§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress is being made on the Rome Declaration on Humanitarian Aid. [176793]
§ Hilary BennThe UK is one of 23 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)'s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), which provides a means for donors to share experience and develop best practice in aid management. In February 2003, an OECD High Level Forum in Rome agreed a series of Good Practice Papers on the Harmonisation of Donor Practices for Effective Aid Delivery. With support from DFID and other agencies, the DAC has been developing means to measure progress in this work and a report will be published in December 2004.
The UK Harmonisation Action Plan was also agreed in February 2003, and over the last year DFID has been at the forefront of advocating harmonisation, both by testing out new approaches and by working collectively with others to change ways of working. This should significantly reduce the burden imposed on partner countries by the wide range of procedures that donors now apply to very similar tasks in delivering their assistance, for example during audit and evaluation.
As co-chair of the Strategic Partnership for Africa (SPA), DFID has also supported efforts to improve donor harmonisation. The 2003 survey indicated that alignment with national Poverty Reduction Strategies was still falling short. However, work is now being carried out jointly by SPA donors to identify how to make faster progress.