Global development cooperation must find new narratives: Debapriya

Global development cooperation must find new narratives in order to become more effective, said Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). 

He made the comments while speaking at the 2022 Effective Development Cooperation Summit in Geneva on the first day of the three-day event on Sunday, according to a press release of the local think tank.  

The Summit was organised by the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), the official global platform that brings together the provider countries of development finance and its recipient developing countries. 

In his speech, Bhattacharya pointed out that in the recent past, the international development cooperation landscape has undergone significant changes. 

These include the changes in the profiles of recipients and providers of development finance. Many recipients are now low-middle-income countries, and many are graduating from the least-developed countries category. 

The evolving situation is also witnessing the rise of new providers such as private philanthropy and southern institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the African Development Bank. 

"Moreover, due to the post-Covid-19 aftermath, the fallout from the Ukraine war and the looming global recession, there has been a palpable decline in the political traction for foreign aid in provider countries," Bhattacharya said.  

He maintained that the GPEDC agenda is based on the grand assumption that good processes will inevitably lead to good results. 

"However, experience shows that this is more complex than that and is greatly dependent on contextual realities at the country level." 

He said that the resultative inclusive stakeholder partnership in the recipient countries is critical for effective development cooperation.

The noted economist noted that the GPEDC principles were still relevant but needed to be revitalised and re-energised by up taking new content and being responsive to evolving realities. 

He emphasised the necessity for development cooperation to build on new evidence and knowledge to make it more relevant and robust. 

Towfiqul Islam Khan, a senior research fellow of the CPD, delivered the keynote presentation during the session. The presentation was based on the findings of a global research project, anchored in the CPD, and conducted in six countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. 

"There is a lack of accountability mechanisms for countries providing development finance," said Khan.

The lack of familiarity with regard to the GPEDC agenda and its processes in both provider and recipient countries was also pointed out as a major hurdle. 

Khan highlighted that there was a lack of shared understanding between the providers and the recipient countries' key stakeholders regarding the design of results indicators and the process of attaining sustainable development outcomes. 

However, he pointed out that the extent of inclusive partnership required to reach a consensus on the design of results indicators was largely dependent on the democratic accountability prevalent within the recipient country. 

Moreover, he reflected that the extent of ownership of key stakeholders within the scope of foreign development financing was largely concentrated at the project design level and declined down the process chain. 

The session was also addressed by Rachel Gisselquist, senior research fellow of the UNU-WIDER (United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research), Karla de Palma, general director of the International Cooperation Agency of El Salvador, Laura Aghilarre, deputy director-general for development cooperation at the foreign affairs ministry of Italy, and Blanche Simonny Abegue, regional representative of the Dynamique OSCAF-Gabon, according to the press release.