Who we are

Thursday, 19 August 2004 20:11

BetterAid unites over 700 development organisations from civil society, and has been working on development cooperation and challenging the aid effectiveness agenda since January 2007. BetterAid is leading many of the civil society activities including in-country consultations, studies and monitoring, in the lead up to the next Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in 2011.

Being part of BetterAid

BetterAid is an open platform, and participating organisations can get involved in discussion and policy influencing opportunities on a wide range of issues to deepen aid and development effectiveness. BetterAid drafts policy and positioning papers in participatory processes, and promotes their messages through advocacy activities on an international and national level.

How BetterAid challenges the development effectiveness agenda

The platform’s overarching goal is to monitor and influence international aid effectiveness agreements such as the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness PD and the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) (with a specific focus on issues of democratic ownership), while broadening the policy agenda from the AAA towards development effectiveness, and a substantial reform of the international aid architecture.

How far we’ve come

The BetterAid platform came together in the lead up to the High Level Forum 3 organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in September 2008 in Accra. After this event, BetterAid became the first representative of civil society to be a formal member of the OECD Working Party on Aid Effectiveness (WP-EFF).

Where we’re going

BetterAid sees the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Seoul (HLF-4) in December 2011 as an important opportunity for promoting discussion on development and aid effectiveness. BetterAid is in continuous dialogue with donors, development country governments and other stakeholders.

As well as participating in the preparatory work of the WP-EFF for the HLF-4 in 2011, BetterAid also makes links with the UN Development Cooperation Forum (UN DCF) and the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and builds synergies with other CSO platforms influencing this arena, such as the Open forum for CSO effectiveness and Reality of Aid.

Coordinating the platform- the BACG

The BetterAid Platform is coordinated by the BetterAid Coordinating Group (BACG), currently made up of 28 CSO networks and international Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), that coordinate CSO engagement on the implementation of the Paris Declaration, the AAA and preparations for the HLF-4.

The BetterAid Coordinating Group

The BACG was initiated during the World Social Forum in Nairobi in January 2007 and is open to any organisation and network that can subscribe to the policy platform and is willing to contribute substantively to our joint activities.

The BACG is structured in five working groups working on:

· Policy Development

· Outreach among CSOs

· Communications

· Finance, fundraising and budget oversight

· Research

It holds biannual face-to-face meetings to discuss and decide on its road ahead.

Currently the CG is under the chairmanship of Tony Tujan (IBON/Reality of Aid) and Cecilia Alemany (AWID). Active partners in the CG are currently:

ActionAid International

African network on debt and development (Afrodad)

African Women's Development and Communication Network (Femnet)

Action of Churches Together (ACT) International network