Reporting on Development: ODA and Financing for Development – Final Report for the The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

In September 2011, The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development jointly commissioned two studies under the heading ‘Modernising the Comparability of Donor Contributions Post-2015’. The studies respectively aim to (1) associate other development-related financial contributions to Official Development Assistance (ODA) reporting and (2) examine the feasibility and potential design of a ‘development-friendliness’ index to evaluate non-aid donor policies affecting developing countries. This report presents the results of the first study.

Comparative analysis of the findings from the three outputs of this study leads to an overall conclusion that the current Financing for Development (FFD) reporting system, which mainly revolves around an input-based ODA target, is no longer fit for purpose. The system requires an overhaul to report adequately on the financing for development under the post-MDG framework post-2015. Key reasons underpinning this conclusion are that (a) a full picture of all FFD contributions should be provided, not only of the OECD members' ODA contributions, whose share of total FFD has declined even with increasing ODA volumes; (b) new instruments and tools need to be adequately reflected in the measurement of FFD; and (c) a desire to clarify the disputed development-relevance of some ODAble contributions.