Aid Effectiveness and Coordination

30 Nov Aid Effectiveness and Coordination

“Mutual accountability in development in Afghanistan can only be achieved with improved accountability in all aspects of life.”
AREU’s work on aid effectiveness began with a review of the pre-2001 Strategic Framework for Afghanistan—the organisation’s first ever report.
Since then, it has focused on coordination and accountability among aid actors in the context of policy frameworks such as the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. This includes an analysis of “mutual accountability”—a core principle of the Paris Declaration. In theory, this stresses the importance of mutual transparency, respect and coordination between development partners. However, evidence suggests that political will is lacking among both international donors and the Afghan government to elaborate and implement such concepts on a practical level. A broader 2009 assessment of the Paris Declaration itself points to a need to expand its priorities beyond technical concerns to encompass both the political dimensions of aid and a greater focus on monitoring its impact.