By IPS Correspondents
BRUSSELS, Feb 27 2002 (IPS)

Developing countries must be put back into the drivers’ seat of development policy, say European Union (EU) decision makers and parliamentarians.

Meeting for a public hearing in the European Parliament Tuesday, EU experts agreed that donors should stop using development policy for self-glorification and let partner countries take the initiative instead.

Ove Ullerup, from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said donors must “give the initiative back to the partner countries and let them run the show”, adding: “We need to give up our preferences for the flag, whether it is the Danish flag or the EU flag, and go through local institutions.”

Ullerup admits this will be a complex task, but says that it is still better than the old project-oriented approach.

Denmark, the next country to take on the six-monthly presidency of the EU, argues that the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) must become the common frame of reference for all donors.

“The PRSP provide an arena in which governments, donors and civil society can thrash out the best way forward,” said Ullerup.

Richard Manning, Director General of the UK Department for International Development, said that “attempts by donors to do their own thing have not worked. We have to ensure ‘ownership’ by recipient countries”.

“If you want to improve health care in Sub-Saharan Africa you have to improve government. Donors should support the systems within developing countries, which enable people to hold their governments accountable,” argued the UK Development official.

Of course, “we have to be sure about the financial soundness of our partners – but robust financial accounting is possible”, said Manning. “Not everyone is happy about putting money into budgets,” he said.

“If a donor can claim a successful project as its own, it can use it to win credit. “But we cannot support a long-term education strategy, then have a donor come along and build a high-tech university,” said Manning.

Manning urges the European Union to be coherent in everything it does. “The EU is unique in that it brings together not only aid spending but also a series of policies that have a direct impact on development. Measuring the impact of these policies is as important as measuring the impact of Euros spent,” he said.

Terhi Lehtinen, from the European Centre for Development Policy Management, said the EU must harness all its resources to meet development goals.

“The EU is not just an ordinary donor – it is also a political player with a world-wide presence. When we are discussing targets for development it is important to use all the instruments at our disposal.”

For Poul Nielson, the EU’s Commissioner for Development Policy, the need for national ownership is the most important lesson from past mistakes. “Donors can help, but they can neither buy nor force reform,” he said.

“In acutely poor countries, impact depends on the actions of Government, citizens, and external partners together. This is fundamentally and inescapably a collective effort,” noted Nielson.

Nielson argues that direct budget support can be more effective when the conditions are right. It helps fund recurrent costs, such as teachers’ salaries, lowers transaction costs for developing countries by reducing donor interventions, ensures the coherent allocation of resources by the recipient government, and gives donors a say in the way domestic funds are used.

“Budget support therefore helps to give the Government incentives to deliver results, while leaving them free to decide how to do so. By increasing the total budget, it also makes possible increased levels of public spending on areas of high priority for poverty reduction,” said the Commissioner.

The World Bank is also starting to work closely with developing country governments, explained the institution’s Vice President Joanne Salop. “We are developing systems for assessing a country’s capacity for managing funds. But not all our borrowers are interested in budget support – it’s not for everyone.”

But Richard Howitt, Member of the European Parliament, wonders if these theories are having any effect.

“All this sounds very cosy, but when you look at the world, poverty is going up. Is there the political will to make changes that will achieve these objectives?” said Howitt.

He believes that the international community will be tested for political will at the United Nations conference on financing for development to be held from March 18-22 in Monterrrey, Mexico.

Terry Wynn, another British Euro-MP, wants less talk and more action. “Our job is to make sure that political priorities are carried out in practice. We are aiming for the reduction of poverty – that is what we are here to do. We want to make sure EU funds reach the people that need them most;” he said.

Dr. Jerry A.A. Jana, the Ambassador of Malawi to the European Union, commented that one of the major problems faced by his country is “capacity, capacity, capacity”.

The Malawian civil service is no longer able to function properly because it is losing employees to AIDS and the temptation of private sector, he explained. “That’s why the government needs direct help from donors.”

Another African Ambassador, Griffin J. Nyirongo from Zambia, urged donors to co-ordinate their actions between themselves and with the Zambian government. Zambia simply does not have the capacity to report to a plethora of donors at different times and in different ways, he said.

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