Accra, Ghana - Civil society organizations (CSOs) are unanimous in highlighting the failure of aid to effectively deliver progress to communities around the world, as explained in the Reality of Aid 2008 Report , “Aid Effectiveness: Democratic Ownership and Human Rights” which was launched on September 1 during the CSO Parallel Forum on Aid Effectiveness.

The 2008 Report, published by the Reality of Aid (RoA) Network, gathered evidence and experiences of CSOs and people’s organizations working in the forefront of development policies on the present reality of aid. It also recommended some proposals and directions for reforms. This is an alternative source of knowledge amongst people and confirms the real situation happening in different communities all over the globe.

The report cited the continuing practice of donors to impose conditionalities on their aid to developing countries, and this has prevented communities to assert their right to development. It also documented deeply troubling trends and failures in aid reforms as revealed by authors both from southern and northern countries.

The authors of the RoA 2008 Report came up with their strong conclusion that the only true measure of aid’s effectiveness is its sustained impact on reducing poverty and inequality through deepening commitments and achieving their commitments in implementing human rights, in achieving gender equality and in promoting environmental sustainability.

In the CSO Parallel Forum on Aid Effectiveness and the High Level Forum III, the Reality of Aid Network with hundreds of CSO members all over the globe, asserts the following proposals and calls for their immediate implementation.

1)    Aid effectiveness commitments must be clearly and demonstrably refocused on implementing human rights obligations and standards, including the right to development;
2)    Donors and governments must promote democratic and local ownership, including the active inclusion of parliaments, CSOs and citizens in policy making and agenda setting;
3)    Genuine and regular mechanisms are needed to hold donors to account and development effectiveness;
4)    The highest standards of openness and transparency on the part of all development actors are essential;
5)    Donors, including IFIs, must commit to eliminating all types of imposed policy conditions from their aid and untying heir aid without restrictions by 2010;
6)    Donors must cancel all illegitimate debt and the debt of the poorest countries and increase boh the volume and predictability of aid; and
7)    Donors and governments meeting in September 2008 Accra HLF 3 must agree on an Accra Agenda for Action that sets in motion ambitious initiatives over the next two years to deepen their commitments to aid reform beyond the Paris Declaration.

Please visit www.realityofaid.org or write RoA Secretariat: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information on the Reality of Aid 2008 Report, “Aid Effectiveness: Democratic Ownership and Human Rights”.