274822 Measuring Accountability in Aid Effectiveness: Towards Standards of Accountability and Aid Effectiveness

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 5:10 PM - 5:30 PM

Elvira Beracochea, MD, MPH , MIDEGO, Inc, Fairfax, VA
Government and private sector aid to improve health in developing countries has met with mixed success. There is no general consensus on what delivers guaranteed success in aid and development assistance, or on standards of accountability, sustainability of results, or measures of return on the investment. Progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals is not measured in a consistent manner. In 2007 2008 and 2009 panels explored various efforts to establish accountability measures for donor aid, from the perspectives of representatives from international donors, aid recipients, and activists within the framework and principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The principles of the Paris Declaration are: Ownership, Harmonization, Alignment, Results and Mutual Accountability. This presentation will be part of an invited panel presentation and contribute by presenting a simple model to decide what and how to monitor accountability and aid effectiveness. Taking monitoring and evaluation methods to a new level of individual and organizational accountability, the author presents a number of tools for donors, countries and development organizations to adhere to the principles of the Paris Declaration signed by over a hundred countries and international agencies in 2005. The authors will describe a model based on the principles of quality, efficiency and consistency, and discuss pros and cons of various tools to decide what and how to monitor aid effectiveness: stakeholder analysis, accountability trees and worksheets, success milestones, health scorecards, value-added analysis, process maps and impact/effort worksheets, etc.

Learning Areas:
Program planning
Provision of health care to the public
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related education
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related nursing

Learning Objectives:
1) Identify principles of monitoring aid effectiveness of international foreign aid to developing countries. 2) Describe a model for deciding what and how to monitor aid effectiveness. 3) Discuss tools that can be used to monitor aid effectiveness.

Keywords: International Health, Management and Sustainability

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: over 25 years of international experience
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Name of Organization Clinical/Research Area Type of relationship
MIDEGO President Employment (includes retainer)

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.