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cul� vators who live in complex, diverse and risk prone niches adop� ng
mul� ple livelihoods por� olios. Therefore, food security challenge is not to
just produce enough food but ensure required level of food energy intake
at household level. Food insecurity is a ques� on of mal distribu� on of
resources and inequality.
Paras Kharel presents “A cri� cal assessment of Third Global Review of
Aid for Trade.” The Aid for Trade (AfT) ini� a� ve, launched under World Trade
Organiza� on (WTO) in 2005, aims to integrate developing countries into the
global trading system and also takes an account of the several unsuccessful
trade-related technical assistance issues in Least- Developed Countries
(LDCs). The monitoring and evalua� on of AfT is steered under three
mechanisms. First, the WTO and the Organiza� on for Economic Coopera� on
and Development (OECD) publishes an annual report � tled “Aid for trade at
a glance” and evaluate the project at the global level based on the OECD’s
Creditor Repor� ng system (CRS). Second, a sec� on on AfT is included from
both donors and partners in their respec� ve trade policy review documents.
Third, the Periodic discussions on AfT issues occurs within the trade and
development commi� ee of the WTO.
Realizing the shortcomings of the present monitoring and evalua� on
system, South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE),
Kathmandu and the Interna� onal Centre for Trade and Sustainable
Development (ICTSD), Geneva developed a methodological framework for
conduc� ng research on assessing the eff ec� veness of AfT in six developing
countries: Cambodia and Nepal in Asia, Malawi and Mauri� us in Africa and
Jamaica and Peru in the America. The research made use of both primary
and secondary informa� on. Data source from Overseas Development
Assistance (ODA) was used for extrac� ng informa� on on AfT. The major
fi ndings of research in Nepal showed the Aid for Trade has been more or less
growing in Nepal since 2002, in line with the global growth; and the growth
has been higher in the recent period (2006-09) compared to the base period
(2002-05). The distribu� on of AfT fl ows across recipient countries is highly
unequal, slightly more so than the distribu� on of overall ODA.
Most of the analyses in the Report are based on commitments rather
than disbursements. In terms of commitment, AfT has become addi� onal
but not on disbursement from ODA. Sustainability of AfT is doub� ul mainly
because of the lack of government’s contribu� on to the project and
predic� on of a large number of donors to hire their own consultants rather
than building capacity of the local ins� tu� ons and experts. Hong Kong
WTO Ministerial Declara� on in 2005 recommended four pillars on AfT. The
First pillar is, Addi� onality, predictability and sustainability. Second is the
Eff ec� veness pillar where ownership, alignment, donor coordina� on and
impact are considered. Coherence is the third pillar where South-South AfT
and the coherence of AfT and climate funding is focused. Three addi� onal
aspects are considered under the forth pillar: emphasis on grant than a loan,
bridging the gap of demand-supply and the countries’ absorp� on capacity.
While trade has been mainstreamed by half of the partner countries it is
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