DPWG-LGD - goals and functioning
During the last decades, international development assistance was often marked by overlaps, duplication of efforts and rivalry between multitudes of donor organisations. This situation charged our partner-countries and impeded an integration of donor assistance with country-led sector strategies.
Responding to this situation, the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) drew up detailed recommendations for an improved harmonization and alignment of development assistance (Rome Declaration on Harmonisation of 2003, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of 2005, and the Accra Agenda for Action of 2008).
To improve the donor's aid effectiveness in the area of local governance and decentralization, it has been suggested to set up an informal Development Partners Working Group on Local Governance and Decentralisation. This idea was born at the International Conference on Local Development in the USA, Washington (June 2004) and further developed at the workshop on Local Governance and Poverty Reduction in Africa, Tunis, June 2005 (Report of the Proceedings PDF 773 KB) .
Then in Frankfurt, Germany 13 DP framed the DPWG LGD on March 2006 (Final report meeting Frankfurt). Since then, the members of the working group have joined forces to translate the principles of the Paris Declaration into practice. So the WG encompass more and more members sharing the aim of improved harmonization and alignment of development assistance in the field of local governance and decentralization — at headquarter level as well as in the partner countries.
- General Guiding Principles for Enhancing Alignment and Harmonisation on Local Governance and Decentralisation (PDF 72KB)
- Specific Guiding Principles for Enhancing Alignment and Harmonisation on Local Governance and Decentralisation (PDF 256 KB)
More concrete, the Working Group initiates an exchange among DPs about:
- developing a conceptual framework, shared vision and operational co-ordination mechanisms for supporting national strategies in local governance and decentralisation
- exploring innovative instruments and operational modalities to support the implementation of national decentralisation strategies which foster alignment of sector policies with the decentralised governance system
- developing a set of indicators to assess implementation and progress of the reform and impact of decentralisation on democratic governance and poverty reduction.
For a brief overview of our work, please also refer to the DP Working Group Flyer (PDF 836 KB).
