FINLAND is making efforts to
improve its development co-operation, sharpening the focus of its efforts and
emphasising the importance of human rights. To make these efforts effective,
says the OECD’s Review of the Development Co-operation Policies and Programmes
of Finland, the Government should honour its commitment to increase funding,
focus on areas and countries where it can have the most impact, and improve the
way it manages development co-operation.
During the review, the
Development Assistance Committee of the world’s major aid donors praised Finland
for increasing its aid by 35% to just over USD 1.4 billion (0.52% of its GDP)
during the 2006 – 2011 period. However, Finnish budget projections show that aid
will be flat for the coming two years and fall short by almost USD 50 million of
the estimated volume needed to reach the 0.7% ODA/GNI target in 2015. The review
warns that failure to increase its aid would hurt Finland’s reputation and
diminish the impact of its programme in developing countries.
Finland’s
new aid policy defines a broad spectrum of priorities which allows for flexible
implementation in developing countries. However, the review recommends that to
have maximum impact, Finland should translate these broad priorities into
clearly defined objectives, identify monitorable results, and provide its staff
with adequate guidelines and training.
The Review’s recommendations are
geared to help the Finnish government make its aid more effective, including:
hire and retain headquarters, embassy and field staff with development
experience; delegate more authority to embassies to increase impact in the
field; develop a strategic approach to working with civil society organizations;
reduce the amount of aid that is tied; provide timely information on
multi-annual commitments to partner countries and multilateral partners; and
ensure that all relevant policies support, or at least do not undermine,
development in developing countries.
|
