DFI and Oxfam will jointly launch the new Government Spending Watch (GSW) initiative in Washington DC on 19 April and in London on 16 May. The meetings will launch the draft executive summary of the GSW 2013 report, website and database which aim to galvanise campaigning and advocacy for greater spending on the MDGs, by providing analysis and data on spending in 55 countries, as well as a campaigning and advocacy hub for spending and transparency. More details of the launch and the analysis will appear on this site and on the GSW site which will go live on 19 April. 

Following a mandate from Francophone Ministers in Tokyo in October 2012, OIF and DFI have agreed an enhanced partnership on development financing issues. This will establish a technical network of senior officials from Finance Ministries from OIF IDA-eligible member states, which will be supported by country case studies and multi-country research on managing development finance, quarterly newsletters and a website. The technical network (which will hold its first meeting in April) will help member states to learn from one another about best practices in financing development, and to reach agreement on key issues for the Ministerial Network’s advocacy and lobbying activities.  

DFI participated on a panel to launch an ODI report on The Age of Choice, examining the new landscape of concessional finance for developing countries, with increasing presence of South-South providers, and whether this is allowing them greater choice in sourcing funding and ensuring it is more closely aligned with their national priorities. The video of the meeting is available here. 

Does transferring aid money direct to the accounts of national institutions and organisations, i.e. ‘’localising aid”, strengthens the sectors in which this method is applied? This is the question raised by a new report from ODI which examines the impact of localising aid on the main 3 sectors of society- the state sector, the private sector and civil society- in stable low-income, middle-income, and fragile states. The study concludes that while not by any means a panacea, localising aid is a tool that cannot be ignored in any aid strategy aimed at strengthening state systems.

In the current context of severe budget cuts jeopardizing donor aid contributions, a new report from Eurodad and commissioned by CONCORD’s Aidwatch examines all different sources of development finance and their characteristics, while analysing their impact on poverty and sustainable development. The report divides sources into the following six categories: domestic sources, private capital flows, ODA and philanthropy, external government borrowing and lending, illicit capital flight, and new “innovative” financial resources.

A joint World Bank /DRI mission visited Sarajevo to conduct a Sub-national DeMPA of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mission followed the sub-national DeMPA methodologies developed by the World Bank, conducted meetings with the various agencies involved in debt management and held a wrap-up meeting with the authorities and representatives of the international community. 

DRI was invited by CEMLA to participate in the Demand Assessment Mission that was carried out in Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis. The mission took place within the context of Public Debt Management Capacity Building Program (PDP) and focused on reviewing Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) debt management technical capacity needs and preparing a Strategic Plan to support efforts to improve debt management among the Bank’s member states.

Comoros is to receive debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative. After significant and positive progress was made in the country’s economic management, Paris Club creditors have agreed an $8.06 million of debt cancellation for the small island archipelago which now becomes the 35th country to qualify for debt cancellation under the HIPC Initiative.

In the next semester, DFI will be involved in four new major initiatives: (with Oxfam) a Government Spending Watch report/website/database, analysing how much countries are spending on the Millennium Development Goals; (with New Rules for Global Finance) a Global Financial Governance report analysing the governance and impact on development of the G20, IMF, World Bank and FSB; (with OIF) a Development Financing Policy Network among low-income francophone countries; and (with UNDESA/UNDP) a programme to accelerate national-level Mutual Accountability on development cooperation and results. It will continue to provide capacity-building support to a wide range of countries, as well as conducting research on development cooperation, private financing, LIC development financing policies and MDG spending, and AfDB lending...Read more

Managed by CEMLA and funded by the Secretariat for Economic Cooperation of the Swiss Government, the Capacity Building Programme in Public Debt Management (PDP) was launched in 2012 to deliver tailor-made capacity-building support in public debt management to Latin American countries. The five-year programme will aim at assisting LIC and MIC LAC countries to maintain debt sustainability and improve debt and macroeconomic management through improved national debt and new financing strategies capable to effectively respond to the impacts of the financial crisis. Initial Demand Assessment Missions have already been conducted to several countries and will be completed in Q1/Q2 2013.