IPS
Interview with Letty Chiwara, UNIFEM Cross Regional Programmes Manager
ACCRA, Sep 4 (IPS) – As the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness draws to a close in the Ghanaian capital, gender activists are reflecting on the way ahead. Having successfully raised the visibility of gender equality and women’s empowerment on the Accra Agenda, attention [...]

“Making the health and rights of women a global priority is not only the right thing to do, it is smart economics,” write Thoraya Ahmed Obaid and Theresa Shaver.

NEW YORK – The neighbour heard Husan Pari’s screams and went to help her. She was about to deliver her baby. A traditional birth attendant tried her best, but the baby just would not emerge. The birth attendant refused to help anymore.

The risks of not acting on climate change are grim, writes Yash Tandon, Executive Director of the South Centre.

GENEVA – There is much to celebrate in the growth and development of the South in recent years, from the ability of certain Latin American countries to avoid dependence on the North to the growth of the economies of certain Asian countries whose increasing sovereign wealth is now being tapped to bail out distressed banks in the North.

Neglecting to provide for treatment for post-traumatic stress disorders can lead to new cycles of violence, says Joanne Sandler, Deputy Director of UNIFEM.

In post conflict settings, where new constitutions are agreed upon, national development plans and budgets drawn up, new laws adopted and institutions rebuilt, there is often a unique window of opportunity to advance women’s rights and gender-equality.

At the same time, because conflict generally brings about changes in existing gender relations…

Debate on the managing for development results and mutual accountability took a new twist at the Aid Effectiveness talks in Accra, Ghana.

Officials from various African governments accused donors of making it difficult to produce results using donor money.

The delegates also lamented that donor countries and African governments were not being accountable on how aid is utilised.

Several speakers at the 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness said between 60 per cent and…

During a roundtable forum dubbed Country Ownership — Whose Ownership? Whose Leadership? participants asked donors and development partners to refocus efforts on improving genuine mutual accountability.

Preliminary studies indicate that effective country ownership of development cooperation is almost certainly stronger and has been reinforced by the Paris Declaration.

According to Dr Bernard Wood, who evaluated some of the Paris Declaration projects, ownership remains heavily weighed in favour of central players rather than sector or local authorities.

Three years since the Paris Declaration was signed by 56 countries progress appears dim and far between.

In a study commissioned on 12 of the 24 African countries that signed the 2005 Declaration, only four have started implementing government-donor coordination systems of aligning donor support with national development strategies.

A study launched at the on going 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana revealed that Ethiopia, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon…

A parallel event organised by the Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS 21) highlighted the importance of good statistics for measuring the key pillars of the Paris Declaration.

In order to measure progress on achievement of the Paris Declaration, the 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness called on developing countries to partner with donor communities to ensure good statistics are produced to facilitate development results.

“Donors need to align themselves through this framework in the division of labour and hook themselves to these practices.”

Excessive fragmentation of aid reduces its effectiveness and over burdens recipients in many countries and sectors.

It also brings about the risk of undermining country ownership and leadership.

Partner countries now want division of labour to be a solution to this issue. However, they are asking for traffic rules to regulate the process.

Equality are calling on donors and governments to include gender as one of the principles in the new aid modalities.

The Paris Declaration of 2005 operates on five principles — Harmonisation, Alignment, Ownership, Management for Results and Mutual Accountability.

However of these principles that define how aid is disbursed and utilised, gender factor has not been captured as a key issue.