Busan Forum on Aid Effectiveness and ownership for development

In 2005, aid donors and recipient countries gathered in Paris for the Second High Level Forum on aid effectiveness. They endorsed the Paris Declaration, grounded in five implementation principles: ownership, alignment, harmonization, management for results, and mutual accountability.

These principles were designed to make aid delivery more effective. Aid stakeholders then sought to achieve the Paris goals by 2010, and in 2011, they will discuss the results of the implementation of the Paris Declaration at the Fourth High Level Forum in Busan, following the Accra meeting in 2008.

Among the five principles, ownership comes first as the core agenda, since it helps with achieving the other four principles. Ownership in the Paris Declaration means that recipient countries own their national development policies and programs while also improving the capacity of government to “exercise leadership” on the basis of their development policies and strategies.

Even though the final survey results show that the goal of ownership has not been met, the quality of recipient countries’ national development strategies has improved. While recipients are required to develop their own national policies and strategies for development under the Paris Declaration, donors are also required to support recipient governments improve their ownership of national development policies.

With this in mind, the Korea International Cooperation Agency, a government body for aid implementation, has considered ownership when supporting projects and programs in developing countries.

At the national level, KOICA has introduced a Country Partnership Strategy in recipient countries. The CPS is a comprehensive development performance framework that considers recipient governments’ own development strategies and programs. KOICA analyzes recipients’ development strategies and takes a long-term vision for development in recipients’ context.

By using CPS in aid delivery, KOICA intends to increase the aid ownership of recipient countries, along with predictability. At the same time, KOICA is also consulting recipient governments, civic organizations and other stakeholders to help recipient countries exercise their leadership in development process.

Not only at the national level, but also at the organizational level, KOICA has provided long-term support in terms of institutional ownership in recipient countries. For instance, in Vietnam, KOICA has provided assistance to the Vietnam-Korea Industrial Technical College for more than 10 years, with full support given to the college principal’s leadership. KOICA has supported college-run open seminars to identify needs and encourage stakeholder engagement. KOICA’s assistance has also been implemented in active collaboration with provincial officers in charge of vocational training. As a result, the college has succeeded in improving the curriculum in a way which can be managed in a sustainable fashion, and has a post-graduate employment rate of 90 percent.

Through these and other examples, KOICA has contributed to the international community’s efforts to promote aid effectiveness by improving recipient ownership at different levels. However, it has not been easy to achieve total ownership.

Promoting ownership among recipient governments will not be accomplished through KOICA’s efforts alone, but through cooperation with recipient countries themselves, as well as alongside other donors and all aid stakeholders involved in the process.

Since the Busan meeting is an opportunity to integrate all stakeholders, including not only donor and recipient governments but also the private sector and the public, it will be expected to promote further engagement of both civil society and the private sector in international development cooperation. In light of this, as part of its aid program implementations, KOICA will seek to further include the private sector and the public through reinforced public-private partnerships.


By Park Dae-won
President of the Korea International Cooperation Agency