Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4)
Asia Foundation President David D. Arnold led a delegation to participate in HLF4 in Busan, Korea in November 2011. More than 2,000 international aid and development delegates from across the world came together to review global progress in improving the impact and effectiveness of aid, and make commitments that set a new agenda for development. Previous Forum meetings have taken place in Rome, Paris, and Accra.
On November 28, Mr. Arnold was the keynote speaker at the pre-HLF4 conference, "Toward a Global Compact for Development Effectiveness," co-sponsored by the Foundation, the Korea Development Institute (KDI), and the Korea Association for International Development and Cooperation (KAIDEC). In conjunction with HLF4, on November 29, the Foundation was selected to host an HLF4 side event, "Emerging Asian Approaches to Development Cooperation" in partnership with KDI and Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). More than 250 delegates participated in a highly interactive discussion that addressed key ingredients for growth; compatibility of aid architecture and principles with Asian approaches; partnership-based development; and comparative perspectives on Asian approaches to development cooperation.
Asian Approaches to Development Cooperation
In 2011, The Asia Foundation, in partnership with the Korea Development Institute, convened formal dialogues focusing on Asian approaches to development cooperation. These dialogues, which bring together experts and development cooperation officials from Korea, China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, provide Asian perspectives on development cooperation philosophies, purpose and modalities and contribute useful insights to the dialogue on aid effectiveness leading up to HLF4. The outcomes from the series are available in a new publication, which was released at a HLF4 side event in Busan. In 2012, the Asian Approaches dialogues will focus on issues surrounding pro-poor growth and development cooperation.
U.S.-Korea Conference on Effective Development Cooperation
The Asia Foundation's Korea Office organized a two-day workshop on Strategies for Effective Development Cooperation, in Seoul October 17-18. The workshop brought together international development cooperation experts from the United States and Korea to exchange lessons-learned and ideas on best practices in international development cooperation. Workshop participants encouraged the United States and Korea to expand their on-the-ground cooperation in providing development assistance as an important component of a more expansive bilateral alliance. Read the Strategies for Effective Development Cooperation workshop papers, as well as a report from Scott Snyder here. Find reports and recommendations for U.S.-Korea cooperation in humanitarian aid here. A new Occasional Paper presented at the conference - "Practical Challenges of Rigorous Impact Evaluation in International NGOs: Experience and Lessons from The Asia Foundation" - is now available.