Paper presented at the Practitioners Network for European Development Cooperation workshop on “Post-Busan”

The global context in which development cooperation unfolds has changed dramatically over the last decade. One major change is the emergence of “new actors“ in development cooperation, such as civil society, local authorities and the private sector and more recently, non-DAC donors, private donors, and global funds. New global coalitions are emerging around global challenges (such as global warming, food and human security, fragile states). The distribution of poverty has shifted towards middle-income countries, yet some of these middle-income countries have become donors themselves and increasingly engage in South-South cooperation. There is wider recognition that global development challenges cannot
be addressed with aid alone. It is no surprise that development and international cooperation is also being revamped. The shift is moving from “aid” to “development financing”, which includes the mobilisation of domestic resources, remittances and private investment for development. And the narrow “aid effectiveness” agenda, focused on monitoring donor inputs has broadened to “development effectiveness” and improving the outcomes of donor efforts. The Tunis consensus (November 2010), summarising Africa’s vision on development effectiveness, is a good illustration of this trend, and so are its key priorities: building capable states; developing democratic accountability; promoting South-South cooperation; thinking
and acting regionally; embracing new development partners; and outgrowing aid dependence.