Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with the Development Assistance Committee (DAC)

The OECD provides a forum for its 34 member countries where they can discuss, evaluate and improve their policies. Cooperation with the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), an OECD sub-group, is of prime importance in the field of development cooperation.

Main tasks of the OECD

The OECD aims to strengthen the economies of its member countries, to support the market economy and free trade, and to promote development both in industrialized and developing countries. Its members are the 34 richest countries in the world, representing more than half of global economic power. The OECD provides governments with a framework for discussing and further developing their policies in the fields of economy, finance, education, development, science and the environment.

The OECD consists of various sub-groups. The most important of these for the SDC is the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Other OECD institutions involved with development are

the Development Centre; has a mandate to carry out research into economic and social development and publish the research results; it is also a forum for informal discussion between academics, politicians and the private sector from OECD countries and countries which have rising economies such as Brazil, India and China. .
the Sahel and Westafrica Club (SWAC); promotes links between OECD countries and West Africa. Its main purpose is to pass on urgently-needed know-how to partner countries in the South and to support them in working out their own development strategies. Climate change is an important issue for SWAC.
the Centre for Co-operation with Non-Members (CCNM); promotes and coordinates dialogue between OECD states and emerging, transitional and developing countries. The CCNM is the main point of contact for countries that are not members of the OECD.

Tasks and goals of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC)

The DAC, which was founded in 1961, has 24 OECD members. These include the most important bilateral donor countries. The DAC - since 2011 under the chairmanship of the USA’s Brian Atwood NEED A LINK TO HIS NAME - aims to increase the level of aid to developing countries and to make this aid more effective. The DAC itself does not carry out projects but focuses on the political, methodological and technical aspects of development cooperation and the relationships between them. It produces technical documents and guidelines which are ground breakers in international development cooperation.

Examples of these guidelines are the DAC Guidelines on Poverty Reduction, the DAC Guidelines Helping Prevent Violent Conflict and Integrating Rio Conventions into Development Cooperation. The documents are mainly developed by the DAC’s working groups and networks. At the moment these are working on a number of development-related topics including:

Aid Effectiveness and Donor Practices

The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness will take place in Busan at the end of 2011. It will assess how far the commitments and goals of the Paris Declaration (PD) and the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) have been fulfilled, and examine whether they have led to improved results in terms of development. In addition, new donors will be brought on board in Busan, and other sources of finance relevant to development, in addition to official development assistance (ODA), will be considered.

The DAC and Switzerland

Active participation in the OECD is very important for Switzerland, because it is able to contribute its viewpoints and specialist knowledge directly. This is in contrast to other bodies such as the G20 and the EU where it is not represented. Switzerland currently chairs several OECD committees and working groups. In the field of development cooperation, the SDC is chair of the Network on Governance and vice-chair of the Working Party on Statistics.

Cooperation between Switzerland and the DAC takes place through the permanent Swiss delegation to the OECD in Paris. In addition, representatives of the SDC and/or SECO participate regularly in meetings and conferences on a wide range of topics. Swiss specialists are assigned to the DAC networks as necessary to work on guidelines and recommendations.

One of the DAC’s special areas of expertise is the Evaluation of the Development Assistance Systems of member states through Peer Reviews. Member countries can have their work thoroughly evaluated, can compare their activities against the principles and approaches set out by the DAC, and can assess their own strengths and weaknesses. The most recent review of Swiss development cooperation took place in 2009.

Additional Information and Documents

OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development
http://www.oecd.org
DAC - The Development Assistance Committee (OECD)
http://www.oecd.org/dac
Busan HLF4 – Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness
http://www.aideffectiveness.org/busanhlf4/
OECD: Informations on the topic development
http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,2686,en_2649_37413_1_1_1_1_37413,00.html
DAC Guidelines Helping Prevent Violent Conflict
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/15/54/1886146.pdf
DAC Guidelines Integrating Rio Conventions into Development Co-operation
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/49/2/1960098.pdf
DAC Guidelines on Poverty Reduction
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/47/14/2672735.pdf
Presentation of the DAC Peer Review 2009
Effectiveness
To capitalize on its experience and improve its development programmes and projects, SDC needs to ev...