DAD Community of Practice Meeting,

Yerevan, 5 October 2009

Aidan Cox, Aid Effectiveness Adviser

UNDP Regional Centre, Bangkok

Outline of presentationWhy were DAD’s brought in as part of

response to Tsunami?What did they offer?What lessons did we learn?

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National desire to demonstrate accountability:to affected populationsto donor partners

Better planning: reducing overlap & gaps

Quality and Quantity: delivery against promises?are the funds being spent? what are the results? – output levelwhat about impact? – partnership with

departments of planning, statistics boards, DevInfo, etc

value for money – partnership with INTOSAI, SAIs

Tsunami Aid Tracking: why?

DAD, RAN, e-DIMS: practical tools to support aid effectiveness

Ownership

Mutual Accountability

Managing for Results

Harmonisation

Alignment

Accessible to Everyone

Full Transparency

Ownership

How Much has been Promised?

Mutual Accountability

4 DADs tracked over US$8.5 billion of

tsunami assistance

Which parts of my country have receiving

funding?

Alignment

Who is Active in my District?

Mutual Accountability

What is happening at sector level?

What sectors face gaps? Is their

duplication?

Recovery Aceh-Nias (RAN) Database

Alignment

What are they doing?

Are there any Results?

Will it benefit me?

How we unblock Bottlenecks?

Managing forResults

Supporting better decision-making

Decision makers need to know:how are needs evolving?are development indicators shifting the

right way? ie – are our joint efforts (policy and investments) having the desired results?

are there differences between and within districts?

do we need to adjust our policies, programmes & projects so they do a better job of meeting needs?

Aid Effectiveness through Capacity DevelopmentNot just systems, but people, skills,

services – mutual understanding

But…

What did we learn?

Programme

Implementation & Monitoring

National Development (Reconstruction) Plan

External Resources

Aid Information

Management System

Domestic Revenue

Aid Policy

Medium Term Budgetary Framework

Sector Plans Sector Working Groups

Loans Grants

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Collective dialogue informs formulation of NDP and NDP determines types of Sector Working Groups

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AIMS tracks physical progress of programme implementation and informs future programming

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NDP informs AIMS record of needs, which promotesalignment of aid by comparing supply with need

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AIMS informs collective dialogue at national and sectoral level about aid allocations and development progress

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AIMS tracks foreign aid flows and informs future resource allocations (foreign & domestic)

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Sector Working Groups guide programme planningand review its implementation

Lessons learned:Know what you need

There was no clear statement of needs against which you can align supply Maldives was alone in having a quantified National

Recovery & Reconstruction Plan Needs were not well quantified or geographically

disaggregated (Lesson for the needs assessment teams – donor and government)

Hard to align aid supply with need, if there is no consensus on needs per location

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Lessons learned: Get in Fast and Tell a Story

AIMS and teams should already be in place as part of (a) disaster preparedness; (b) integrating aid in national planning and budgeting

Systems & people need to be in place fast – else donors/implementers push ahead independently – and data has little impact on aligning allocations with need: Post-disaster and reconstruction programmes were

designed fast; monies were quickly allocated.Data matters only when it helps tell a story:

We get excited about data collection – and ask for updates too often Much more emphasis needed on analysis/packaging –

implications for decision-makers

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Lessons learned:Living & breathing data: make it matter

Data & analysis counts for little unless strongly linked to dialogue mechanisms and decision-making processes of government & donors

RAN had advantages – embedded concept note approval process (but some CNs caught up with facts on ground; approval process not without flaws)

Sectoral dialogue mechanisms weak Mostly show & tell – little space to support evidence-

based decision-making Ideally, use your AIMS to prepare sector investment

programmes and your national budget – these things have to be done – much else does not.5

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Lessons learned:Keep it simpleNational authorities, often advised by

inexperienced international consultants, wanted bells and whistles RAN was user un-friendlyUpdating was burdensome (and too frequent)Push back and advise “no, phase it, go to the

next level once you’ve proved core competence and relevance”

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Lessons learned:Politics can make or breakDAD Maldives – more buy-in and impact than DAD

Sri LankaMaldives: MoF, MoFA, Planning ministries didn’t like

each other much, but each got something out of DAD – shared resource.

Sri Lanka: Government created TAFREN (stand alone Tsunami response institution) – seemed powerful, but lacked legal mandate, disliked by others (eg MoF), and great work by DAD team had reduced impact

Collaboration across government agencies (eg through joint oversight of system) is make or break

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Conclusion

Government, UNDP and Synergy’s tsunami response: first time governments, donors and

citizens had quick access to aid data in a multi-country disaster

Aid transparency was higher than perhaps any other major disaster

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ConclusionsBut we needed to be far quicker

Governments need to invest before a disaster – as part of a commitment to regular aid effectiveness

We need to tell a story that has the power to change how business is done

Keep it simpleAid systems and data need to help regular

people get their regular work doneUnderstand – and use – the politicsVital: Collaboration across government,

anchored in policy, and showing measurable results

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