DONORS AND GOVERNMENT EFFORTS ON AID EFFECTIVENESS AND PREPARATION FOR GHANA

INGO FORUM (Hanoi, 29 Februray, 2008) DONORS AND GOVERNMENT EFFORTS ON AID EFFECTIVENESS AND PREPARATION FOR GHANA Cao Manh Cuong Foreign Economic Relations Dept Ministry of Planning and Investment Vietnam PART I DONORS AND GOVERNMENT EFFORTS ON AID EFFECTIVENESS HANOI CORE STATEMENT ON AID EFFECTIVENESS (HCS) HCS is a localized statement of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness to Vietnam to ensure it is relevant to the country context HCS has 28 partnership commitments, 14 indicators around principles HCS was endorsed by the donor community in Mid-term CG 2005 and approved by the Government in late September, 2005 Vietnam is the first partner country that has successfully localized PD KEY AREAS IN FOCUS Communication Realization Monitoring and Evaluation COMMUNICATION     Implementing the instruction of the Prime Minister, MPI has disseminate the spirit and contents of HCS to the Line Ministries and Provinces (including the publication of HCS – Questions and Answers Book) Meeting with all Partnership Groups Develop the HCS Communication Strategy Holding workshops on HCS Communication REALIZATION  Establishing thematic Groups (TGs) to dicuss on How to implement HCS on “partnership spirit":  Procurement  PFM  EIA and SIA  ODA-on-budget  Cost Norms  HCS Communication  Independent Monitoring The outcomes of TGs’ activities are regularly updated at the meetings of PGAE and reflected in the PGAE Report at the Mid-term and Annual CGs REALIZATION  The spirit and principles of HCS have been reflected in the policy and institutional framework of the Government:     ODA Strategic Framework for the period 2006 – 2010 and its implementation action plan Decree 131/2006/ND-CP on 09 Nov., 2006 Other legal documents: Circular 03/2007/TT-BKH on ODA PMUs, Circular 04/2007/TT-BKH on guiding implementation of Decree 131/2006/ND-CP; Decision 803/2007/QD-BKH on ODA Reporting Mechanism and Formats issued by the Minister of MPI, Decision 1248/QD-BKH on ODA M&E Framework the period 2006 – 2010 and its implementation action plan, etc Result-based Monitoring and Evaluation Framework on the Implementation of SEDP 2006-2010 REALIZATION  The spirit and principles of HCS have been reflected in the varieties of Government and Donors’ initiatives: • Harmonization and Simplification Initiatives: Developing common guidelines on pre-F/S and F/S, aligned reporting formats, procurement regulations, social safeguard and environment policies, etc between Vietnam and Development Banks (WB, ADB, JBIC, KfW, AFD) Joint Portfolio Performance Review between the Government and Development Banks “One UN Reform” initiative among UN agencies EC Code of Conduct (Complementarity and Division of Labour) REALIZATION      A number of donors have a long-term commitments (5 years) instead of year-on-year commitment (i.e.: DFID as typically) A number of donors develop Harmonization and Alignment Action Plans (Belgium as the latest) latest) Strengthening Program-based and Sector-wide Approaches (Education for All, Forest Program, Program 135, Rural water supply Program, etc.) A number of joint programs, joint studies have been conducted between the Government and donors and among donors ODA database have been developed (i.e.: DAD, National M&E System for ODA) MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF HCS    Conduct baseline survey to define the current status and the gaps to the indicative targets in HCS Conduct HCS Independence Monitoring with number of voluntary donors (WB, Denmark, DfID (UK), Belgium) In cooperation with OECD-DAC to carry out survey on the implementation of Paris Declaration (1st Survey (2005), 2nd Survey (2006) and the forthcoming 3rd Survey (1st Quarter, 2008 to report to HLF in Ghana (Sep., 2008) Mutual accountability Very difficult principle to implement Structures are in place in Vietnam But pressures for improved performance are not strong PGAE has been drawn too much into the technical management of implementation to be effective for mutual accountability Recommendations HCS implementation has become very detailed and technical Progress often hard to achieve Movement in HCS indicators will come late in the process During this phase, returns don’t always seem commensurate with the effort Danger of fatigue and loss of momentum Key recommendation: sustain progress by prioritising, and reinforcing mutual accountability Building sectoral capacity through Programme-Based Approaches Partnership Groups to agree form and sectoral targets for PBAs Elements to include:      Common budgetary envelope Joint and complementary programming Clear identification of capacity building needs Strategies for increasing use of country systems Joint analysis, monitoring and progress reviews Strengthen country leadership of capacity building GoV needs clearer approach to capacity building Much TA is still supply-driven Line ministries not good at diagnosing their capacity constraints, or providing guidance to donors on preferred forms of assistance GoV and donors need to agree on how to move towards a comprehensive approach A common legal and institutional framework for all public investment  Highly strategic goal, given approaching MIC status Will need to accelerate progress to reach HCS targets GoV:    Exercise leadership of diagnostic work Improve management of reform processes Donors:     Continue to expand on-budget support Progressively increase use of systems, to reflect continuing improvements Only apply additional conditions that support agreed reforms Make commitments to using country systems when specific goals are reached (reforms or capacity thresholds) Phase out parallel PMUs and salary top-ups Major effort required to overcome past practices Transition will need to be carefully managed Line ministries will need to ensure projects remain adequately staffed Donors may need to provide additional capacity building support PGAE to provide guidance as to how to move forward Strengthen mutual accountability  Separate political oversight from technical management of HCS implementation  Refer technical discussions to ad hoc Thematic Groups  PGAE to agree an annual HCS Action Plan, with a limited number of key priorities  Both donors and GoV to report on their own progress against Action Plan Mutual accountability Very difficult principle to implement Structures are in place in Vietnam But pressures for improved performance are not strong PGAE has been drawn too much into the technical management of implementation to be effective for mutual accountability Key Recommendations HCS implementation has become very detailed and technical Progress often hard to achieve Movement in HCS indicators will come late in the process During this phase, returns don’t always seem commensurate with the effort Danger of fatigue and loss of momentum Key recommendation: sustain progress by prioritising, and reinforcing mutual accountability Strengthen mutual accountability  Separate political oversight from technical management of HCS implementation  Refer technical discussions to ad hoc Thematic Groups  PGAE to agree an annual HCS Action Plan, with a limited number of key priorities  Both donors and GoV to report on their own progress against Action Plan PART III LOOKING AHEAD TO HLF-3 IN GHANA PREPARATION FOR HLF-3 IN GHANA Conduct 2008 Monitoring Surveys for PD and HCS Develop PGAE Plaform and PGAE Annual Plan for 2008 Develop PGAE Action Plan for 2008 Actively participate in the Global and Regional Aid Effectiveness Agenda PART IV CSOs AND AID EFFECTIVENESS PGAE EXPECTS TO HAVE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION FROM CSOs    Non-government stakeholders (CSOs, INGOs, etc.) are increasingly engaged in the aid effectiveness agenda They play an important and productive role in assisting Vietnam to reach its development goals, including through helping to achieve the objectives of the PD and HCS on Aid Effectiveness The non-government stakeholders have a role in terms of advocating on development issues, funding development activities with their own resources, and tracking how effectively ODA is used in Vietnam The non-government stakeholders have a key role in feeding to the PGAE and other partnership groups lessons learnt on the ground from their activities They engage communities in the development process, thereby contributing to the improvement of ODA utilization in Vietnam, especially with regards to aid effectiveness THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION