Contrary to critics assessment of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA), that resulted from the just ended Third High Level Forum (HLF3) on Aid Effectiveness that it was vague and lacked concrete commitments from donors, some donor nations have announced their firm commitment to concrete steps to making aid delivery and spending more transparent and predictable.
 
At the close of the HLF3, the United Kingdom led some of donor nations and organisations to launch a global initiative to make it easier for poor people and their governments to track how overseas aid is delivered and spent and thereby ensure that it worked better for poor people.
   
A statement issued by UK Department for International Development (DFID) said the initiative is intended to improve openness in the manner aid is delivered to poor countries and to increase scrutiny over how it is spent.
   
 'The initiative would also allow governments of poor countries to plan more effectively by guaranteeing when aid would be delivered,' it stated.
     
The statement said failure to deliver aid on time has been identified by the international community as a key factor in hampering development work and forcing recipient government to increase their debts by going for more loans to cover shortfalls.
     
'The initiative was therefore intended to stem that trend,' it said. Even though civil society organisations (CSOs) are generally critical of the outcome of the HLF3, some of them have openly admitted that the move to make aid delivery and spending more transparent and predictable is positive and a step in the right direction.

Source: GNA - Ghana News Agency