report 2023.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, author, issuing body.

Series:

Development Co-Operation Report

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cooperation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Paris : Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, 2023.

Summary:

In the last three years, multiple global crises and the growing urgency of containing climate change have put current models of development co-operation to, perhaps, their most radical test in decades. The goal of a better world for all seems harder to reach, with new budgetary pressures, demands to provide regional and global public goods, elevated humanitarian needs, and increasingly complex political settings.

Contents:

Intro

Preface

The OECD can help development actors navigate a changing landscape

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Editorial

Development co-operation in 2023: The times, they are a-changing

Abbreviations and acronyms

Executive summary

Crises and geopolitical shifts are challenging the aid system but also opening an opportunity for it to change

Staying relevant requires delivering on past commitments and responding to new calls for change

With priorities changing, development actors must be more agile and adaptable

Ways forward for the aid system (Infographic)

Overview: Keeping development co-operation relevant and impactful amid daunting challenges

Development co-operation under pressure to meet new demands amid crises

Aid budgets and capacity are under unprecedented pressure as progress falters on the 2030 Agenda

Reflections on the aid system point to constraints and opportunities to better address shared global challenges

Ways forward for keeping development co-operation relevant and impactful

Meeting finance commitments, unlocking progress

Support locally led transformation in partner countries

Modernise business models and financial management practices to align strategies, budgets and delivery

Rebalance power relations and find common ground for partnerships

References

Notes

Part I The political economy of aid

1 In my view: Development co-operation must tackle complex challenges better and protect the most vulnerable

Note

2 Development Strategies in a changing global political economy

Key messages

The problem: Challenges to international development co-operation

Geopolitical effects

The debt-infrastructure-sustainability nexus

Security and stability threats

Threats to multilateralism.

The politics: Geopolitical competition also presents opportunities for development

The policies: Do not overlook the power of domestic political economy

Towards a new agenda for international development

Address the global political economy challenge

Improve co-operation among donors to prevent duplication of efforts

Reinforce the value and legitimacy of multilateralism

Greening international development co-operation

In the context of growing power rivalries and polarisation, developing countries should strengthen regional development and security co-operation

Address domestic political economy challenges

Base development strategies on local strengths and structural transformation rather than focusing on deficiencies

Developing countries themselves should engage stakeholders to develop a long-term vision within an institutional framework and leverage endogenous innovation to achieve long-term economic transformation

Leverage the strengths of ODA in crisis situations and fragile contexts, using it to steer other resources, and increase transparency and accountability of ODA flows for the public and recipients

Address transversal challenges

Leverage the role of emerging technologies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Give gender and youth the place they deserve in development

Capitalise on the global private sector

Conclusion

3 In focus: Reforming climate finance

Soaring climate costs underscore a critical need for "new and additional" finance

Greater climate finance transparency can ensure promises are kept to the Global South

Debt-free climate finance must become the norm

Tracking gender-responsive finance is key to measuring impact and equity

A new global climate finance goal is an opportunity to commit to climate justice

Notes.

4 In my view: The untapped potential of innovative financing and humanitarian organisations

Reference

5 In my view: Is the aid sector racist?

6 In focus: Transitioning out of aid dependency in health

Aid helps some health outcomes but perpetuates inefficiencies and dependency

1. Dependency on external finance leads low-income countries to deprioritise health in their own budgets

Debt relief is not the panacea for low domestic spending on health

2. Power asymmetries in health financing undermine country ownership

Transitioning to more equitable and locally accountable health financing

1. Shift aid from basic health services to global and regional public goods by 2030

2. Shift strategic decision making to regional- and country-level forums

3. Stop conditioning aid on buying products and services from the donor country

4. Strengthen health expertise and supply chains developed by and for the Global South

7 In my view: Are feminist foreign policies translating to real action?

Part II Relevance in a complex system

8 Maximising official development assistance

Snapshot of DAC members' performance against ambitions in the 2010s

Delivering on financing commitments

Global and domestic pressures impact the value of ODA and developing countries' resources

ODA is a small government expenditure item but could be affected by a gloomy economic outlook

For developing countries, the role ODA plays depends on other external flows, domestic resources and levels of debt

Ripple effects of the strong US dollar on aid and developing countries' costs

ODA levels have failed to reach international targets.

Adoption of the 0.7% target has been uneven and budget cuts are hampering progress

Practical and conceptual challenges undermine progress towards the 0.7% ODA/GNI target

Targets can be interpreted as caps

New financing targets could undermine ODA

Perceptions regarding developing countries' capacity to spend ODA effectively to achieve development outcomes

Challenges to the concept of the 0.7% ODA/GNI target

Focusing on collective impact

Responding to crises may have implications for ODA composition and focus

ODA is not consistently allocated according to need

DAC members have not achieved the ODA/GNI target for the LDCs

Allocation of bilateral ODA has become more focused on middle-income countries

ODA is not allocated according to poverty or inequality metrics

Categorisations of need overlap while the use of allocation models is at an early stage

Budget cuts, increased earmarking and lack of strategic engagement undermine the value of the multilateral system

Improving ODA quality

Concessional lending is an important ODA mechanism, but conditions should be closely monitored

Budget support increased during the COVID-19 crisis, reigniting debates about impact, conditionalities and relevance

ODA spending is spread out across many countries and dominated by low value projects

Support to and through country systems is decreasing and focus on the political economy needs to be stepped up

Untying ODA contributes to value for money and country ownership, but the urgency needed to overcome long-standing barriers is lacking

Making the Recommendation more inclusive

Taking policy coherence to the next level

Identifying the focus of coherence efforts

Designing arbitration mechanisms and understanding policy sets.

Measurement approaches are yet to mature and their outcomes to be embedded in decision making

Annex 8.A. Methodological note

Annex 8.B. Synthesis of DAC statements on challenges to meeting commitments

Annex 8.C. DAC members' commitment and progress towards the United Nations official development assistance target of 0.7% of gross national income

Annex 8.D. DAC members' bilateral development finance institutions

9 In my view: Reinventing official development assistance: From an Arlequin tapestry to a more inspiring Kandinsky-Kasse moment

10 In focus: Aid effectiveness in Afghanistan, Mali and South Sudan

Aid did not make extremely fragile contexts more stable, capable or better governed

Donors overestimate capacity and underestimate resistance by entrenched elites

Development co-operation providers must mind the opportunity costs

Rethink, reset and be realistic about what aid can truly achieve in fragile settings

11 In my view: Funding more proximately is not risky but not doing so is

In ignoring local resources, the aid system disempowers the very communities it targets

12 In focus: Enablers of locally led development

Stronger evidence on the benefits and challenges of locally led development is needed

Long-term core funding is more likely to foster sustainable outcomes and local ownership

Localisation also calls for support for diverse partnerships tailored to local conditions

Providers need to reframe risks, shift institutional culture and build internal capacities

Some providers are starting to progressively redress power imbalances

Anticipating how localisation may shift local political and economic dynamics can help avoid common pitfalls.

Collective understanding of localisation, built on insights from experiences, would boost accountability.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

92-64-94484-2