THE NETHERLANDS Development Assistance Committee (DAC) PEER REVIEW 2011 ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT INTRODUCTION– 3 The Peer Review Process The DAC conducts periodic reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts of DAC members. The policies and programmes of each member are critically examined approximately once every four or five years. Five members are examined annually. The OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate provides analytical support and is responsible for developing and maintaining the conceptual framework within which the Peer Reviews are undertaken. The Peer Review is prepared by a team, consisting of representatives of the Secretariat working with officials from two DAC members who are designated as “examiners”. The country under review provides a memorandum setting out the main developments in its policies and programmes. Then the Secretariat and the examiners visit the capital to interview officials, parliamentarians, as well as civil society and NGO representatives of the donor country to obtain a first-hand insight into current issues surrounding the development co-operation efforts of the member concerned. Field visits assess how members are implementing the major DAC policies, principles and concerns, and review operations in recipient countries, particularly with regard to poverty reduction, sustainability, gender equality and other aspects of participatory development, and local aid co-ordination. The Secretariat then prepares a draft report on the member’s development co-operation which is the basis for the DAC review meeting at the OECD. At this meeting senior officials from the member under review respond to questions formulated by the Secretariat in association with the examiners. This review contains the Main Findings and Recommendations of the Development Assistance Committee and the report of the Secretariat. It was prepared with examiners from Italy and the United States for the Peer Review of the Netherlands on 28 September 2011. In order to achieve its aims the OECD has set up a number of specialised committees. One of these is the Development Assistance Committee, whose members have agreed to secure an expansion of aggregate volume of resources made available to developing countries and to improve their effectiveness. To this end, members periodically review together both the amount and the nature of their contributions to aid programmes, bilateral and multilateral, and consult each other on all other relevant aspects of their development assistance policies. The members of the Development Assistance Committee are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. DAC PEER REVIEW OF THE NETHERLANDS–© OECD 2011 4 – INTRODUCTION The Netherlands’ aid at a glance Exchange rates (EUR per USD): 2007 2008 2009 2010 0.7305 0.6933 0.7181 0.7550 DAC PEER REVIEW OF THE NETHERLANDS–© OECD 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS – 5 Table of contents Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................. 9 The DAC’s main findings and recommendations ........................................................................... 11 Secretariat Report ............................................................................................................................. 23 Chapter 1 Strategic orientations ....................................................................................................... 23 Progress in implementing the recommendations of the last peer review ......................................... 23 A good reputation and strong foundations ....................................................................................... 23 Reforming Dutch development policy ............................................................................................. 24 An opportunity to reform all Dutch aid delivery channels .............................................................. 25 Bilateral channel: halving the number of partner countries ......................................................... 25 The multilateral system: giving strong and strategic support ....................................................... 28 Civil society: the need for a fresh look......................................................................................... 28 Risk of combining private sector development with promoting Dutch commercial interests ..... 29 A more strategic approach is needed for mainstreaming cross-cutting issues ................................. 29 Towards better accountability: developing a public communication and awareness strategy ..................................................................................................................... 30 Future considerations ....................................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 2 Development beyond aid .................................................................................................. 33 Progress in implementing the recommendation of the last peer review .................................................. 33 A long-standing commitment to policy coherence for development ...................................................... 34 Strengthening the Dutch approach further ................................................................................... 35 Progress in monitoring, analysing and reporting policy coherence for development .................. 36 Progress in using whole-of-government approaches ....................................................................... 37 Investing time, energy and resources to make whole-of-government approaches work .............. 37 Good progress with inter-ministerial co-operation in fragile states .................................................... 38 Looking forward: the “beyond aid” agenda for the whole Dutch government ................................ 40 Future considerations ....................................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 3 Aid volumes, channels and allocations ........................................................................... 41 Progress in implementing the recommendations of the last peer review ......................................... 41 Continuing high levels of Dutch ODA ............................................................................................ 41 A consolidated system ..................................................................................................................... 42 Dealing with budget cuts .............................................................................................................. 42 Building on the strengths of the system ........................................................................................... 43 Managing a narrower bilateral focus ............................................................................................ 44 The Netherlands should sharpen the focus of its civil society programmes ................................ 45 Reforming the enterprise channel................................................................................................. 45 DAC PEER REVIEW OF THE NETHERLANDS–© OECD 2011 6 – TABLE OF CONTENTS Geographical allocations of bilateral aid: more transparency is needed ...................................... 46 Composition of the Netherlands’ bilateral ODA .......................................................................... 46 The Netherlands faces a major challenge to grow its programmes in the new thematic areas .... 47 Keeping cross-cutting issues high on the agenda ......................................................................... 47 The Netherlands should maintain its contribution to the multilateral system .................................. 48 Non-ODA flows ............................................................................................................................... 50 Future considerations ....................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 4 Organisation and management ....................................................................................... 51 Progress in implementing the recommendations of the last peer review ......................................... 51 An integrated ministry adjusting to change ..................................................................................... 51 Managing and communicating about the changes ahead will be vital ............................................. 52 Strengthening the links between field and headquarters .................................................................. 53 Improving field – headquarters linkages for knowledge sharing and coherent management ...... 53 The need to create a “learning” and results-orientated organisation and to make better use of evaluations and other evidence ........................................................................................................ 55 Re-focusing planning and monitoring in order to understand and learn more from results ......... 55 Making use of a strong base of evidence from evaluations .........................................................