TWN Info Service on Finance and Development (Jul07/07)

20 July 2007

UNITED NATIONS: DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FORUM LAUNCHED AT ECOSOC

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) last week launched the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF), the second of its two new instruments aimed at strengthening the role of ECOSOC in international development cooperation, including its oversight of member states’ implementation of international development commitments.

Many ECOSOC country delegates also expressed hope that the biennial forum, launched in parallel to the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) mechanism inaugurated at the same ECOSOC High-Level Segment last Wednesday, will enhance the implementation of internationally agreed development goals (IADGs), such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), by providing a forum for consensus-building on key policies in support of realising such goals.

However, there have been divergences in how different country delegations viewed the function of the DCF in the revitalised ECOSOC. While the EU, US and other developed countries view the functions of the DCF as primarily an aid coordination mechanism, developing countries are calling for a more ambitious and comprehensive mandate to improve the governance of international development cooperation in all aspects.

Below is a report on the launch of the DCF in Geneva on Thursday 5 July. It was published in SUNS #6287 Friday 6 July 2007.

With best wishes
Martin Khor
TWN

United Nations: Development Cooperation Forum launched at ECOSOC

By Celine Tan (with contributions from Riaz K Tayob)

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) launched the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) on 5 July, the second of its two new instruments aimed at strengthening the role of ECOSOC in international development cooperation, including its oversight of member states’ implementation of international development commitments.

Addressing delegates, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that the establishment of the DCF formed an integral part of efforts to strengthen the ECOSOC and represents “a decisive step forward on the implementation of the global partnership for development.”

The forum also represents “proof of the commitment of governments to strengthen the coherence and effectiveness of international development cooperation,” he added.

Ban said that he viewed the DCF as “a venue for consensus-building and forging strong partnerships through a participatory and inclusive approach” and expressed confidence that the forum will act as a vehicle for generating positive results in development outcomes, including “meaningful and actionable policy guidance and recommendations of value to all stakeholders”.

Many ECOSOC country delegates also expressed hope that the biennial forum, launched in parallel to the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) mechanism inaugurated at the same ECOSOC High-Level Segment last Wednesday, will enhance the implementation of internationally agreed development goals (IADGs), such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), by providing a forum for consensus-building on key policies in support of realising such goals.

The Group of 77 and China said that the DCF provided the opportunity to enhance the global partnership for development in accordance with international commitments set out in the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

According to the G77 and China, the DCF should, together with the AMR, enable the ECOSOC to conduct comprehensive review of the status and developments in international development cooperation with a view to developing integrated policy

responses and identifying and addressing key gaps in and challenges to such cooperation.

They stressed however that the relationship between the DCF and the AMR should be made clear: “The AMR is designed to review the progress in implementation of the entire range of the IADGs, including the MDGs, and to provide policy guidance for member states, international organisations and other actors. The DCF is designed to focus on international development cooperation in all its aspects and improve its governance, effectiveness and impact to enhance the agreed development goals”.

The European Union (EU) expressed support for the DCF and said that it expected the forum to “become an important part of the international discussion on the development cooperation agenda and the global partnership for development, as well as a crucial mechanism to emphasize the Council’s role as the policy coordination body of the United Nations system for economic, social and environmental matters”.

The EU welcomed the establishment of the DCF as part of the wider UN reform process, including under the systems-wide coherence process. Reiterating their commitment to “a strong and coherent United Nations” at the heart of an effective multilateral system, the EU added that effective delivery of development objectives means that the system “has to constantly adapt to changing contexts, new challenges and needs”.

Recognising the increasing calls for the implementation of the aforementioned global partnership for development, the EU said that the DCF will serve as “a useful contribution” to the follow-up to the Financing for Development (FFD) process as well as acting as a crucial mechanism for emphasising the role of the ECOSOC as the policy coordination body of the UN system for economic, social and environmental matters.

ECOSOC member states also welcomed the opportunity provided by the DCF to review trends in international development cooperation while strengthening the links between the normative and operational work of the UN system and other relevant organisations and promote closer linkages between the operational activities and implementation of the  MDGs and other IADGs.

