The 22nd Meeting of the Steering Committee took place on 15-16 December 2021. All meeting documents can be found here and a summary of the meeting below and attached.
The Steering Committee has:
[Summit]
- Agreed on a political ambition for the Summit – to underscore the urgency of using the effectiveness principles to accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda – and the need for a narrative that drives greater political will by focusing on how to ensure no one is left behind in a changing context with diverse demands and challenges;
- Agreed that the power of the outcome document lies in it being concise and action-focused, based on member-led, inclusive and transparent exchanges that avoid heavy negotiations;
- Pledged to lead events, consultations, and communication and advocacy efforts to build political momentum for the Summit among their respective constituencies and engage them at the highest political level; and
- Underscored the need for measures that enable all interested actors to participate in the Summit despite format and COVID-related restrictions and in view of different time zones.
[GPEDC Review]
- Welcomed the independent GPEDC review and its recommendations, commended the consultative nature of the review and considered the Co-Chairs’ proposed response.
- Requested the Co-Chairs to further develop their response to the review recommendations by providing more detail in the action plan on how the recommendations will be implemented in practice.
- Recognised that demonstrably improving the implementation of the GPEDC’s mandate and ways of working is critically important for the mobilization effort needed for the Summit in 2022;
- Concurred that GPEDC’s ‘global light, country-focused' approach, together with its unique, inclusive and multi-stakeholder nature, must be preserved and strengthened; and
- Signaled an interest in initiating necessary reforms, in particular on governance challenges and how to institutionalize the Action Dialogues and providing more leverage for actors at country level, noting the need for the Action Dialogues to inform the Summit preparations.
[Monitoring]
- Agreed to move forward with preparations to resume the monitoring with an open waves approach and the inclusion of Action Dialogues as part of the process;[1] and
- Agreed with the four focus areas of the revised framework, and that work on the framework will move forward without dropping any existing core measurement areas.
The Co-Chairs:
- Encouraged members to share evidence related to development effectiveness they are producing in ways that are in line with Summit preparations to support mobilization efforts;
- Proposed to table a zero draft outcome document by the end of February 2022 as a basis for stakeholder-led exchanges, with the opportunity to make specific commitments and announcements in annexes;
- Reflected on the title following the Steering Committee and propose ‘2022 Effective Development Co-operation Summit’ to ensure visible focus on development effectiveness;
- Stressed the need for additional resources and expressions of interest to lead parts of the organization of the Summit (see budget);
- Invited members to provide any comments on the Co-Chairs’ response to the GPEDC review, especially on governance arrangements, within 2 weeks of summary circulation; and
- Invited members to discuss their representation in the Committee within constituencies and, in case of rotation, identify senior replacements well ahead of the Summit.
[1] This agreement takes into account the Co-Chairs’ pledge to discuss, with relevant members, potential measures to address concerns related to protecting accountability and meeting needs for ongoing support with the new approach.
