Strengthening and Using Country Systems

Why is strengthening and using country systems so important for aid effectiveness?

Decades of development experience show that when donors consistently bypass country systems the sustainability of their efforts are undermined, as is the recipient country's ability to manage their own future.

The benefits of disbursing aid through country systems include: building capacity to manage development resources and creating more sustainable development programmes.

For these reasons, the Paris Declaration commits partner countries to strengthening their country systems to the maximum extent possible; and commits donor countries to using these systems wherever possible.

Progress on using country systems

These commitments on country systems result from strong evidence that progress was made in using country systems between 2005 and 2008 but there is less evidence of donors increasing the use of country systems.

Objectives of the Global Partnership on Country Systems

To reach the targets they have agreed to, policymakers must step up their efforts to implement the Accra Agenda  for Action. The Global Partnership on Country Systems has been created to facilitate the implementation of these commitments. It aims to:

• accelerate progress in donors’ use of country systems
• facilitate the strengthening of country systems and effective locally-rooted capacity to reform systems where deemed necessary
• better communicate the benefits of using country systems and involve a greater number of stakeholders (parliaments, civil society organisations) in overseeing the strengthening and use of country systems

Two technical task forces have been created under the Global Partnership to provide key technical guidance for practitioners in donor and in partner country organisations to help reach these commitments:

• Public Financial Management
• Procurement 

The Global Partnership also supports a number of on-going country level initiatives in partner countries (currently in Ghana, Malawi and Mali) to:

• achieve a common understanding between local donors and countries on priority country systems as well as definitions of ‘using country systems’ as adapted to the specific country context
• identify current opportunities and constraints in the strengthening and use of country systems;
• define joint Government-Donor next steps and recommendations for achieving progress on strengthening and using country systems
• ensure high-level momentum from donor headquarters for this initiative and establish concrete steps towards fulfilling those recommendations
• provide lessons learned to share with other countries and to communicate to the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Korea in 2011.

Click here to access the dedicated space for members of the Global Partnership on Country Systems.