At the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in Busan, Republic of Korea, the IPU, the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) and the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea jointly organized a Parliamentary Forum on 29 November 2011. The Forum was intended to bring the voice of parliaments to the debate on how to make aid and development more effective. It was also meant to catalyse greater parliamentary involvement in the implementation of the commitments endorsed at HLF-4. Over 70 parliamentarians from 60 countries and several observers attended the Forum.
The Forum adopted a statement in which participants unequivocally asserted that parliaments should be recognized as key State institutions, not merely as “stakeholders” as suggested in previous versions of the HLF-4 outcome document.
In this capacity, parliaments should play a leading role in development, particularly given their unique mandate to examine, scrutinize and oversee the executive.
Participants stressed the importance of general budget support as the preferred aid modality as it offered greater opportunities for transparency and accountability. For parliaments to be more effective, efforts should be made to strengthen their capacity for domestic accountability. The Forum strongly supported the reference contained in the HLF-4 Outcome Document to the use of country systems as the default approach for development partners and the commitment expressed to making information, including data related to off-budget NGO-funded development projects, more readily available to parliaments.
Beyond these basic building blocks, the Parliamentary Forum underscored that a number of crucial outstanding issues must still be addressed. For example, donors should support a parliamentary platform on aid and development effectiveness. Indeed, one of the most salient messages emerging from the Forum was the importance of North-South and South-South dialogue among parliamentarians on aid and development issues. Donor and partner country MPs should be supported in knowledge- and experience-sharing towards joint monitoring, mutual peer learning, risk management and policy coherence for development.
It was agreed that effective institutions and policies must start with the separation of powers in order to prevent abuse. Parliamentarians underscored the importance of better asserting their independence from the executive by creating the necessary legal frameworks within which they can effectively fulfil their mandates. It was agreed that while support from the international community is vital - particularly among MPs in recipient countries where the institution of parliament is less well established - MPs have a variety of tools at their disposal to create a space for greater parliamentary involvement. Suggestions included the use of private members’ motions, committee field visits, and strengthened cooperation with audit institutions and NGOs.
In order to ensure this democratic foundation, an indicator for monitoring parliament’s competence in and performance on aid should be devised, as part of the development reform process in the post-Busan period. At the country level, there was a firm call for parliamentary involvement in the shaping and negotiation of aid contracts and programmes, mindful that the extent to which this is politically feasible will differ from country to country.
Participating MPs also noted the importance of advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment by recognizing that women parliamentarians are an untapped resource, and by allocating more resources to strengthen their skills and networking opportunities.
Lastly, with regard to the future Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, the Parliamentary Forum felt strongly that the time has come to include parliamentarians in any post-Busan central coordination structure. This includes the establishment of regular forums for parliamentary dialogue and active participation in decisions related to the development reform process at the country, regional, and global levels. These concerns were conveyed to HLF-4 participants in a closing speech delivered by Lord David Chidgey (United Kingdom). The IPU and AWEPA will be working together to monitor follow-up of development reform in 2012.
