Hjælpeorganisationer skal holde op med at træde hinanden over tæerne og blive bedre til at samarbejde om udviklingsbistand. Og EU vil gerne stå for koordinationen.
Det var pointen, da EUs kommissær for udvikling og humanitær bistand, Louis Michel, torsdag fremlagde en koordineringspolan for den samlede indsats, skriver dagbladet Børsen fredag.
Michel fremsatte 9 anbefalinger til de 25 medlemsregeringer om, hvordan landene kan organisere hjælpen, så den kommer hurtigere og nemmere frem. Han lægger op til, at EU-landene ved årets udgang “skal have pragmatiske operationsprincipper” for en bedre arbejdsdeling landene imellem.
Samtidig vil Michel gøre EU mere synlig i hjælpearbejdet eftersom unionen og dens medlemslande bidrager med, hvad der svarer til halvdelen af de globale donationer.
Her desuden omtalen fra Verdensbankens presseoversigt:
The European Commission vowed Thursday to better coordinate the European Unions massive but fragmented development aid as the bloc seeks to raise the profile of its generosity.
With aid set to rise sharply in the coming years, Development Commissioner Louis Michel sketched plans to better coordinate the EUs generosity in light of the current patchwork of aid programs run by member states and the Commission.
Taking into account contributions from the EUs 25 member states and the European Commission the EU is the worlds biggest donor to poor countries, accounting for 55 percent of the global total.
Michel hoped that better coordinated programs would make Europe’s aid “a little more credible, a little more influential and a little more visible”.
New joint aid plans could be drawn up for a handful of African countries by the end of the year, and the practice will be extended to all the countries in the so-called ACP group of poor African, Caribbean and Pacific countries by 2010.
Under the new approach, one EU country with long experience providing a certain type of aid will be encouraged to coordinate a European program needing the skill in question.
The European Commission said the measures aim to improve the efficiency, coherence and impact of the EU development aid in its proposed action plan with nine time-bound actions to be implemented jointly by the Commission and member states.
Some actions, like the precise mapping of EU assistance through regional donor atlases, the support of local coordination processes and the development of a common framework for programming of assistance, may be launched immediately. Other, such as the proposed co-financing mechanism for EU funds, may be implemented within the next four years.
The Commission also said EU countries needed to link development aid more closely to promoting good governance, human rights and democracy. The Commission proposed having members report their individual aid contributions to avoid overlapping, and to make sure their programs meet the needs of recipients.
Michel argued that sending one joint EU aid team to a country instead of several national ones would save money. Michel said he wanted to avoid situations such as that of Tanzania, which received a total 800 donor visits in one year.
Michel proposed that joint programming of EU aid could begin in 2008 in African and Asian countries including Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Some big EU donors, including the Nordic countries, are likely to have reservations about Michels call.
One diplomat said they will want to make sure that the move will not allow the EU Executive to accrue greater powers in dispensing aid, or that it will not try to stop individual member states cooperating with other international donors.
Irish officials are concerned the Commission wants to extend its remit in the field of development aid, which is traditionally considered an important arm of its foreign policy. Britain and Denmark are also concerned about the impact of the plan.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
