OECD Development Assistance Peer Reviews: Spain 2011 [electronic resource] /
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentContributor
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentContent Provider
Paris : OECD Publishing,
2013.
Every four years, each of the 24 members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Development Programme as observers is scrutinised by its peers in the Committee. Five different member countries are peer reviewed each year. The aim is to assess the extent to which the development policies, strategies and activities of the reviewed country meet the standards set by the DAC. Members provide constructive criticism and recommendations based on a report that touches on aid policies, volumes, institutions and field operations. There are no sanctions if the country fails to take the recommendations on board. The exercise is meant to encourage positive change, support mutual learning and raise the overall effectiveness of aid throughout the donor community.
Acronyms The DAC'S main findings and recommendations Overview -Overall framework for development co-operation -Narrowing the scope of Spanish co-operation -Developing a policy for working with civil society -Improving accountability: preparing for tougher economic times -Promoting development beyond aid -Aid volume and allocation -Concentrating official development assistance -Conducting a strategic dialogue with decentralised actors -Ensuring that Spain's multilateral contributions are strategic -Organisation and management -Creating clear links between Spanish co-ordinating bodies -Taking the step from evaluation to learning -Defining a human resource policy that emphasises staff mobility and performance -Improving the impact of development co-operation -Using aid effectiveness tools at country level -Untying aid 20 -Sharing knowledge on capacity development in middle-income countries -Towards better humanitarian donorship -Consolidating good progress in humanitarian programming -Developing a systematic approach to risk -Secretariat Report Chapter 1. Strategic orientations  -An ambitious donor, consolidating its position, and focusing on quality -Progress in implementing the recommendations of the last peer review -A dedicated policy for Spanish development co-operation -Separate policy, implementation and financing mechanisms -New developments: focusing on ways of working -Re-thinking countries, topics and cross-cutting issues -Developing clearer criteria for choosing partner countries -Ensuring a tighter thematic focus -Mainstreaming cross-cutting issues strategically -Clearer roles for Spain's development players -Implementing the multilateral strategy from the grassroots to the board rooms -Defining clearer rules of engagement with civil society -Making the new strategy for the private sector widely known -Working through one common framework -Towards better accountability: Spain needs to brace itself for tougher economic times -Future considerations Chapter 2. Development beyond aid -Progress since the last peer review -An explicit legal commitment to policy coherence for development -Clear priorities and awareness at headquarters -Making Spain's development strategy known in the field - beyond ODA -Policy co-ordination mechanisms to resolve conflicts or inconsistencies -New institutional mechanisms for policy coherence -The need to ensure sub-national policies respect coherence with Spain's development goals -Progress in monitoring, analysing and reporting policy coherence for development -Strengthening links between reporting and policy responses -Improving monitoring to enhance transparency -Using whole-of-government approaches -More progress needed in inter-ministerial co-operation on fragile states -Looking forward: the "beyond aid" agenda for the whole Spanish government -Future considerations Chapter 3. Aid volume, channels and allocations -Progress since the last peer review -A quantum leap truncated by a severe economic crisis -The need for more transparency over Spain's channels for partner countries -An increase in allocations to least developed countries and Africa -The need for geographic concentration -Visible commitment to multilateralism and a selective approach -Lessons from Spain's participation in the MDG Achievement Fund -Efforts to reduce sectors and prioritise cross-cutting issues -A new funding structure to improve the quality of Spain's development co-operation -Future considerations Chapter 4. Organisation and management -Progress since the last peer review -A stronger institutional structure for development co-operation -How can co-ordination be improved? -Good practice in cross-ministry co-ordination: multilateral aid and debt swaps -Tools for better results -Creating an evaluation culture -The need for more policy-level impact evaluations -Matching evaluation resource increases with capacity -Allocating resources strategically -Clearer human resource policies and greater staff empowerment -Ensuring new corporate systems support change management -NGOs: funding instruments need to be a function of policy -Future considerations Chapter 5. Aid effectiveness and results  -Progress in implementing the recommendations of the last peer review -All the ingredients for effective aid: a policy, institutions, and a financial framework -From commitment to practice -Aid effectiveness beyond the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation -Progress on ownership -Building capacity that lasts -Making aid more predictable -The urgent need for progress in untying aid -Harmonising work with other donors -Doing more to manage for development results and improve accountability -Assessing the risks of co-operation in fragile states -Future considerations Chapter 6. Humanitarian assistance  -Good progress in implementing the recommendations of the previous peer review -A coherent results-focused framework for humanitarian programming -Innovative approaches to supporting recovery -Disaster risk reduction programming is growing -Strong political support has led to high levels of risk tolerance, but also exposure -An active and responsive donor -Continuing Spain's useful work to consolidate its partner portfolio -Supporting co-ordination and encouraging new donors -Criteria for funding decisions -Spain: a leader in rapid response -Operational mechanisms -Monitoring for impact rather than control -Ensuring coherence among Spanish actors -Building staff skills to support "hands on" delivery -Future considerations Annex A. Progress since the 2007 DAC peer review recommendations Annex B. OECD/DAC standard suite of tables Annex C. Field visit to Bolivia Bibliography
Every four years, each of the 24 members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Development Programme as observers is scrutinised by its peers in the Committee. Five different member countries are peer reviewed each year. The aim is to assess the extent to which the development policies, strategies and activities of the reviewed country meet the standards set by the DAC. Members provide constructive criticism and recommendations based on a report that touches on aid policies, volumes, institutions and field operations. There are no sanctions if the country fails to take the recommendations on board. The exercise is meant to encourage positive change, support mutual learning and raise the overall effectiveness of aid throughout the donor community.
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