Many policy areas outside of development co-operation affect developing countries. Incoherent policies impede development, waste resources and undermine development co-operation efforts. Coherent policies support development, create synergies with investments and strengthen development co-operation efforts.
Policy coherence for development
Abstract
Many policy areas outside of development co-operation affect developing countries.
These include trade, business regulation, environment, climate, migration, tax and finance, and security.
Incoherent policies impede development, waste resources and undermine development co-operation efforts.
Coherent policies support development, create synergies with investments and strengthen development co-operation efforts.
Policy coherence for development requires that governments take into account the objectives of development co-operation in domestic policies, in areas likely to affect developing countries. Policy coherence for development is one dimension of policy coherence for sustainable development.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 refers to the need for cross sector and cross-country collaboration, and many binding and non-binding international frameworks also set out objectives and concrete measures on the need to adapt national policies. These include areas such as climate, arms trade, international public health, biological diversity, international finance and migration.
To advance policy coherence for development governments need to put in place:
Note: Section III.2 of the OECD DAC Peer Review Analytical Framework sets out the expectations of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) on policy coherence for sustainable development.
1. Strategic vision to address areas of incoherence. Governments develop a strategic long-term vision where policies and laws demonstrate a clear commitment to enhancing policy coherence for development. Action plans outline priority policy objectives for coherence, accountability mechanisms and how success will be measured.
Luxembourg’s third sustainable development plan makes poverty eradication and the coherence of domestic policies for development abroad one of its ten priority actions.
Italy has a legal commitment to make “an utmost effort to guarantee that its policies, even when not directly linked to development co-operation, be consistent with the purposes” of the development co-operation law.
The Netherlands has an action plan for policy coherence for development. For priority policy areas, the government identifies objectives and actions to support coherence across sectors.
2. Mechanisms for co-ordination and consultation. Ministries have the mandate, capacity and resources to assess and address coherence issues. Mechanisms enable discussing action on priority issues, across government and with subnational and domestic stakeholders, with developing countries and in multilateral fora.
Sweden requires all ministries to develop action plans on their global contributions to the SDGs.
Evaluations from the EU and Norway recommend that all parts of government take responsibility for global sustainable development.
Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands established multi-stakeholder platforms to discuss actions for more coherent policies and responsible business conduct in global value chains.
DAC members have contributed to multilateral agreements for more coherent policies, e.g. on climate change mitigation, arms trade and taxation to avoid base erosion and profit shifting.
3. Tools to assess, monitor, report and evaluate. Governments use tools to systematically assess, monitor, report and evaluate the coherence of legislation and policies, and their impact on developing countries.
The EU requires that all proposed regulation undergoes an impact assessment. The EU has developed specific guidance for assessing the effects of policy initiatives on developing countries, but its application need to be further expanded.
The Netherlands and Sweden report actions and progress on policy coherence to Parliament. Finland and Switzerland have developed monitoring indicators on global responsibility and policy coherence as part of their national SDG reporting.
The EU, Norway and Sweden have evaluated their efforts to ensure greater policy coherence, with recommendations on how to further improve. The EU evaluated its system of trade preferences; the Netherlands evaluated action on responsible business conduct.
How do we know if DAC members are moving in the right direction?
Priority issues are identified: Governments identify priorities for policy coherence engagement and develop tools for monitoring and assessing the impact of policies, both nationally and on developing countries.
Engagement with subnational entities and stakeholders is proactive: Consultations are informed by evidence, pros and cons considered, solutions proposed and stakeholders mobilised to support policy coherence.
Policies and processes are adjusted leading to greater coherence: Policies are informed by stakeholder discussions, reflect the impact on developing countries while continuing to uphold sustainable development commitments at a national level.
Commitment to Development Index, Centre for Global Development (CGD).
“Spilover score”, Sustainable Development Report, SDG Transformation Center, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
OECD Recommendation on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development [OECD/LEGAL/0381], accompanied by a toolkit, country profiles, and regular reports.
DAC Evaluation Resource Centre (DEReC), OECD [website].
More Framework principles are available on Development Co-operation TIPs • Tools Insights Practices.
