The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC) convened a three-day summit to take stock of the progress in implementing the Principles of Effective Development Co-operation since their endorsement in 2011, and to discuss the future of work. Stakeholders agreed to build on past commitments, achievements, and experiences and to address the “unfinished business of the aid effectiveness agenda.”

The Principles of Effective Development Co-operation – country ownership, focus on results, inclusive partnerships, and transparency and mutual accountability – were agreed at the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Republic of Korea, in 2011.

Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, from 12-14 December, for the 2022 Effective Development Co-operation Summit, the GPEDC stakeholders shone a spotlight on the role of cooperation in strengthening trust and transforming the way we work together.

In her remarks to the Summit, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed highlighted the need for greater urgency, greater solidarity, and greater ambition at “the mid-point of the SDGs.” She drew attention to the commitment of the UN development system “to respond to the complex demands of the 2030 Agenda,” urged focus on the effectiveness of development spending, and called for supporting national leadership.

At the Summit’s conclusion, the delegates issued a 15-page declaration, outlining their shared commitment to development co-operation, international partnerships, and the four Principles to “deliver results on country-owned development plans and addressing global-scale challenges.” In so doing, the document states, they “will contribute to the Decade of Action to deliver on the [SDGs], while tackling the multiple crises the world is facing.”

According to the 2022 Effective Development Co-operation Summit Declaration, the stakeholders will focus their efforts on:

• leaving no one behind, guided by the human rights-based approach and the principles of universality, indivisibility, equality and non-discrimination, participation, and accountability;
• development co-operation, to contribute to the realization of the commitments of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change;
• supporting and engaging in multi-stakeholder, multi-level dialogues at the global, national, and local levels, to strengthen partnerships and build ownership of development priorities and plans;
• strengthening the capacity of all actors and institutions at country level so they can take charge of their own development through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach;
• supporting the capacity of national statistical systems, including efforts towards their digital transformation, and their ability to improve data quality and disaggregation; and
• making the GPEDC “fit to contribute to delivering the 2030 Agenda” by better demonstrating its achievements at the country level, among other actions.

The Declaration presents the GPEDC’s new monitoring framework and process, reformed to better contribute to solving the pressing challenges of the 2030 Agenda. It also describes the Global Partnership’s commitments to delivering more effectively at country level for the 2030 Agenda, including by institutionalizing effectiveness at country level to drive action and learning, generating evidence for the follow-up of the 2030 Agenda and leaving no one behind, and using country evidence for regional and global action.

The Summit’s deliberations were informed by a GPEDC special report titled, ‘Rebuilding Trust Through Effective Development Co-operation.’ The report “focuses on the current state of development co-operation and reviews approaches that facilitate partnership-building, taking the new GPEDC monitoring exercise as a critical opportunity to generate behaviour change.”

Formally constituted in 2012, the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation brings together governments, bilateral and multilateral organizations, civil society, the private sector, and representatives from parliaments and trade unions, among others, who are committed to “maximize the effectiveness of all forms of co-operation for development for the shared benefits of people, planet, prosperity and peace.” [Publication: Rebuilding Trust Through Effective Development Co-operation] [2022 Effective Development Co-operation Summit Declaration] [2022 Effective Development Co-operation Summit]