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Study on the Relevance and Applicability of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in Humanitarian Assistance

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... A focus on the autonomy and independence of development as desirable items in their own right might help to combat the instrumentalisation of development assistance for political ends (Harvey et al., 2007). Donor governments are beginning to recognise a possible relationship between the Paris Declaration on development aid and the principles of the Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative, and a recent DAC report talks about 'better The majority of donors interviewed for a recent study on complementarity between GHD and the Paris principles argued that humanitarian action could do much more to promote capacity-building and that, for the most part, donors had fallen short of their GHD goal to strengthen national and local capacities (Harmer and Basu Ray, 2009). Nevertheless, as a Revised Humanitarian Assessment Framework for DAC peer reviews notes, any association between humanitarian and development assistance can only be a partial one: where the state is involved in conflict or does not fulfil its responsibilities towards its citizens, 'full association (particularly with respect to partner government ownership and alignment with national development strategies) would compromise core principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence of humanitarian action'. ...
Chapter
This chapter highlights the increasing utilization of private aid in economic development. While there is a broad appeal for using private development assistance over official development assistance, limitations to effectiveness do remain. Those who view private aid as a cure-all for development and humanitarian projects may assume too much. Private aid faces many of the same or similar issues as official aid. An understanding of these particular challenges is important for those who desire to improve the condition of those abroad, and a cautious approach is advised.
Article
Existing best practices for aid delivery are well known and largely uncontroversial but often neglected by bilateral and multilateral aid agencies because of domestic political considerations and bureaucratic resistance. Developing countries should unilaterally ratify an agreement committing them, in the future, after they have experienced sustained and robust economic, social, and political development, to establish their own foreign aid programs that follow existing best practices for aid delivery. Such foreign aid reciprocity agreements would have numerous benefits, including: being an international tool to signal a developing country’s resolve to reform and a domestic tool to pressure corrupt public officials to improve; enabling developing countries to take a leadership position in international development discourses; putting pressure on developed countries to implement best practices; and encouraging other developing countries to support and eventually adopt aid reciprocity agreements, which would lead to an increase in the amount of aid in the future. Furthermore, the idea of unilateral reciprocity agreements could potentially be expanded to areas of international interaction beyond foreign aid such as finance, trade, security, technology transfer, migration, and environmental policies.
Article
For too long international humanitarian aid has neglected the primary responsibility of the state to assist and protect its citizens in times of disaster. A focus on the role of the state in contexts where governments are active parties to a conflict and are failing to live up to these responsibilities is difficult and underpins many of the recurring dilemmas of humanitarian action. The fundamental principles of humanitarian action should offer a framework for principled engagement with governments in situations of conflict but too often they are still interpreted as shorthand for ignoring governments. Using principles to inform engagement with both states and other international actors engaged in crises could provide a way forward. However, this would need to be a humanitarian agenda that engages with developing country governments, with non-OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) donors, and with the stabilisation and security agendas of Western governments, and not one that attempts to ring-fence an ever-shrinking isolationist humanitarian space.
Article
Humanitarian aid is a significant and growing dimension of Official Development Assistance (ODA). Meeting humanitarian needs caused by natural disasters or armed conflicts poses serious challenges for donors financing humanitarian action. Reforms to improve effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian action are underway. The Principles and Good Practice of Humanitarian Donorship (GHD), endorsed in 2003 by 16 DAC governments and the European Commission, provides an opportunity for harmonising donor practice in this field. The DAC has agreed to take an active role in promoting GHD and since 2004, a GHD assessment framework has been applied in six Peer Reviews (Australia, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland). This document summarises the findings and experience with the aim of assessing the usefulness of this approach.
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