The first High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation will take place in Mexico City 15-16 April 2014. It will represent a crucial midpoint between the Busan High Level Forum in 2011 – where the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation was envisioned – and the agreement of a post-2015 international development agenda. In Mexico, ministers from all over the globe, heads of international organisations, civil society actors, foundations, business leaders and parliamentarians will come together, and the first question they will need to ask each other is: Have we made our development co-operation more effective over the past two years?

This 2014 Monitoring Report was prepared under the auspices of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (the Global Partnership), which is co-chaired by Armida Alisjahbana (Indonesia), Justine Greening (United Kingdom) and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria). The Global Partnership is jointly supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

In 2011, the international development community convened in Busan, Republic of Korea to take stock of advances in improving the delivery of aid. Participants generally agreed that the global economy and the development landscape had undergone fundamental changes since the Paris Declaration’s aid effectiveness principles were defined in 2005 and reviewed in Accra in 2008. For development co-operation to increase its effectiveness as a catalyst for poverty reduction, a fundamental change of focus was required: from global structures to a country-led approach, recognising the range of actors in development partnerships and the important but different roles each plays. The Busan Partnership agreement embodies this shift with its four principles for achieving common development goals: ownership of development priorities by developing countries, a focus on results, inclusive development partnerships, and transparency and accountability.

Two years after the endorsement of the Busan Partnership agreement for Effective Development Co-operation, are we on track to deliver on agreed commitments? What is the state of implementation of the Busan principles? How is progress assessed, and what are the limitations to the approach used? This chapter responds to these questions, drawing on evidence generated through the Global Partnership monitoring framework and its ten indicators, offering a concise overview of the findings that are explained in more detail in subsequent chapters.

Leadership by developing countries over their development policies and strategies is essential for development partnerships to succeed. This means that development co-operation programmes must be aligned with developing countries’ own systems, priorities and policies. This chapter reviews the state of implementation and challenges encountered in fulfilling key commitments made in the Busan Partnership agreement on promoting developing countries’ ownership of their development agenda and delivering results that meet their priorities. It asks to what extent are providers of development co-operation using developing countries’ own results as a basis for assessing the performance of their development co-operation programmes? Is development co-operation funding recorded in the national budgets of developing countries? Have the public financial management systems of developing countries improved and are they being used by providers of development co-operation? Are providers doing more to untie their aid and to report their untying progress?

The Busan Partnership agreement recognised that all actors have a different but complementary role to play in achieving development goals. It puts inclusiveness at the core of effective partnerships for development, bringing together the perspectives and contributions of all stakeholders, including governments, civil society and business. An inclusive approach to development also means that efforts are made to ensure that benefits reach all – both men and women. This chapter asks to what extent civil society organisations have been enabled to operate in an environment that maximises their contribution to development? How is the private sector participating in the design and implementation of policies and strategies to foster sustainable growth and poverty reduction? Do developing countries have systems in place to track allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment? This chapter presents the current state of play for the gender equality indicator. On monitoring the enabling environment for civil society organisations and private sector engagement, indicator construction has been challenging and is still ongoing. This chapter therefore provides a preliminary narrative for selected commitments on the enabling environment for civil society and private sector engagement, as well as an update on the status of indicator development.

The Busan Partnership agreement has at its heart transparency, mutual accountability among partners, and accountability to beneficiaries of development co-operation and all stakeholders. This chapter reviews the status and challenges encountered in implementing key Busan commitments on transparency and accountability. It asks: are providers of development co-operation using the recently agreed common, open standard to publish their information on development co-operation resources? Is the information they provide timely, comprehensive and forward-looking? At the country level, are co-operation providers predictable enough to allow developing countries to plan their development programmes? Does each developing country have a process in place for assessing mutual progress towards development goals, and does it include non-state stakeholders such as civil society and the private sector?

The Busan Partnership agreement is centred around a country-focused approach to effective development co-operation: partnerships for development can only succeed if they are led by developing countries and tailored to countries’ specific situations and needs. It calls on developing countries to lead in the development of their own frameworks for monitoring progress and promoting mutual accountability so that these are grounded in their own development priorities and policies. The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation provides a light structure to support country-level implementation of commitments, exchange knowledge and review progress. This chapter asks what initiatives are countries taking to translate Busan principles to their own contexts and to establish and strengthen frameworks to support learning and accountability? The chapter draws together country examples1 and confirms that progress is being made in many areas, from creating comprehensive national strategies, reducing fragmentation of efforts to greater transparency and more inclusive partnerships. Important initiatives are also occurring in fragile states and through South-South co-operation.