In the previous issue of Capacity.Org, Thomas Theisohn and James Hradsky described the Bonn Workshop Consensus, an effort to put capacity development on the Accra Agenda for Action. This CD Monitor looks at what has been achieved in Accra from a CD perspective.

The preparatory work flowing from the Bonn workshop ‘Capacity development: Accra and beyond’ made inroads into the capacity development debate. The Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) incorporated most of the Bonn workshop consensus points. Capacity was an issue in virtually all of the round table discussions at the High Level Forum. It was actually the central theme of some round tables, such as the one on ownership. The sector round table was remarkably well managed and emphasised the risks of a sector focus if systemic capacities, including public sector reform and incentive systems, are not addressed.

Moving toward 2011

These issues were examined at a side event sponsored by LenCD and the Partner Contact Group. Mustafa Mastoor, director general of the Ministry of Finance in Afghanistan, emphasised the priorities that the AAA was defining as starting points: the commitment to joint action and the importance of evaluating against explicit targets. Philippe Besson, senior advisor to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), saw the capacity development agenda significantly changing technical cooperation. Richard Manning, former chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and co-chair in Bonn, saw the next stage as focusing on how to build sustainable institutions. He urged the reconsideration of tertiary education and its role. Emmanuel Akwetey, executive director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Ghana, pressed for an even more inclusive High Level Forum 2011, with more interaction between civil society and government, and emphasised the importance of independent assessments.

The AAA actually establishes a heavy agenda for both developing and donor countries. They commit to working together at all levels to promote operational changes that make capacity development support more effective. It is stated that, ‘developing countries will systematically identify areas where there is a need to strengthen the capacity to perform and deliver services at all levels – national, sub-national, sectoral and thematic – and design strategies to address them’. Donors also have a busy agenda aside from supporting those of developing countries in ‘more responsive’ ways. Their own capacities, including that to engage effectively on the national level, were subject to many remarks. An agreement was reached on ‘jointly selecting and managing’ technical cooperation and on promoting South-South cooperation for CD support.

If the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action are taken seriously, one should expect significant advances by 2011. The order of the day must be first to use this mandated space and push hard on implementation and second to enforce accountability for change, because ‘what can be measured can be done’.

Links

The full text of the AAA and all other documentation on the High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness is available on AccraHLF website.

The CSO parallel forum that took place over the two days before the high-level forum brought together some 600 representatives from 325 civil society organisations and 88 countries. Eighty were selected and accredited to participate in the forum. More information on the CSO position is available at BetterAid website.