DONORS AND GOVERNMENT EFFORTS ON AID EFFECTIVENESS AND PREPARATION FOR GHANA

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

DONORS AND GOVERNMENT EFFORTS

ON AID EFFECTIVENESS AND PREPARATION FOR GHANA

Cao Manh Cuong Foreign Economic Relations Dept Ministry of Planning and Investment Vietnam

INGO FORUM

(Hanoi, 29 Februray, 2008)

PART I DONORS AND GOVERNMENT EFFORTS

ON AID EFFECTIVENESS

1 HCS is a localized statement of the Paris Declaration on Aid

Effectiveness to Vietnam to ensure it is relevant to the country

KEY AREAS IN FOCUS

1 Communication

2 Realization

3 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 7 thematic Groups (TGs) to dicuss on How to

implement HCS on “partnership spirit":

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:

1 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 5 Development Banks (WB, ADB, JBIC, KfW, AFD).

2 Joint Portfolio Performance Review between the

Government and 5 Development Banks.

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

Action Plans (Belgium as the latest) (Belgium as the 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 (1 st Survey (2005), 2 nd

Survey (2006) and the forthcoming 3 rd Survey (1 st Quarter,

2008 to report to HLF 3 in Ghana (Sep., 2008).

PART II

INDEPENDENT MONITORING REPORT

INDEPENDENT MONITORING PROCESS

1 Based on the HCS M&E Framework and the TOR (consulted with

OECD-DAC Joint Venture on Paris Declaration Evaluation and

approved by the PGAE IM Management Committee) for selection of HCS Independent Monitoring Team (IMT), IMT was fielded with two missions working in Vietnam (July and October, 2007)

2 Apart from its desk studies, the IMT conducted various interviews

and discussions with Government agencies, donors (especially the voluntary donors – Belgium, DANIDA, WB, DFID) and CSOs on aid effectiveness issues Some of the in-depth field studies by sector were taken at the line ministry level (transport, education, rural water and sanitation.

3 After receiving comments from PGAE IM Management Committee,

the daft IMT’s Report was presented at the CG-2007 and after that got further comments from audiences attending at the PGAE

Workshop.

4 Based on the comments, the IMT finalized the Report.

or pose an equal challenge The most complex processes, and also the most

significant progress, can be found within the yellow group.

FINDINGS AROUND 5 PRINCIPLES OF PD & HCS

1. Ownership

2. Alignment with country strategies

3. Alignment with country systems

4. Harmonisation

5. Mutual accountability

1 Ownership

Ownership of the national development agenda is very strong

Donors are respectful of country ownership

Policy dialogue reflects a mature development

partnership

Ownership beyond Government has improved, but could be better institutionalised

Programmatic approaches

Importance of PBAs to achieving strategic

engagement

2006 Baseline of 34% against 75% target

PBAs evolve over a number of years

Can include various funding modalities

Budget support provides an effective platform for engaging with decentralised service delivery

But PBAs also relevant to other areas

3 Alignment with country systems

 Many important reform processes underway

 Donors providing well-coordinated support

 GoV is increasingly leading on diagnostic work, using objective assessment tools

 Donors are providing more assistance through the budget

 But little change yet in investment projects

Progress on use of country system

(2006 Survey)

34% 27%

33%

2006 Baseline

Share of programme -based support among surveyed donors

PFM Procurement

% of ODA using country

systems for:

4 Harmonisation

Donors have prioritised alignment behind country leadership over harmonisation

Relatively informal structures

Effective at joint analysis and policy advice

Division of labour and lead donor arrangements are underdeveloped

This has led to some cumbersome management

arrangements for joint programmes

2 Alignment with country strategies

Alignment to the SEDP is solid, but not difficultAlignment at sectoral level is a greater challenge, depending on both:

 The quality of planning and budgeting

 Donor programming practices

Significant variation across the sectors

Most donors have changed their practices

substantially, but there is still a large legacy of

5 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

During this phase, returns don’t always seem

commensurate with the effort Danger of fatigue and loss of momentum

Key recommendation: sustain progress by

1 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

2 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

3 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

 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)

4 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

5 Strengthen mutual accountability

 Separate political oversight from technical

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

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

PART III

LOOKING AHEAD TO HLF-3 IN GHANA

PREPARATION FOR HLF-3 IN GHANA

1 Conduct 2008 Monitoring Surveys for PD and HCS

2 Develop PGAE Plaform and PGAE Annual Plan for 2008

4 Actively participate in the Global and Regional Aid

3 Develop PGAE Action Plan for 2008

PART IV

CSOs AND AID EFFECTIVENESS

PGAE EXPECTS TO HAVE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION FROM CSOs

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

on development issues, funding development activities with their own resources, and tracking how effectively ODA is used in

Vietnam

PGAE and other partnership groups lessons learnt on the ground

from their activities They engage communities in the development

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