3 August 2012: The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation, which will monitor implementation of the Busan commitments, among other functions, has further defined its operating structure and appointed three ministerial Co-Chairs, as well as Steering Committee members. The Partnership is supported by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Earlier agreements on the Partnership, including its mandate, were reached during the final meeting of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, held from 28-29 June 2012. Consultations following that meeting resulted in the governance decisions announced on 3 August 2012.

The Global Partnership emerged from an agreement reached at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) (Busan Forum). It aims to bring together countries and organizations to ensure effective development cooperation and support achievement of results. The Partnership’s main functions are to: maintain and strengthen political support for effective development cooperation; monitor the implementation of the Busan commitments; facilitate knowledge exchange and sharing of lessons learned; and support national implementation of the Busan commitments. The Partnership is to draw on the efforts of the OECD DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, which will be dissolved.

The ministerial Co-Chairs are: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance, Nigeria; Armida Alisjahbana, Minister of State for National Development Planning, Indonesia; and Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development, UK. The three Co-Chairs represent recipients of development co-operation, countries engaged in South-South co-operation, and providers of development cooperation, to reflect the increasingly multi-stakeholder nature of development.

The 15 Steering Committee members include: representatives of recipients of development cooperation (5), representative of recipients and providers of development cooperation (1); representatives of providers of development cooperation (3); and one representative each from parliamentarians, civil society stakeholders, multilateral development banks, UNDP, and OECD/DAC. A representative of private sector stakeholders is still to be confirmed.

The Steering Committee’s first meeting is expected to take place in late 2012, and the Partnership’s first ministerial-level meeting will take place in early 2013. [HLF-4 Press Release] [OECD Civil Society Newsletter, September 2012] [OECD DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness] [Busan Declaration] [IISD RS Story on Busan Declaration]