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.

DFI, funded by Seco, supported the Government of Sudan in preparing for Technical Working Group and Round Table meetings at the BWI Spring Meetings, which discussed the potential cancellation of Sudanese debt as part of the secession of Southern Sudan and subject to continuing progress on peace in Darfur. Northern and Southern Sudanese officials announced their agreement that the existing debt of Sudan will remain with the North, subject to strong commitment by the international community to cancel most of the debt at the earliest possible dates. They also announced strong progress on debt reconciliation and an Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy, as well as the design of an outreach strategy to creditors.

DFI helped to facilitate a packed CSO workshop on how the FSB impacts on global development, launching a New Rules for Global Finance-AERC-Brookings project on the FSB, at the BWI Spring Meetings. Participants agreed next steps in the construction of a global CSO network to monitor and lobby the FSB, which New Rules will support. See the video and presentations of the workshop.

Togo's first survey of Foreign Private Capital flows and Investor Perceptions closed in November 2010. Achieving a response rate of 64.7%, the country is now releasing its national analytical report containing all the detailed findings generated by the survey, covering the methodological approach used, analysis of investment climate and of foreign assets and liabilities, and policy recommendations.

In the last quarter, DFI continued to provide capacity-building assistance to more than 40 countries on debt, aid and private capital management. The current FPC programme drew to a close with the publication of 3 reports in the Franc Zone. DFI also expanded its programmes of advocacy and research work on the G20, development cooperation, and the impact of FDI on development... Read more.

DFI has recently completed a background study for WaterAid analysing central government allocations to the water, sanitation and hygiene sector (WASH). One of the challenges in doing the study was the lack of comprehensive WASH sector budget data, although DFI was able to draw on its previous work it had done in compiling aggregate sectoral data on central government spending. WaterAid plans to prepare an overall report based on a number of background papers including the one by DFI, which will be available on the WaterAid website later this year.

Launched on 1st March, UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2011- The hidden crisis: Armed conflict and education explores how armed conflict is depriving 28 million children of an education worldwide. DFI was commissioned to produce a cross country study on Monitoring the impact of the financial crisis on national education financing and contributed to a case study on Mozambique investigating the Impact of the Financial Crisis on Education Sector Spending and Government Policy Responses. An official launch of the report will be held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 8th March.

DFI participated as a resource person in the World Bank Debt Management Facility regional workshop on the Debt Management Performance Assessment tool, held jointly with the Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latino-Americanos in Mexico City. 31 participants from 14 countries participated in the workshop and DFI assisted Haiti to complete their own self-assessment and comment on the DeMPA tools. DFI has been asked to write an article about the workshop for the next DMF newsletter.

The UK Department for International Development has released two major Multilateral and Bilateral Aid Reviews in keeping with the shake up of Britain's aid programme. More information here. DFID also agreed to publish the evaluation of multilateral aid institutions provided by DFI, based on the HIPC Capacity Building Programme donor evaluation scores, which was submitted as input to the DfID Multilateral Aid Review. The report presents the assessments of 12 multilateral institutions by developing country aid officials, across a range of policy and procedural issues.