Reporting from Busan: Reality of Aid engagements at the CSO Forum and HLF-4

by | Nov 28, 2011 | News

The Reality of Aid Network (RoA) is in Busan, Republic of Korea – as part of the BetterAid Platform – for the Busan Global Civil Society Forum (BCSF) and the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4).

The network successfully held its 2011 Global Meeting and Workshop on Aid and the Private Sector at the BCSF on 26 November 2011, attended by some 80-100 participants from RoA member organisations as well as other groups attending the BCSF. “Aid and the Private Sector” is also the theme for the next RoA Global Report coming out in 2012.

Key messages from the RoA workshop are:

  1. There’s a need to differentiate between social economy from big businesses. Any government assistance must give priority to domestic private sector instead of foreign private investment;
  2. The entry of private sector in social services should not undermine the state obligation to deliver and provide access to basic social services  to the public;
  3. The space of CSOs and communities in developing public policies should be ensured, where private sector is also involved;
  4. Full transparency and accountability should apply to the private sector;
  5. Ensure that an enabling environment for private sector contributes to development and poverty eradication. So regulatory framework should be in place and standards on human rights, gender equality and sustainability are applied as indicators to measure impacts of private sector involvement; and
  6. Mechanisms for the right to seek redress should be in place, especially for cases of negative impacts such as in PPP projects.

RoA is also part of the CSO task forces engaging on the private sector components at the HLF-4 to coordinate civil society participation and input.

At the HLF-4, RoA will be speaking at the Day 1, November 29, Opening Plenary on Progress Since Paris, drawing on the findings of the RoA 2011 Report on “Democratic Ownership and Development Effectiveness: Civil Society Perspectives on Progress since Paris” and other CSO evidence, on lessons learned, unfinished business, and how to move forward.

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