OECD Development Co‑operation Peer Reviews: Greece 2019

Annex A. Progress with implementing the 2011 DAC peer review recommendations

Greece has not implemented the 2011 DAC peer review recommendations. It postponed refining and approving draft legislation, and subsequently introducing a five-year programme, to allow for completing an audit of previous projects funded by DG Hellenic Aid. Greece has experienced two crises: a severe economic crisis, which produced significant cuts in the national budget (including official development assistance [ODA]), from which the country is slowly recovering; and a refugee and migrant crisis, whose impact is ongoing.

Overall framework for development co-operation

 

2011 recommendations	Progress in implementation
To build a sound basis for a new, effective aid system and programme, Greece should:	Not implemented
Secure broad backing and ownership of the reform of Greek development co-operation by consulting across the administration and with government, parliament and civil society. This should help the approval and implementation of the reform.
Include the recommendations of this peer review in the draft legislation and five-year programme to ensure a strong and sound basis for the reform and its implementation.
Ensure that the reform is adopted and effectively implemented.
To achieve a unified, coherent and effective development cooperation system and programme, Greece should:	Not implemented
Apply the principles and policy priorities outlined in the new law and draft programme to all actors of Greek development co-operation – i.e. activities financed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MFA) development budgets and through the separate budget lines of other ministries - and make all institutional players accountable.
Formalise the proposed new inter-ministerial committee for co-ordinating international development policy; make membership by key line ministries mandatory, and outline rules of procedure and accountability mechanisms.
Make the five-year programme, to be approved by the Council of Ministers, the binding government-wide medium-term strategy for development co-operation planning and implementation.
Ensure that all relevant ministries are engaged in the finalisation and monitoring of the current draft five-year programme through the inter-ministerial committee, under DG Hellenic Aid’s leadership. Engage all relevant ministries and development actors early in the process of designing future five-year programmes.
Ensure that DG Hellenic Aid has the authority and capacity to take the lead in aid policy making, co-ordination, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Development beyond aid

 

2011 recommendations	Progress in implementation
To ensure that all government policies support, or at least do not undermine development objectives, Greece should:	Not implemented
Make a clear commitment in the law and five-year programme to ensuring that domestic and international policies are coherent with its overall development goals. Outline clear priorities for coherence for development based on the EU programme, as well as steps for achieving these priorities.
Ensure that the new law clearly mandates the inter-ministerial committee to scrutinise domestic, foreign and EU policy proposals for their impact on development and to monitor and report on the impact of incoherence in Greek policies on developing countries
Reinforce DG Hellenic Aid’s role and capacity to support the inter-ministerial committee, and to promote and build awareness of policy coherence for development across the administration, parliament and Greek society.

Aid volumes, channels and allocations

 

2011 recommendations	Progress in implementation
To allocate its aid resources strategically, and to maximise the overall value of these flows, Greece should:	Not implemented
Move to programmatic aid budgeting through multi-year planning, with indicative budgets proposed annually by the inter-ministerial committee.
Identify all ODA expenditures, including those from line ministries’ budgets, in the state budget.
Ensure that all development aid is planned and disbursed in the framework of the five-year programme, and responds to identified expected results.
To focus its aid and make it more effective, Greece should:	Partially implemented
Concentrate its bilateral aid on a limited number of priority countries, based on strategy papers commonly agreed with the partner country. It should also reduce the number of projects it funds in these countries, so it can increase the funding allocated to a few strategic programmes.
Evaluate whether and how a scholarships programme can contribute to strengthening capacity building in developing countries.
Rationalise the aid channelled through multilateral agencies and NGOs by supporting fewer partners and larger programmes.
Limit the range of sectors and sub-sectors that Greece will support, being clear how they relate to the overall policy priorities and Greece’s comparative advantages in development co-operation.

Organisation and management

 

2011 recommendations	Progress in implementation
To make DG Hellenic Aid fit for purpose, Greece should:	Partially implemented
Restructure DG Hellenic Aid to make it simpler and flatter, with fewer directorates and larger teams focusing on key functions such as policy, programming and corporate processes.
Use a new business model for delivering aid and limit calls for proposals to specific, targeted programmes. The line ministries that are to be implementing agencies should be identified through the five-year programme and in the country strategy papers. The country strategy papers, agreed together with the partner countries, should be the basis for delivering Greece’s bilateral aid.
Create a culture of results, monitoring and evaluation, by updating and rationalising DG Hellenic Aid’s procedures and creating an evaluation function following international standards.
To improve development co-operation capacity and expertise despite DG Hellenic Aid’s constrained context, Greece should:	Not implemented
Promote development co-operation as a career path, and allow staff with an interest and competence in development to have longer-term assignments at DG Hellenic Aid and be posted to embassies in priority countries which are implementing projects and programmes.
Invest in regular staff training on key aspects of managing development cooperation, in line with international best practice. Use training already provided by other donors, organise exchanges of staff with line ministries and other donors and use outside expertise (i.e. from civil society) where possible.
Recruit staff to DG Hellenic Aid based on clear development competencies and specific job descriptions.

More effective aid and achieving results

 

Recommendations 2011	Progress in implementation
To deliver on its commitments to deliver aid following the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action, Greece should:	Not implemented
Use the five-year programme as the basis for implementing the Paris and Accra principles and collaborate with line ministries in identifying common objectives and for monitoring progress.
Employ a range of different ways to implement activities, including programme-based approaches and co-ordinated arrangements with other donors.
Promote a culture of results orientation by planning, implementing and monitoring for results.
Formulate priority country strategies in consultation with partner countries and other donors to foster ownership and alignment.

Humanitarian assistance

 

Recommendations 2011	Progress in implementation
To promote more coherent and strategic programming, Greece should finalise its legal framework and cross-government strategic plan for humanitarian assistance. This will also require:	Not implemented
Stronger links with overall Greek development priorities and a better reflection of Greece’s comparative advantage.
Continued formal legal recognition of the Good Humanitarian Donorship principles.
Coherence with Greek development programmes, country strategies and operations.
To support its new humanitarian framework and deliver coherent programming, Greece should:	Not implemented
Streamline procedures for working with NGOs and other donors, develop strategic partnerships with key operational actors, and deliver more flexible and predictable funding.
Develop a coherent and transparent system for monitoring programme results and learning lessons.
Outline clear criteria and guidelines for Greek in-kind aid.

Figure A.1. Greece’s implementation of 2011 peer review recommendations