Better Policies for Development
Recommendations for Policy Coherence

This report examines the ways in which wider policies can be use to support our common development objectives. It focuses on areas requiring collective action by the entire international community, and complements the OECD’s continuing work on aid effectiveness and monitoring aid flows.
It starts from two premises. First, policies ranging from trade and investment to tax and fiscal transparency, corporate governance, climate change, resource security and social policy have a profound impact on the prospects for achieving sustainable development. Second, whilst these require action by national governments and regional organisations in both developed and developing countries, in today’s interconnected world they also require collective action by the entire international community.
The report covers 18 development policy topics divided into four broad categories: sustainable economic growth, economic governance, the environment and natural resource security, and society. Together these reflect the OECD’s mission to promote better policies for better lives.
Also available in: French
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Education and skills
Progress in education, training, and human resource development are essential for achieving sustained economic growth and poverty reduction, and for responding to the changes in technology and demographics that are re-shaping labour markets. Education improves productivity, employability, nutrition and healthcare, and general prosperity. Education systems need to provide equitable opportunities – starting in early childhood and continuing throughout life. They need to equip people with knowledge, skills and tools to stay competitive and engaged. Within this broad framework, specific targets on primary education are set out in the MDGs: universal primary education and the elimination of gender disparity in primary education. There is a strong link between the gender disparity target and other topics: lack of education for girls contributes to high adolescent birth rates, jeopardising health and holding back social and economic advancement.
Also available in: French
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