Stephen KarangiziAssistant Secretary General – Programmes27th March 2011, UN Conference Centre, Addis Ababa

COMESA

ContextCOMESA ExperiencesBrief Challenges at regional levelProposed inclusions for AEProposed was forward and discussions point for view and input

The Aid Effectiveness Agenda has so far been focus on the development partners and at the national levelThe Regional level has been largely left outHowever, with the characteristic of small economy’s whose answer in the Global context has been accepted to be the regional angle, it is important to look at the regional dimension

In the Eastern and Southern African region, the Inter-Regional Coordinating Committee (IRCC) brings together, Five Organizations – COMESA, EAC, IGAD, IOC and SADCThree of these are among the 8 RECs recognised as the building block of the AUIRCC recognizing the importance of Aid Effectiveness and its role in contributing to effective development through regional integration, has put Aid Effectiveness high on the AgendaRole of RECs – Institutional and Direct Interventions related to Aid Effectiveness

COMESA role is at several levelsSet up of institutions focusing on CD for regional integration (RMCE)Working with existing regional institutions to develop relevant curricula – ESAMI and National institutionsWorking with regional CD associations/institutions eg. IDEP/higher learningKnowledge Platforms –Climate ChangeVSAT Closed User Group

In line with AE principles COMESA is : Building its institutional capacity to handle donor funds using its own procedures eg the CA, CAF, CIFDemanding that funding provided is aligned to the regional objectives as stated on strategic plansAllocating increased resources for implementation of programmes at national level. Covering country specific CB, technical assistance and adjustment support through the COMESA Adjustment FacilityMechanisms for improved integration of regional programmes in nat. development plans (eg RIIP, developing National frameworks for Monitoring RI)

One of the largest constraints to the region, both in terms of quality, coverage and required investment, is infrastructure. However, individual national efforts are not sufficient and regional mechanisms are not developed for pooling fund from within and from donorsLevel of national/regional linkages and rate of transposition is weak as national level focused on national interest in line with donor objectives and fundingThis leads to low national/donor allocation of resources to regional objectives and a larger dependency on REC allocation of resources

A formal recognition of the specificities of the regional integration dimension of aid effectivenessOpening possibilities for RECs to become signatories to the Aid Effectiveness process ( with agreement of its MS but becoming itself a signatory would strengthen their commitments to aid effectiveness);Integrating the regional dimension in the indicators agreed for monitoring AE. Such indicators should be relevant to development cooperation and not address the RECs/MS relationship,

Under Ownership Increase the private sector’s involvement in designing regional initiatives to ensure they are relevant and well targeted Invest in building RECs’ leadership capacity at the policy, technical and implementation levels

Support programmes that align regional and national development strategies and which are complementary Develop prioritised and where possible, costed strategies for regional development that are pro – poor and to which donors can align. Develop new and innovative funding modalities to support regional initiatives Investigate establishing flexible funds that RECs and their member states can tap for regional initiatives Better align regional integration policies (“soft” infrastructure) and capital investments (“hard” infrastructure)

standardise project funding and implementation modalities, to make it easier to partner with ROs and MS and mobilise donor supportcustomise existing aid delivery instruments to make them more RO specific and adapted to the specificities of support to RObroker agreement on simplifying and harmonising country systems for managing major investment projects—e.g., through a harmonised rule book for regional investments work on a joint funding mechanism for large regional investment projects