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deepening public par� cipa� on in developing, monitoring and evalua� ng
government ac� vi� es.” Interes� ngly the Open Government Partnership
off ers ample venues for engagement and coopera� on with the civil society
as the members of the Partnership “commit to protec� ng the ability of notfor-profi
t and civil society organiza� ons to operate in ways consistent with
our commitment to freedom of expression, associa� on, and opinion and
commit to crea� ng mechanisms to enable greater collabora� on between
governments and civil society organiza� ons and businesses”.
Accountability and aid eff ec� veness
The above men� oned ini� a� ves if scaled up and implemented up to
their full poten� al, can signifi cantly bring more and be� er development.
A focus on eff ec� ve outcomes as promoted by the Cash on Delivery
model and a greater emphasis on accessibility of aid data can bring more
people, especially the benefi ciaries, to be� er understand aid development
and the way it is spent. This will bring more oversight, par� cipa� on and
consequen� ally will make aid more par� cipatory and eff ec� ve.
Indeed, we should not forget that “Although the Busan mee� ng is a
forum on aid eff ec� veness, the ul� mate aim is eff ec� ve development” 2 .
Unfortunately, there is probably something missing in the global debate
on aid eff ec� veness: eff ec� ve aid will be achieved when the accountability
agenda will be fully endorsed through a new bo� om up process that put
the common people in the driver seat of the developing agenda. This
ci� zen centered method could be implemented through prac� cal, no
nonsense steps that will bring in much more effi ciency and legi� macy to the
development eff orts.
There are many defi ni� ons and literature abound on the signifi cance
of accountability. Interes� ngly, the researches of the Civil Society on
Accountability Principles and Prac� ces 3 published by the Commonwealth
Founda� on, “found that while the specifi c ways in which accountability is
prac� ced vary from country to country, the underlying principles are the
same”
We all know about the bo� om line when we talk about accountability. It is
intrinsically about exercising eff ec� vely our responsibili� es as development
actors. Accountability, in its pure essence, is about common responsibili� es
to deliver the best service at the best value for money, with highest level of
par� cipa� on of the local benefi ciaries. As consequence of the exercise of this
primary responsibility, the communi� es will be empowered and encouraged
to get involved in all the phases of the program/project.
Being able to exercise such primary responsibility will make aid more
eff ec� ve and as its consequence, the communi� es will be empowered and
encouraged to get involved in all the phases of the program/project.
2. Homi Kharas, Noam Hunger, ‘A serious Approach to development: towards success at the
high level forum on Aid eff ec� veness” Brookings Ins� tute.
3. The Commonwealth Founda� on, h� p://www.commonwealthfounda� on.com/LinkClick.
aspx?fi le� cket=paVn5jJdLOQ%3D&tabid=316
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Changing paradigms of aid eff ec� veness in Nepal