The civil society sector has released its assessment of the Busan aid effectiveness forum’s outcome document — two months before the June 2012 deadline of some key targets outlined in the agreement.
The review notes some high points, especially in moving the agenda beyond aid effectiveness to address development effectiveness. Civil society organizations also praised the document’s focus on transparency and acknowledged the “greatly enhanced” space they were given during the Busan forum itself.
But the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation failed to adequately address the key points that civil society organizations pushed for at the December 2011 forum, the assessment notes.
The partnership, for one, did not provide concrete timelines and targets to address the failure of donors and other development actors to uphold their Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action commitments, the review says.
The CSOs also questioned the private sector-led growth model championed by the partnership. The groups were pushing for a human rights-approach to development, which they said the document only gave “token reference.”
Civil society organizations welcomed Busan’s endorsement of the Istanbul Principles on CSO Development Effectiveness but said they remain concerned about the lack of an accountability framework to help CSOs guard against government abuses.
Meanwhile, on their call for the creation of a just and equitable development cooperation architecture, civil society organizations pledged to continue supporting the process. The Busan agreement has deferred until June 2012 the deadline for preparations for a panel that will monitor the implementation of commitments at the political level.
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