The Deputy Director-General of the European Commission, Klaus Rudischhauser, will on Thursday, 1 December 2016 at 10:00am address a press conference on the New Development Consensus on Aid Effectiveness.

The press conference will take place at the Senate Hall on the 1st floor of the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on the side-lines of the Second High Level Meeting (HLM2) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development (GPEDC).

About HLM2

The Second High Level Meeting of the GPEDC being held in Nairobi, Kenya from 30^th November – 1^st December 2016 brings together high level participants to discuss the role of effective development cooperation in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in this context achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The EU Approach to Development Effectiveness

Development aid is a limited resource, which needs to be spent as effectively as possible in order to achieve results.  Better policies in developing countries, coupled with improved aid allocation mean that aid is more effective today at reducing poverty than ever before. International aid increasingly acts as a catalyst to spur the change needed to create conditions in which people in developing countries are able to raise their incomes and live longer, healthier and more productive lives. The EU is committed to doing its utmost to help alleviate poverty, strengthen national resilience and empower local communities through more effective delivery of aid.

What is the EU doing to advance this?

The European Commission's commitment to improving aid and development effectiveness through development cooperation is reflected in its endorsement of key international agreements. Following the Busan High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2011, the GPEDC was established. The European Commission plays an active role in GPEDC and the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) represents the EU on the Steering Committee. 

GPEDC is a unique global multi-stakeholder forum, which brings together all actors relevant for development cooperation, including traditional donors, developing countries, emerging economies, civil society, local government, philanthropic foundations and the private sector. GPEDC works to make progress on the commitments made in Busan as part of a shift from aid effectiveness to wider effective development cooperation.

The EU Council made commitments to make progress in the following areas:

• Establish an EU Transparency Guarantee to increase accountability and predictability, strengthen democratic ownership and improve development results.
• Implement joint programming at the country level to reduce aid fragmentation and promote harmonisation (a key flagship of the EU).
• Strengthen delivery, accountability, measurement and demonstration of sustainable results.
• Commit to a new approach to situations of conflicts and fragility.
• Deepen Public-Private engagement for development impact.