“What we want from Busan is ambition - to pass from the idea of aid effectiveness to development effectiveness”
“We don’t need more empty words on a sheet of paper”
Civil society voice a wish list for the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4), in November and December this year in Busan, South Korea, in a new collective video just launched, giving access to Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs) views from all over the world in the run up to the event. The video complements a paper laying out what civil society asks for as outcomes from the event.
“The level of poverty [in Africa] today is higher than the poverty levels we had in the 60s, 70s and 80s. At the same time the paradox is that we have aid flowing to Africa more than before.”
“Aid is like a band aid. ..This time we need to talk about the structural roots of poverty. If we do get to resolve these issues, then there’s no need for aid at all.”
“What we need is not a lot of money, but just how to use the little money to do the right things."
”HLF4 marks the first time that CSOs will participate as a full and equal stakeholder alongside governments and donors."
The video ‘Civil Society Voices on the Road to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness’ raises awareness on the meaning of development effectiveness and how this concept goes beyond just aid delivery and deals with the actual impact on the lives of all people. CSOs make clear that achieving human rights, women’ s rights, gender equality, decent work and environmental sustainability is the ultimate goal for development effectiveness and development cooperation, and that democratic ownership is key.
Donor government representatives join voices with CSOs in the 20-minute recording.
The document ‘CSOs on the Road to Busan: Key Messages and Proposals’ is a common political statement written by CSOs. It builds on their previous positions and demands on the aid effectiveness process and specifies the call to all development actors to fully evaluate and deepen the Paris and Accra commitment; Strengthen development effectiveness through practices based on human rights standards; Support CSOs as independent development actors in their own right and commit to an enabling environment for their work in all countries; and Promote equitable and just development cooperation architecture.
View the ‘Civil Society Voices’ for HLF4 video on the Open Forum YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW-pu6EtRos (part 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXHkB2QEYyg (part 2)
The CSO Key Messages and Proposals are available for download and for endorsement on the BetterAid website: http://betteraid.org/en/about-us/join-betteraid.html.
ENDS
BetterAid is a platform of more than 1000 civil society development organizations worldwide with the goal of monitoring and influencing current commitments on aid effectiveness. It also strives to broaden the policy agenda from aid effectiveness to development effectiveness, and a substantial reform of the international aid architecture. www.betteraid.org
Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness is a global, fully participatory process driven by Civil Society Organizations to build consensus on commonly accepted principles of CSO development effectiveness, implementation guidelines, and standards for an enabling environment. On the road to HLF4, the Open Forum will be finalizing its International Framework at the second and final Global Assembly of the Open Forum at the end of June 2011. www.cso-effectiveness.org
Contacts
BetterAid: Clare Birkett Tel.: +32 (0)2 894 46 42 E-mail:
Open Forum: Olga Kozhaeva Tel.: +32 (0)2 743 87 90 E-mail:
Acknowledgements
The video ‘Civil Society Voices on the Road to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea’ has been produced with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) by Creo Media Group.