Some of my colleagues at HHH might wonder what I have been doing over the past year. Attached is my annual report to ministers and heads of agency. It might be of interest to the front office and the Global and development Areas. Could you send it around?
Brian Atwood
I am writing to you to thank you for your contribution to development over the past year, and for your engagement in the work of the DAC. It has been an honor to serve as Chair over the past year. We have been able to achieve a great deal working together and with the other members of the DAC.
Support and active contributions from you and other DAC members were essential in achieving an historic outcome at the High Level Forum in Busan this year. We will look back on this Forum as the starting point for a new Global Partnership for Development Co-operation. We have important follow up work to do to achieve our goal, but Busan has given us an opportunity to create a shared agenda. The outcome document is built on the principles of ownership, results, transparency and accountability. As mandated by the Busan agreement, we will work closely with the United Nations as we give shape to this new Global Partnership.
Busan, however, brought to fruition much more than the outcome document, and many other achievements deserve credit in their own right. These include:
the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States, the path-breaking culmination of the work that the DAC's International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF) has developed jointly with the g7+ group of 19 fragile countries in the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding;
the New Consensus on More Effective Institutions for Development, endorsed by over 30 countries and organisations outlining a new approach to strengthening institutions and recognizing that these are indispensable for development.
the Busan Action Plan for Statistics, facilitated by the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21), which focuses on ensuring that countries develop the statistical capacity that is the basis for managing for results, transparency and accountability;
the Busan Joint Action Plan on Gender Equality and Development, a commitment to support countries' statistical offices to collect data on gender equality outcome indicators, taking forward the OECD Ministerial Council initiative on harmonizing these indicators. The Plan also emphasises the need to strengthen accountability for gender equality, and to integrate gender equality goals in all aspects of development - including through the implementation of the Busan "building blocks";
• the agreement on Expanding and Enhancing Public and Private Co-operation for Broad-based, Inclusive and Sustainable Growth, which was signed by 40 representatives from the public and private sector. The Statement defines five shared principles to guide future collective action at national and international levels, not just in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility but on all aspects for enabling private sector-led growth and development.;
Busan also produced initiatives on Managing Diversity and Reducing Fragmentation, where an unprecedented alliance of actors has committed to strengthening country-led management of external support and working to enhance the complementarity and coherence of development efforts both at the partner country and international
levels. Moreover, we expect to see many country specific results and accountability agreements as the result of Busan. These will strengthen structures to track results, strengthen accountability mechanisms and include frameworks that measure the performance of both the developing country and the development co-operation
provider.
While the Busan High Level Forum was this year's high-point, there are many other achievements that will have a lasting impact on the field of development that the DAC and its members can look back on. Over the course of the last year, the DAC:
• together with the Committee on Fiscal Affairs, formally launched the programme on Tax and Development. Working through the Tax and Development Task Force, we have already helped Ghana, Kenya, and Vietnam and (soon Colombia) to strengthen their tax systems, to tax multinational enterprises more effectively to guard against taxable profits being shifted off-shore. And we are helping developing countries to prepare for the G-20 inspired international standard on exchanging tax information, which can help those countries recover funds lost to tax evasion.
issued the first data set on ODA in support of climate change adaptation, supplementing the figures on aid targeted to climate change mitigation that have been collected for many years based on the DAC Rio Markers. Members have agreed to apply this methodology also to relevant non-ODA climate change flows.
achieved unanimous agreement to use the gender equality policy marker to ODA flows, ensuring a more accurate picture of gender equality focused development co-operation.
with the Trade Committee, undertook the third aid-for-trade monitoring survey, covering more than 150 countries, international organisations and regional economic communities. The joint OECD-WTO report, Aid for Trade at a Glance 2011, generated a vast amount of unique information, with over 270 case stories and more than 140 self-assessments. For the first time, the private sector was substantively engaged in the
process.
jointly with the Investment Committee, adopted the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas;
led the work to articulate the development dimensions of Green Growth, working with Directorates across the OECD and with international partners such as the Global Green Growth Institute and the International Institute for Environment and Development.
These major achievements represent just a sample of the work undertaken by the DAC and its superb Directorate for Development Co-operation (led by Jon Lomoy) on behalf of its membership. These initiatives are built on intensive preparation in the DAC and its subsidiary bodies.
Per the decisions taken at this year's Senior Level Meeting, we have begun the process of reforming the DAC structure, making it more cost-effective and more relevant to the challenges at hand. This was not an easy process as there was strong support for every one of the bodies. I thank you for supporting my recommendations on this. As this was just a beginning, your future support will be needed as well.
Engagement with our partners, new providers, civil society and the private sector also characterized the first half of 2011. Much of this activity helped create the environment for success in Busan. For example:
At our Senior Level Meeting in April this year, we endorsed a statement on Welcoming New Partnership in International Development Co-operation, which provided the basis on which emerging economies felt reassured to engage fully in the effectiveness agenda.
In November, the DAC then finalised its Global Relations Strategy, which will further strengthen the Committee as we pursue a new quality in our engagement with key actors.
The Global Relations Strategy was informed by initiatives such as the China-DAC Study Group, and the Arab Coordination Group - DAC High Level Meeting hosted by the UK government at Lancaster House in London. This led in turn to two follow-up meetings, on Busan and statistics sharing.
The International Network on Conflict and Fragility was particularly active during the year, stepping up its work with fragile states through monitoring the Principles for Good International Engagement in 13 countries and through fostering discussions through the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding that led to the New Deal with Fragile States. Its guidance on transition financing and risk management pushed the frontier on international support to fragile states and highlighted the need for
calculated risk taking to deliver results.
Nowhere was the reach and influence of the DAC more evident than within its Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, ably co-chaired by Talaat Abdel-Malek and Bert Koenders. This group of about 80 participants from all relevant actors in the development community did the heavy lifting for Busan.
Meeting the demands of the new era for international development will challenge us all for the years ahead. We will have to demonstrate results and impact, as the realisation grows that sound development plays an increasingly important part in addressing the challenges we face in our own economies.
One expression of this is the OECD Strategy on Development, which was mandated by the 50th anniversary Ministerial Council Meeting last May. The DAC has supported and welcomed this strengthened organisation-wide focus on our field of work as a great opportunity to build on the OECD's broad range of expertise. Meeting the full potential of the strategy will require the active involvement of the Committee. The DAC approved a resolution offering support for the initiative and criteria for the development of the strategy. As DAC Chair, I have been closely involved in the work and will continue to do so with a view to achieving the greatest impact and ensuring a valuable DAC contribution to the exercise.
As we look back over the last year, the DAC has shown its ability to respond to the challenges of a fast-changing global environment. We have done much to shape the new development agenda. We have taken tangible steps to rationalize the global architecture, and we have helped create the political will to make the changes needed to reach the MDGs. We have also set the stage for the important discussions that will have to precede 2015 when the MDGs will need updating. We have done this by using effective diplomacy, but without having to compromise our values.
The defining objective for me as DAC Chair will remain to serve the members in advancing our common development mandate. Your support is essential for making this possible, for which I would like to thank you again. I hope to count on your support in the New Year, and look forward to your strong engagement in the DAC.
