OECD development assistance peer reviews. Finland 2012.

Description

Every four years, each of the 24 members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Development Programme as observers is scrutinised by its peers in the Committee. Five different member countries are peer reviewed each year. This report assesses the extent to which the development policies, strategies and activities of Finland meet the standards set by the DAC. Members provide constructive criticism and recommendations based on a report that touches on aid policies, volumes, institutions and field operations. There are no sanctions if the country fails to take the recommendations on board. The exercise is meant to encourage positive change, support mutual learning and raise the overall effectiveness of aid throughout the donor community.  Read more... List of Acronyms The DAC'S main findings and recommendations Chapter 1, Strategic orientations -Consistent priorities and engaged non-government stakeholders -Development co-operation: an integral part of foreign policy -A new development policy that builds on Finnish know-how but needs more focus -Strengthening public awareness, communication and global education, focusing on results -Future considerations Chapter 2, Development beyond aid -Strong political commitment but mixed performance on co-ordination mechanisms and monitoring and analysis -Making whole-of-government approaches more strategic -Future considerations Chapter 3. Aid volumes, channels and allocations -Impressive ODA growth comes to a standstill -Finland's centralised budget for development co-operation -Bilateral aid -CSOs: a need for strengthening complementarities and streamlining procedures -Multilateral aid: maintain a focus on core contributions and link allocations more closely to performance -Strong and renewed support to cross-cutting issues -Aid to support private sector development and trade -Non-ODA flows -Future considerations Chapter 4. Organisation and management -An integrated structure managing most of ODA that needs clear and systematic approaches -The ongoing challenge of managing development staff -Matching decentralisation with implementation needs in the field -Managing effective and results-based programming -Management for results: a high priority for the future -An efficient and independent evaluation unit which makes the best of a limited number of staff -Future considerations Chapter 5. Aid effectiveness and results -Continued strong commitment to making aid more effective -Progress against targets but more can be achieved -Strengthening country ownership through capacity building and strategy papers -Becoming more predictable and transparent -Aligning with partner country's priorities -Dealing with an increasing share of tied aid -Harmonisation and division of labour -Future considerations Chapter. 6 Humanitarian assistance -Good progress against the 2007 recommendations -An increasingly strategic focus, and improving support to recovery and risk reduction -A solid record in partnership, but clearer funding criteria and faster decisions are needed -Finland's systems appear fit for purpose, but there will soon be staffing challenges -Finland should focus its monitoring and learning on its own results -Future considerations Bibliography Annex A. Progress since the 2008 DAC peer review recommendations Annex B. OECD/DAC Standard Suite of Tables Annex C. Field visit to Nepal.