European Union commits €53billion aid a year, make it count say NGOs

The world's biggest aid donor, the European Union, should stand up for ambitious proposals to tackle global poverty at the Busan High Level Forum(HLF4) aid summit say NGOs. CONCORD, Europe’s Relief and Development NGO confederation present in Busan, urges European leaders to make its extensive aid programme more effective at the conference. CONCORD insists $4billion could be saved per year by the EU if it implements better aid refroms and in this context, 62% of European citizens are in favour of increasing development aid to at least 0.7% of EU Gross National Income by 2015. Yet despite Europe’s global contribution to aid and its citizens support, NGOs express concern that the EU is going into Busan with weaker ambitions compared to the strong leadership it showed in 2008 at the last summit of its kind in Accra, Ghana.
“The EU has a positive role to play in supporting more effective aid policies. But we are disappointed to see that greater aid transparency is being blocked by certain EU countries.” says CONCORD President Justin Kilcullen. Also he urged that "EU hasn't show commitment of untying aid and improving local procurement of aid.
Along with EU, coutries attending HLF4 should wake up and strengthen the unity and willingness to improve aid effectiveness between countries in order to show advanced results since the previous HLF conference.

Nothing at Busan for African Women, Children

Some 250,000 mothers are estimated to die in Africa every year, leaving behind infants with reduced chances of making it beyond five years of age. Statistics by Save the Children, an international non-government organisation, reveal that African countries claim nine out of ten bottom places in a worldwide maternal health ranking that involves 164 countries. As HLF4 opens up, one of the questions that is being raised is whether African mothers and children can acquire substantial aid from the conference. Ben Philips of Save the Children says, "Unfortunately, the Busan Outcome document, which basically summarises the Forum’s platform for action beyond the conference, isn’t ambitious enough to improve aid effectiveness. For instance, there is no strong commitment to untie aid."
In additon, experts on aid in Busan say that if donors had shown a strong commitment to untie aid as an outcome of the ongoing conference, this would have increased aid by 15 to 30 percent, consequently increasing the value of aid. And this is not the only way in which donors are letting African women and children down. Although the G-8 countries, comprising the world’s richest nations, committed to ensuring that 0.7 percent of their budget goes to aid. None of them has actualised this commitment. "There’s a clear aid deficit that makes it difficult for poor countries to channel money into sector budgets towards improving health services by employing qualified nurses and even having more health facilities in areas where the poor can easily access them," said Dan Badoo, a policy researcher.
Lastly, Philips emphasized, "When we say that this is the HLF 4, it all sounds so technical and elitist, but what the ordinary, poor persons really need is to experience how healthy aid can improve their lives, can give them better quality livelihoods and save dying mothers and infants."

Absence of the International Leadership on International Development

   In Paris in 2005 and Accra in 2008, donors around the world agreed on a set of key proposals. With the Busan Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) underway, donor countries must do better. For instance, some donor countries try to remove commitments on aid transparency from the Busan outcome document. While aid transparency is not going to solve all the problems of the development world, it is fundamental to being able to solve them - transparency will not stop corruption but it is a lot harder to beat corruption without it. It is vital not only for getting results but also for providing accountability to our taxpayers. Donor  countries have agreed to the basic principles set out in the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda, so Busan must be about the next steps.  Donors need to agree a further timetable for implementation and a monitoring framework. Crucially, all countries need to work together - HLF4 must be a multilateral effort. If one country pulls out of the transparency commitments, the basic principlse and overall effect of mutual aid policy will be fundamentally undermined. HLF-4 should not just be another photo opportunity where leaders substitute rhetoric for action. It has to become effective aid's opportunity for action.

Angel Gurria : From the ruins of the Korean War

Angel Gurria, secretary general of the OECD, said that Korea indeed is a role model for international aid because it joined into the ranks of developed countries after being in ruins from the Korean War.

Queen Rania : Focus on Education

Queen Rania of Jordan said that development aid should focus on education and that South Korea's high education fever is a good example. Also, that for the development aid to be sustainable, it consists of teaching how catch a fish rather than giving a fish.

Declaration of the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

Change the paradigm of the international aid policy from 'aid effectiveness' to 'development effectiveness' and build a new comprehensive global partnership which embraces the principal donors such as industrialized and emerging countries, private donors, and more.
The Busan declaration, with the four common principles, includes △the ownership of the developing countries with development priorities △result-oriented from the central results △inclusive development partnership △transparency and mutual accountability.
In the four actions, adopt △a deepened and expanded democratic ownership of the development policies and processes △a strengthen effort to get concrete and sustainable results △support enlargement for the South-South triangular cooperation and support tailored to the needs and circumstances of individual country △ support for Development Cooperation activities so that it can act as a catalyst for development.

Speech from Rania Al Abdullah, the current Queen consort of Jordan

Rania Al Abdullah, the current Queen consort of Jordan, said that "When people invest one dollar, the most effective development aid is investment in girls. Thus, we need to invest in women who represent half of the world population and 40% of labor".