Making aid work

International symposium 7 December 2007 Basel, Switzerland

Background

The highly controversial Novartis symposium of 2006 “Development cooperation at a crossroads: dead end or new horizons?” outlined in broad terms the potential and limitations facing development cooperation between North and South. This year, on December 7, 2007 concrete questions will be addressed: What are the key requirements for development cooperation to be effective? What can theory teach us? What are the most important lessons to be learned from practical experience? What does performance-based development cooperation look like? And what do success and effectiveness actually mean?

Under the auspices of the UN, the global community has resolved to halve poverty and hunger, provide universal primary education and improve the health of all human beings by 2015. The so-called Millennium Development Goals have been embraced by all development cooperation partners in the North and South – now the time has come to walk the talk.

If the Millennium Goals are to be achieved, the mobilization of resources by partners in the South is a prerequisite. Countries of the North and South need to create predictable framework conditions for development and to target the poor with their investments. The UN expects northern countries to contribute CHF 0.70 to development aid for every CHF 100 of national income. However, the quantity of development cooperation is just one factor, quality – measured in terms of effectiveness and cost-efficiency – is equally important.

Are lessons learned with respect to the design of effective development cooperation already available? If that is the case, what are the emerging foundation pillars of successful development aid? What is the role of efforts which release funds only when certain mutually agreed goals have been achieved (performance-based funding)?

Performance-based development cooperation requires clarity as to how success is measured. However, an honest track record is fraught with trap doors and affects vested institutional interests. Everyone agrees, for example, that education, particularly for girls, represents an excellent investment in the future. But how does one measure the successful use of resources allocated to this purpose? By the number of newly built schools? By the acquisition of modern learning and teaching material? By the number of teachers and/or their attendance at lesson times? What if too few young people finish secondary school and go on to become teachers? What if the teachers' minimal salary is insufficient to live on and they spend their days as private tutors or pursuing other business? Given the complexity of most development issues, is it at all possible to measure the success of specific interventions?

The aim of this year’s symposium is to find answers to these questions. Why not find them for yourself – well-known and accepted personalities from all around the world will shed light on the topic from their perspectives and you can contribute to the discussion between their presentations.