This year’s DAC High Level Meeting (HLM) took place at a time when governments and organisations across the globe are focusing on the challenges and opportunities presented by this high-profile year for development.

The HLM is an annual gathering of aid ministers and heads of aid agencies from OECD governments together with senior officials from the World Bank, the IMF and UNDP. They last met in Paris on 2-3 March to debate on the key elements arising from the Paris High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness; the Millennium Development Goals; and development, peace and security.

Scheduled to meet on the day after the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness finishes, members of the HLM were ideally positioned to look at how the DAC could take the aid effectiveness agenda forward, post the Paris High Level Forum.

For example, members discussed:

• the DAC’s function as the international hub for aid effectiveness work between bilateral and multilateral donors and with partner countries;
• monitoring of the agreed Paris commitments and indicators as core work for the future.

The gathering also highlighted the OECD’s substantial contribution to the United Nations Millennium Review process, which later this year will assess what needs to be done to achieve the MDGs. Participants helped to shape:

• a statement to be adopted by the Ministerial Council on 4 May which will serve as an OECD input at the political level to the UN process.

A special item at this year’s HLM was:

• the Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness in the NEPAD context, commissioned by NEPAD Heads of State.

Progress and priority actions that African and OECD countries need to accomplish were identified.  Links to the Commission for Africa and the G8 Summit at Gleneagles next June add to the timeliness of the Mutual Review.

The last major issue discussed was development, peace and security.

• The HLM focused on fragile states and the most effective ways for donors to respond to the range of specific circumstances.

The DAC Heads of Information (HOI) meeting which brings together top OECD communications specialists in government development agencies, took place directly after the HLM. It looked at the most effective ways to communicate aid effectiveness and the Paris Declaration, and picked up on other outcomes from the HLM.

The High Level Meeting was chaired by Mr. Richard Manning.