However, there have been divergences in how different country delegations viewed the function of the DCF in the revitalised ECOSOC. While the EU, US and other developed countries view the functions of the DCF as primarily an aid coordination mechanism, developing countries are calling for a more ambitious and comprehensive mandate to improve the governance of international development cooperation in all aspects.

The EU, for example, said that the DCF could act as “an important coordination and cooperation mechanism” in the context of the proliferating number of multilateral and bilateral actors and instruments, including emerging new donors and increasing number of special purpose funds, on the international development scene in addition to providing a forum for participatory dialogue on development cooperation.

Meanwhile, the United States called for the DCF to play a role in enhancing aid effectiveness through providing a forum for an exchange of ideas and information on how to enhance aid effectiveness, including developing indicators on how to link specific interventions with specific development results.

The call for the DCF to focus on aid effectiveness was also echoed by Switzerland, which expressed hope that the DCF will “help promote a common understanding of the conceptual framework for effective aid delivery” as well as to “help promote consensus on the harmonisation and balancing of the funding architecture” for development.

It added that the DCF provided the opportunity to “develop instruments for clarifying and strengthening the mutual accountability of donors and recipient countries”.

Developing countries, on the other hand, are pushing for the DCF to play a more significant role in the governance of international development cooperation and assist in providing normative guidance to the wider global economic issues hampering the attainment of international development objectives in addition to strengthening the ECOSOC’s oversight of the plethora of actors in the international development system.

Chinese ambassador Li Baodong said that properly defining the goals, direction, priorities and modalities of the DCF will be crucial to its success as the only UN mechanism which “works specifically to comprehensively review international development cooperation”.

He said that China believed that such cooperation at the current juncture should focus on two priority areas.

Firstly, on financing for development, the DCF should urge developed countries to honour their commitments to earmark 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) as official development assistance (ODA) as soon as possible and to encourage the establishment of more innovative mechanisms for financing.

Secondly, with regard to the Doha Round of trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which has reached a critical juncture, the DCF should “shore up political will of various parties and get developed members, major trading nations in particular, to demonstrate political sincerity and greater flexibility to facilitate comprehensive and balanced outcomes of the talks”.

Li said that China believed that the biggest obstacles to achieving the MDGs concerned issues such as funding, technology, capacity building and market access and that “it is therefore necessary for the DCF to set priority on these areas in its future work and come up with practical and feasible recommendations to ensure that the international community invests the necessary resources in development”.

China also expressed its hope that the capability of the UN to address such development issues is enhanced given the traditional and non-traditional challenges faced by the international community in a globalized world, including regional conflict, public health, environment and sustainable development.

It called specifically on the DCF to encourage all parties to remain committed to the UN Framework on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol as well as to the principle of common but differentiated responsibility in climate change negotiations. Additionally, the DCF should focus international attention on raising energy efficiency and developing and applying clean and renewable energy and in safeguarding energy security.

For developing countries, the DCF provides an important alternative forum for the discussion of aid-related issues to those controlled by donor countries.

The G77 and China said that the DCF should be designed to redress the unfortunate system of fragmented coordination of development programmes and projects and to respond to the need for governance of international development cooperation.

This need, said the G77 and China, “is now especially acute given the growing globalization, the interdependence of economic, social and environmental goals, the acknowledged needs of developing countries, especially the poorest and the most vulnerable among them, the growing number of development actors and stakeholders, the experience of past successes and failures and above all, the grave consequences of failure to address poverty and hunger in this increasingly integrated world”.

The G77 and China believes that the effectiveness of the DCF will depend to a large extent on its ability to monitor implementation, and as in the case of the AMR, it advocates “the development of agreed criteria and benchmarks to measure the implementation, effectiveness and results of development cooperation”.

Effectiveness will also depend on the nature and quality of the documentation and data prepared for the forum’s consideration, the G77 and China added, saying that such documentation should follow a “bottom-up approach”, analysing information submitted by recipient countries, donors, international organisations and civil society.