Sponsors: Government of Tanzania, the African Development Bank, and the World Bank.

Overview of the Workshop: The Second Africa Regional Workshop on Harmonization, Alignment, and Results for Development Effectiveness sponsored by the African Development Bank and the World Bank, and hosted by the Government of Tanzania, convened over 150 participants involved in development work in the region: representatives of 20 partner countries, 32 multilateral and bilateral aid organizations, and 10 civil society organizations. Member countries included: Burundi, Chad, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (Republic of), Cote D'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania (United Republic of), Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zambia. The 2 ½ day program of meetings covered a wide range of subjects-country cases on early and advanced experiences in harmonization and alignment, (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia), public financial management, budget support, sector programs, environment and social safeguards, managing for results at national and subnational levels with cases from Uganda, Malawi, Kenya, Mozambique; and achieving PRSP results in the region. Participants emphasized that they do not consider harmonization, alignment, and managing for results as ends in themselves, but rather as important tools for achieving an enhancement of development effectiveness in the work for poverty reduction and economic growth. They acknowledged that development requires cooperation and collaboration among a variety of parties: governments, civil society, the private sector, and donors that the partner countries' ultimate development goal was to decrease (and eventually eliminate) their dependence on aid and leave behind the cycle of poverty and despair.

Workshop participants further noted that progress in African countries had been uneven, and that less advanced countries can learn much from countries (such as Workshop host Tanzania), Mozambique, and Uganda that were relatively more advanced in harmonization, alignment, and managing for development results. Others, like Ethiopia, Zambia and Malawi are following the lead with recent collaboration initiatives articulated in formalized MoUs and time-bound action plans. Yet other countries, including Rome frontier countries like Niger and Kenya, remain for the most at the discussion and concept stage. Most of the reported progress is in the context of budget support or SWAps, with hardly any achievements at project-level. Notable progress was reported in cross-cutting areas of work, such as the increased coverage and improved quality of joint diagnostic work, or joint results-based assistance strategies being undertaken in several countries. They also focused on the need to move "from rhetoric to reality", namely from theoretical discussions to sustained implementation. Key messages collected from the Workshop for Paris were:

• Reaffirm Monterey and Rome commitments to provide the increased and more predictable resources required to meet the MDGs.
• Stress the importance of donor and government results-based strategies as a basis for H&A, and partner countries' need to own and lead the development process, including through increased south-south collaboration, existing regional efforts.
• Define a clear agenda for action, reflecting mutual accountability, building on countries' own systems, with clear allocation of responsibilities for all parties, and covering the needs for:
  • (i) increased, prioritized and joint support for human and institutional capacity building to manage for results, to carry out analytic work and implement findings and recommendations, along with increased reliance on private sector and civil society;
  • (ii) increased predictability and volume of low transactions cost discretionary resources;
  • (iii) strengthened communication channels and mechanisms for improved information and knowledge sharing within and across countries;
  • (iv) enhanced flexibility - expenditure eligibility and untying of aid, staff incentives and willingness of field donor representatives to move towards common practices and procedures.