One year later, where do we stand on commitments made in Busan?

Aid is a vital tool in the fight against global poverty. But too often, aid delivers less than it promises.

If you follow the debate over development aid, you’ve probably heard that there was a big conference last year in South Korea where world leaders sought ways to make aid work better. As we hit the one year mark after the conference, Oxfam has released a briefing paper - ”Busan in a Nutshell” - intended as a guide to what happened at that conference, the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. ”Busan in a Nutshell” explains what happened at Busan, and how implementers and advocates can work together to make sure the global community delivers on its promise of more effective aid.

Since the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness was signed in 2005, donors, recipients, advocates and others have been working to improve aid so it delivers better poverty-fighting results. Last year, in Busan, these groups met to form the ”Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation,” which sets the international standard on the principles of effective aid and good development to which all development actors should subscribe.

“Busan in a Nutshell” documents the Global Partnership and the commitments made at Busan, while recommending how to ensure aid effectiveness commitments are implemented. These principles include:

• Country leadership and ownership of development strategies.

• A focus on results that matter to the poor in developing countries.

• Inclusive partnerships among development actors based on mutual trust, and transparency and accountability to one another.

All development stakeholders – including traditional donors and emerging providers – must respect and uphold these key principles by fulfilling the promises they made at Busan, Oxfam argues. For this to happen, the Global Partnership will need to rely on strong vision, high-level political engagement and a robust but flexible global accountability mechanism.

Let’s keep the conversation about the principles established in Busan going. Oxfam wants to hear from you through your participation by:

• Reading the ”Busan in a Nutshell” report.

• Sharing your thoughts about Busan through Twitter (using @OxfamAmerica).

• Posting and sharing your views below.

Gregory Adams, Oxfam America’s director of aid effectivness, kicks off the conversation with this blog post:

• What You Need to Know About Busan

Here’s what other bloggers had to say:

• Tom Murphy focuses on Rwanda and its efforts to support untied aid and explores a way to bring up the changing landscape of accountability in terms of using aid as a political tool in Since Busan, A Changing Aid Landscape

• Paul McAdams explores the issue of gender as it relates to the Busan conference in Still searching for the gender “Ah-ha” moment: Reflections on the Busan High Level Forum, one year later

• Clement Dlamini examines the ‘paper and practice’ of the Busan principles in his native Swaziland in Who is at the centre of development? The Swaziland experience

• Lidia Fromm Cea, Brian Atwood et al share their views on Busan at a World Bank event that took place in April of 2012 in this video: Fulfilling the Promise of Busan: Moving from Principles to Impact

• Nora Lester Murad went to Busan asking, “How can allies help Palestine to reform aid?” A year later, she is singing a different tune in Do I sound impatient? Busan+1 from Palestine

• Lidia Fromm Cea shares her views on navigating the post-Busan dynamics in Busan Outcomes One Year Later: 2 Commitments and 3 Challenges

• Rose Musa reflects on the reality of bridging policy and practice in Kenya in (Mis)behavior: Donor Policies and Gender Inequalities

• Jennifer Lentfer shares why Busan has always made her think of George Harrison in Busan and a Beatle

Will you join the conversation?