Promoting Gender Equality in New Aid Modalities and Partnerships

As efforts intensify to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, developed and developing countries have committed to new partnerships and aid modalities, designed to align aid to nationally determined development priorities, to pool diverse aid sources into direct support to the national budget or to particular sectors, and to ensure greater stability and predictability in aid flows.

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness summarizes the principles and indicators of progress agreed to by the OECD-DAC donor countries and the developing country partners. It calls for donors to increase aid and to adopt concrete actions that can be monitored while aid delivery and management is reformed. The Paris Declaration established aid effectiveness targets and progress indicators that were endorsed by member states at the September 2005 World Summit at the United Nations.

This discussion paper identifies an initial set of considerations to ensure that gender equality is central to the aid effectiveness agenda. It is intended for policy-makers currently adjusting to the new aid modalities, such as officials and analysts in Ministries of Finance, Planning and Women's Affairs; women's rights advocates at domestic, regional and international levels; and bilateral and multilateral development actors such as Resident Coordinators in the UN system.