DFI and the Global Economic Governance Programme at University College Oxford conducted a joint mission to the World Economic Forum in order to meet with African business people and pilot the private sector questionnaire for the African Development Bank Client Survey. The meeting yielded useful preliminary findings towards the survey, and helped to improve its methodology.

DFI and GEG held the first workshop for government managers of AfDB financing officials, jointly with the Government of Mali and the AfDB. In the workshop 25 officials from 18 countries evaluated the AfDB's policies and procedures using the HIPC CBP system for evaluating different sources of government financing. They also discussed broader issues such as decentralization, AfDB internal evaluation systems, transparency and communication, and partnership with other African institutions, and produced wide-ranging recommendations for improving AfDB performance. The project document is available here. A second workshop for government officials will be held in Johannesburg on June 29-July 1.

Following on from participation in the Expert Meetings in Q4 2010, DFI Programme Manager Nils Bhinda went on secondment to UNCTAD to work on FDI linkages to other financial flows. During this time he contributed towards related sections of the World Investment Report 2011, which has recently been published.

DFI Programme Manager Nils Bhinda attended the Botswana SMME Conference and Fair, where he represented UNCTAD at the invitation of the Local Enterprise Authority. The Conference addressed the challenge of economic diversification in the context of declining natural resource revenues, and private sector led growth via SMMEs. Mr Bhinda presented on global FDI trends and prospects. The Fair showcased SMME products and services. The events were very well attended by national, regional and international experts.

DFI conducted a mission to support Government of Uganda in finalizing a monitoring framework for its Partnership Policy covering aid and beyond aid issues, as well as a memorandum of understanding for GoU and its development partners to sign. The mission conducted a successful workshop in which GoU and DPs discussed the draft framework and principles for the MoU, as well as extensive briefing of officials in the Ministry of Finance, which will be responsible for the detailed monitoring of the policy. The next steps will be full training sessions on the policy, followed by a baseline survey of DP and GoU performance, and agreement on future targets.

A successful DSA workshop with 22 participants was conducted by MEFMI as part of the HIPC CBP, to support the Malawi government by training staff in the use of the DSF tools. At the end of the workshop a draft DSA report was submitted to senior officials for comments. The exercise revealed that Malawi remains sustainable even in the presence of serious shocks and decline of GDP growth. The results of this DSA will feed into the 2011/12 budget framework and the review of the MTDS planned for the end of 2011.

DFI participated in a joint mission to Tajikistan. Other partners that took part in the mission included the World Bank and UNCTAD. The mission met with officials from the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance as well as commercial banks operating in the country. The main objective of the mission was to evaluate the existing debt management capacity in the country within the framework of the Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA). At the end of the stay, the mission presented the national authorities with a preliminary assessment.

DFI and GEG launched the client survey of AfDB Performance by contacting and sensitizing all the 40 African governments participating at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings and interviewing an initial sample of policymakers. Many others promised to complete the online questionnaires for the project. Interviews will continue at the AfDB Annual Meetings in Lisbon in June. For more details of the client survey, see the terms or reference.

DFI participated in a meeting of all 14 Oxfam International affiliates to formulate policies on aid issues, in Washington DC, making a presentation on international and developing country-level initiatives to increase accountability and transparency for aid results, and how Oxfam should participate in and contribute to them. These will result in updated Oxfam policies on aid issues in mid-year, as well as policy papers to lead into the Busan High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in November.

DFI continued its support for this ministerial forum, which met at the BWI Spring Meetings on 15 April. A highly successful press conference after the meeting resulted in extensive press coverage and discussion of Ministers’ conclusions with G20 Ministers and officials. The press communiqué can be found here. Further support to OIF is planned in Q3 around the BWI Annual Meetings.