The government is ready to fine tune its relationship with development partners and donor agencies.
This was expressed by Minister for National Planning Charles Abel duringthe first joint technical working group meeting on development effectiveness held today.
Organized bythe Department of National Planning,thetheme is “2013 and beyond: ensuring sustained outcomes through effective utilization of Official Development Assistance program (ODA) resources.”
The meeting was well attended by heads of development partners, government agencies and departments.
Minister Abel said it was long overdue.
He saidthe government is working on an aid policy that is more focused and solvesthe issue of donors duplicating roles and projects.
He said rural areas need to be given priority, sothey can be empowered and contribute tothe growth ofthe economy.
Minister Abel said that asthere had been no initiative inthe past to create reports onthe allocation of aid monies, he said that his Department must now start doing so.
Co-chair ofthe meeting and UN resident co-ordinator David MacLauchlan Karr said aid only partly helps development.
He saidthe road ahead is not easy but if close dialogue is maintained by all stakeholders steady development will be felt.
Two more joint technical working group meetings will be staged later this year. The initial aid effectiveness agreement was signed in 2008 but follow-up meetings were never held until now.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tbvtT5KcXUo%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
