From Dollars to Decisionmaking at FFD3

This week, delegates from around the world are meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the third Financing for Development conference.

One key outcome for this conference will be securing adequate financial commitments from donors in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. This aim received a boost on Friday, with the announcement from the International Monetary Fund and key Multilateral Development Banks that over $400 billion in financing will be extended to support the SDGs over the next three years.

However, beyond dollars and cents, a central focus for FFD should be plans for empowering aid-receiving countries with the tools and skills to manage and use development resources effectively. As the nature of development assistance changes, let’s remember that in addition to resources, our partner-government colleagues need the tools, skills and processes to manage, analyze, and allocate these resources for maximum effect. And providers of development finance — whether traditional donors or otherwise — should continue to make it easy for partner countries to access, understand and use data about development assistance. After a decade of pioneering aid information management tools and processes, we at DG are confident that empowering decision-makers to use information effectively is the key to long-term SDG success.

To our colleagues at FFD, best of luck for a productive meeting, and we look forward to many positive outcomes.

Image credit: Jean RebifféCC-BY-2.0