The Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation

From November 29 to December 1, 2011, representatives from governments in donor and partner countries, multilateral and civil society organizations, emerging economies, parliamentarians and the private sector gathered in Busan, South Korea for the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4). They came to share their experiences, learn from each other, leverage development cooperation efforts and forge a new and more inclusive partnership for effective development cooperation.

The Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, led the Canadian delegation and highlighted Canada's leadership on aid effectiveness, with a focus on aid accountability, value-for-money and real results, as well as the actions Canada has taken in advancing global progress on making aid more effective.

Participants endorsed the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation and committed to four principles for effective development: country ownership, focus on results, inclusive development partnerships, and transparency and accountability to each other. In particular, they committed to:

1. Forming a new Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation to support and ensure accountability and implementation of commitments at the political level, with the full range of development actors
2. Refocusing the development agenda on results with a clearer emphasis on actual performance against projected development outcomes or long term results and not just inputs and outputs
3. Emphasizing accountability to citizens
4. Enhancing action on transparency and predictability — as progress has been slow on incorporating these into international development work.

Participants were also asked to support a number of other documents to facilitate action on the commitments made in Busan. Canada supported the following five:

1. Achieving, Measuring, Reporting and Accountability for Sustainable Development Results: Country Results and Accountability Agreements
2. Pushing the Boundaries on Transparency for Better Predictability, Engagement and Accountability
3. A Joint Statement on the Private Sector
4. The New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States
5. The New Consensus on Effective Institutions

Some of the key issues for Canada at Busan were: accountability for results, transparency, gender equality and women's empowerment, fragile and conflict-affected states, civil society effectiveness, resilience and new partnerships for effective cooperation.