In November 2011, the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness will convene in Busan, Republic of Korea, to determine the principles and commitments that will guide development cooperation in the coming period. The forum will unite developing countries, development agencies, international organisations and a broad cross-section of civil society. It will review the achievements of the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, and perhaps launch a successor agreement. This is a key moment in the arena of development policy. Over the next 12 months, Africa needs to enter the international debate with a well-articulated common vision of its needs and aspirations, and an agenda of how to translate its goals into principles to govern development cooperation.

The Second Africa Regional Meeting on Aid Effectiveness, South-South Cooperation and Capacity Development acknowledged the important contributions of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action to improving development cooperation. The Paris and Accra agreements established the first set of common principles and commitments to govern both sides of the development partnership. The Paris principles-ownership, alignment, harmonisation, managing for results and mutual accountability-have come to define good aid practice.

Participants recognised the leadership of the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in promoting these principles, as well as the considerable efforts of partner countries in moving forward a very challenging agenda.

However, the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action focused primarily on the mechanics of aid delivery. The Tunis event called for refocusing attention from aid effectiveness to the broader agenda of development effectiveness. Aid is only one part of the solution to Africa's development challenges. Development in Africa must be driven by robust, private sector-led growth and effective and accountable states able to finance their development needs from their own revenues. To be truly effective, development must also be accompanied by stronger economic integration across the continent: integration is essential to
creating economies of scale that will boost trade and investment and equip Africa to compete in the global economy.

The agenda for development effectiveness that emerged from the meeting requires development cooperation to focus on unleashing partner countries' capacities and resources for development. The most successful kind of aid is aid that eventually does itself out of a job. This means developing aid practices that minimise dependence and promote self-reliance. It means prioritising investments that strengthen national capacities and build up alternative sources of development finance, as per the priorities and principles of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)'s program on African leadership and ownership. And it means moving beyond official development assistance to build development partnerships across the globe to support a vision of development that is owned and driven by countries themselves.

An African development effectiveness agenda

The Tunis event identified six elements that are central to an African agenda for development effectiveness. These elements will need to be refined and expanded through discussion and debate over the coming year.

* Building capable states

Africa needs effective states capable of delivering development results. Africa's leaders must extend clear political support for the elaboration of clear and implementable strategies to build stronger public administrations. The commitment made by development agencies in Paris and Accra to using and strengthening country systems for aid delivery is important to realising that goal, and we call on development agencies to accelerate progress on this unfinished agenda.

They should use country systems as the default position.  However, capacity-building needs to extend well beyond the fiduciary protection of aid flows. We call on African countries to determine their own priorities, and exercise clear and decisive country leadership of capacity development.

*  Developing democratic accountability

Accountability is fundamental to the achievement of development results. We recognise the value of the Paris principle of mutual accountability, reflecting the concept that development partnerships entail mutual obligations. But the accountability that matters most is not between donors and receiving governments, but between the state and society. Development must be firmly anchored in the democratic process. We call for greater investment in the institution of parliament, to ensure that it can assume its central role in the democratic process. We call for communities' greater involvement in the decisions that affect them. Africa also seeks a dramatic increase in the transparency of the use of development funds-both national resources and external assistance. There should be no less than full public disclosure of development expenditure and its results.

*  Promoting South-South cooperation

It is critical that African countries share ideas and knowledge on development with each other and with developing countries around the world. Africa's development success stories owe much to the lessons of other countries that recently overcame similar development challenges. South-South cooperation represents a partnership of peers, without the hierarchies implicit in traditional technical assistance. We note the critical importance of building stronger learning networks across Africa. We call for the development of new principles to guide South-South cooperation, and the introduction of regional mechanisms for coordination and reporting.

*  Thinking and acting regionally

Africa is firmly committed to regional economic integration as a means to achieve the economies of scale that it needs to compete in a globalised world. But investments in development are still overwhelmingly organised on a national basis, with regional needs taking second place. We need to scale up investment in the hard and soft infrastructure required to expand regional markets. We recommend more investment in the capacities of Africa's regional economic communities and urge dialogue with international development agencies on new ways of planning, financing and implementing development projects that span national boundaries.

*  Embracing new development partners

The landscape for development cooperation in Africa is changing fast, with emerging economies - particularly Brazil, India and China - becoming increasingly important players. We recognise this changing landscape as an opportunity for Africa, with new and traditional partners playing complementary roles. We encourage African countries to develop policies to base cooperation with middle-income countries on clear rules that produce mutual benefits and synergies. We call for much greater transparency on all sides, to encourage the emergence of a competitive market in aid that harnesses each player's comparative advantage.

Outgrowing aid dependence Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Africa's future depends upon its ability to fund its development from a variety of sources. While we recognise the continuing importance of aid to Africa's development, we also note that effective aid is aid that minimises dependence. African countries need to grow their way out of aid dependence by making full use of the opportunities offered by international trade and investment and by expanding their domestic capital markets.

They need to redouble their efforts to mobilise domestic revenues, which in 2008 represented 10 times the total volume of aid flowing to the continent. To do this, Africa needs fair and efficient tax systems. We call for stakeholders to rethink how aid is programmed and to focus on investments that boost economic growth and promote alternative sources of development finance.

*  The full document, 28 pages, can be accessed here.