CSOs make recommendations to ensure effective aid model

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) who met in Colombo last week made a series of recommendations to ensure a truly effective aid model.

The multi-stakeholder national consultation workshop on the Paris Declaration discussed the role of the CSOs in an effective aid regime.

The conference said that conditional aid is not in line with the people’s aspirations and not implemented effectively due to various reasons.

Lack of free, prior informed consultations and lack of participation in development initiatives from design to plan implementation, lack of transparency in project outcome and budgets and corruption have resulted in unsuccessful and ineffective development exercises.

In addition there is deep concern over the negative impact of the agenda driven multilateral and bilateral aid on communities, the statement issued by the conference said.

The recommendations have been made to ensure the five key principles; ownership, alignment, harmonisation, managing for results and mutual accountability of the Paris Declaration.

Head of the information, education and media unit of the Green Movement of Sri Lanka, the organiser of the seminar, Arjuna Seneviratne said that Sri Lanka is heavily dependent on aid. However, the existing aid delivery model has a marginal practical and positive impact on the citizens. The citizens are groaning under a massive debt burden.

The country’s total debt is $9.8 billion. Of them 85.5% is public sector debt which means every citizen in the country is carrying a debt of Rs. 66,000. Over 90% of the debt is for failed projects that have destroyed entire areas and the communities, he said.

In this situation although the Paris Declaration is a start towards a change, there are many components of the declaration that have to be tightened for it to be effective.

The conference discussed the changes in the aid structure and whether the Paris Declaration covers the aid that it gets from new donors such as China, Iran and India. Minister of Investment Promotion Sarath Amunugama said that the involvement of the CSOs in the development projects makes a positive as well as negative impact on development projects.

While accepting the active role that can be played by CSOs, the Minister said that baseless protests carried out by the NGOs against the Norochcholai coal power project and Upper Kothmale hydropower projects is the main reason for the present power crisis.

Today the government incurs losses running into billions of rupees in power generation due to the oil price increase and the projects delayed for over 16 years.

The Minister said the government has more community representation than the CSOs.

The MPs are representatives of the people and they have been elected by the people. But NGOs do not have any such mandate, he said.

Minister Amunugama said that he could see a transformation of donor assistance in the past five years. Earlier we were heavily dependent on the IMF and the World Bank especially on Poverty Reduction, Growth facility (PRGF).

Later the Finance Minister declined the PRGF, because there were many conditions which we couldn’t agree to.

Later the IMF and the World Bank revised the conditions. After the Asian financial crisis they had to change their policies, the minister said. GW