A baseline survey of the guiding principles on managing for sustainable development results

Abstract

This paper describes the aggregate findings of a survey conducted to assess where development cooperation providers that are members of the Results Community of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stand with regard to the Guiding Principles on Managing for Sustainable Development Results (MfSDR) that were adopted in July 2019. Fifty bilateral and multilateral organisations participated in the survey. In addition to presenting detailed findings against each Principle, this paper also examines the main strengths and constraints providers are facing in order to align to these Principles. It also analyses some correlations between the Principles, drawing conclusions on some of the more practical consequences for systemic and tailored approaches to implementing the Guiding Principles.This working paper was written by Alejandro Guerrero-Ruiz, Julia Schnatz and Chantal Verger, under the strategic guidance of Rahul Malhotra, Head of the Reviews, Results, Evaluation and Development Innovation (RREDI) Division at the Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD). It was reviewed by Joëlline Bénéfice, Adviser, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTP). The authors would also like to thank OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Results Community Leads of the Temporary Working Groups where preliminary findings from the survey were discussed in the middle of 2020. This paper benefited from the administrative support of Ola Kasneci. It was edited by Mebrak Tareke. The authors are very grateful for all the useful comments and suggestions. Any possible error remains the exclusive responsibility of the authors.

Aligning development co-operation to the SDGs in upper-middle income countries

“…Peru and its development partners operate in trust-based partnerships, with a high degree of country ownership over development co-operation. Alignment to country priorities (86%) and results frameworks (54%) tends to be comparatively higher than in most countries, and within the average for UMICs (GPEDC, 2019 [48]). Given these factors, development partners tend to trace Peru's own SDG alignment efforts in sectoral planning, policies and monitoring frameworks.…”

Aligning development co-operation to the SDGs in least developed countries

“…Given this, collaboration between actors is more difficult. Mistrust incentivises practices that do not favour development co-operation effectiveness (GPEDC, 2019 [28]). For example, delivery modalities that emphasise the use of country systems (e.g.…”

“…Overall, development partners tend to match project objectives with government goals included in the national development plan and associated sector strategies (with 86% of projects aligned to Ugandan priorities in 2019, down from 92% in 2016). The use of government statistics and data to track outcome and impact indicators is, however, lower, with 42% of indicators relying on government administrative data or statistics (GPEDC, 2019 [28]).…”

“…Together these practices contribute to harmonised SDG monitoring practices and better synergies with Uganda's statistical system. Source: Authors' estimates based on data related to country strategies and frameworks from GPEDC (2019 [28]).…”

Aligning development co-operation to the SDGs in lower middle-income countries

“…Intra-agency and context-specific drivers are the main forces behind alignment of development co-operation to SDG results. The majority of Bangladesh's development partners include SDG indicators in their results frameworks, especially at corporate level (22 out of 35 major development partners in Bangladesh use a number of official SDG indicators in their corporate results frameworks (Guerrero-Ruiz, Schnatz and Verger, 2021 [38]). The picture is different at project level: development partners tend to use SDG indicators extensively in specific sectors, particularly where outcomes are easily attributable to project actions.…”