This week, the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership convened virtually to advance its 2020-2022 Work Programme and set the scene for the next High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership (planned for 2022). Members launched the ‘Action Dialogues 2021’, agreed on the next steps to advance the reform of its monitoring exercise, and planned to strengthen the Global Partnership’s mandate for the ‘Decade of Action’.
The Partnership’s third High-Level Meeting will be an important milestone for the development community, coming at half time of the 2030 Agenda and when SDG-related gains are in jeopardy due to COVID. The multi-stakeholder global conference will “bring all local actors back to the center of the development effectiveness agenda”, said H.E. Mr. Thomas Gass, Co-Chair of the Global Partnership, and Ambassador, Assistant Director General of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
2021 – ‘The Year of Delivery’
Members shared the progress they have made in implementing the work programme since it was launched in May, and discussed how to best engage stakeholders at country level to deliver substantive products and seize learning opportunities in the COVID context. Steering Committee members agreed that 2021 would be ‘The Year of Delivery’.
Action Dialogues - Towards effectiveness action
Members launched the ‘Action Dialogues 2021’ – initiatives led by partner country governments and aimed at spurring multi-stakeholder dialogue on effectiveness at the country level. They will “place experience and partnership at the heart of discussion in order to create a new political momentum, intensifying action to attain the SDGs,” said H.E. Ms. Elysée Munembwe Tamukumwe, Global Partnership Co-Chair and Deputy Prime Minister of The Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dialogues will facilitate reflection on areas where collective action is needed for improving partnerships, keeping in mind each country’s unique development context. They are “a key and pertinent part of moving forward beyond rhetoric and towards action, taking place at the national level and envisioning all stakeholders’ participation,” said Mr. Meja Vitalice, Co-Chair and Executive Director, Reality of Aid Africa. (To express your interest in undertaking a Dialogue, click here).
Advancing the Global Partnership Monitoring reform
Members also discussed the Partnership’s flagship monitoring exercise which, since 2013, has tracked progress in implementing effective development co-operation commitments. To ensure that monitoring meets the evolving needs of stakeholders and produces relevant evidence on today’s effectiveness challenges, the Committee agreed in May to embark on a reform of the monitoring exercise. Inclusive of changes to both the monitoring process and the indicator framework, “the reform is going to be implemented and disseminated in 2021 and 2022 - two very important years in implementing GPEDC’s work programme” said Ms. Fatima Yasmin, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance. A new monitoring proposal will be presented for endorsement at the third High-Level Meeting.
Co-Chairs leading the reform updated members on key areas for improvement in the monitoring process, based on stakeholder consultations convened over the past three months (for more information, read the ‘Listening Up’ summary document). Co-Chairs also tabled a proposal for reviewing the indicator framework, emphasising the need for indicators to more accurately mirror the multi-stakeholder nature of the Partnership, while also holding stakeholders accountable to their commitment to the effectiveness principles. By way of next steps, Co-Chairs will organise further consultations and analytical work in early 2021, and called on Committee members to join them in leading this effort across the Partnership’s constituencies.
Launching the Global Partnership review process
Steering Committee members agreed with the Co-Chairs’ proposal for a review to improve the implementation of the existing Global Partnership mandate, agreed at its second High-Level Meeting in Nairobi in 2016. Members welcomed the proposed review and the engagement opportunities it will bring in the run-up to 2022 and agreed to co-lead a series of inclusive, regional and thematic outreach efforts from April to September 2021, supported by an independent review.
Please note that the Steering Committee summary is now available below and here. All relevant meeting documents can be found here.
The Global Partnership Steering Committee meets biannually to support the implementation of the GPEDC work programme. For more information, please contact: info@effectivecooperation.org.
