Poland holds the Presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2011. The Joint Position of the European Union for the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) will be developed under Polish Presidency. At the same time, Poland, an emerging donor country that gains more and more weight and relevance, programmes its aid budget for the coming years.

Eurodad and IGO, together with partners, want to use this opportunity to organize an aid effectiveness seminar with Polish government officials and development NGOs.  The Seminar is supposed to cover for major themes.

The seminar will take place in Warsaw, on 13th June 2011

Theme 1: What is effective aid? Views from the South the recipient side.

How does an optimal development assistance programme look like from the standpoint of the recipients and intended beneficiaries? What are the pros and cons of different aid modalities from an aid effectiveness perspective? What do aid effectiveness principles such as ownership and alignment mean and why are they important? Which processes to implement? What are the expectations from developing countries for the HLF4?

Input: Camilo Tovar (ALOP, Asociación Latinoamericana  de Organizaciones de Promoción al Desarrollo)

Theme 2: The Busan High-Level Forum, the preparatory process in Europe, the importance of a strong EU position prepared under Polish EU presidency

The EU has traditionally played a drivers role of the aid effectiveness reforms over the past decade. This introductory and overview session outlines the Paris/Accra process and the Road to the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan (HLF4). We discuss the controversial themes on the agenda, the positions of different actors, and the joint positioning of the EU that will be facilitated by the Polish EU presidency and the European Commission.  

Input: Bodo Ellmers (Eurodad, European Network on Debt & Development)

Theme 3: How to make development projects pro-poor? The case of infrastructure and construction.

How should development projects be designed and implemented in order to make sure that a maximal share of project money is translated into wages for the poor and sustainable capacity-building actually takes place?

Input: Jill Wells (Engineers Against Poverty)

Theme 4. Aid transparency and reporting

Aid transparency is a prerequisite for effective aid and one of the most important issues on the reform agenda since Accra, where the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) was launched. This session deals with how to make aid more transparent (how to report, which databases, tools and standards exist etc.)?

Input: Karin Christiansen (Publish What You Fund)

Further information:

Marcin Wojtalik, Instytut Globalnej Odpowiedzialności (IGO), marcin.wojtalik [at] igo.org.pl