Policy Coherence for Development: Difference between revisions

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The origins of the concept go back to successful European NGO campaigns of the 1990s that put a spotlight on 'dumping' of European products in developing countries, and which in 1992 led to an article in the [[Treaty on European Community]] that required EU policy makers to take account of developing country interests when drawing up new policies. Depending on the translation, this Treaty article was referred to as promoting coherence (e.g. German version) or consistency (e.g. English version). Later that same decade the OECD added 'for development' so as to clarify that 'PCD' was about ensuring that policies do not harm and where possible contribute to international development objectives. Examples of PCD definitions clarifying this impact focus can be found in the 2005 European Consensus on Development and the 2008 outcome document of the UN MDG summit, both of which link to the MDGs.

Under the principles of Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) potential conflicts of objectives and interests between international co-operation and other sectoral policies of the various federal departments should be identified and resolved as far as possible. These may be in the following policy areas: Migration policy, agricultural policy, environmental policy, health policy, financial sector policy, security policy, education, research and cultural policy.<ref name=":0" />

 

 

PCD operates in a multi-polar global economy in which all countries are playing a role in driving global growth and enabling sustainable development. A rapidly changing global economic landscape means every country is facing more complex and interlinked economic, social and environmental challenges. A better understanding of the linkages of the emerging global trends and their implications is critical for countries as they craft strategies for sustainable development.<ref name=":2">OECD (2014), Better Policies for Development 2014: Policy Coherence and Illicit Financial Flows, OECD</ref>

 

 

The European Union has translated this idea into a legal commitment as most recently stated in the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009 and has highlighted the concept in political declarations and communications, including the position on the post-2015 agenda [http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/documents/2013-02-22_communication_a_decent_life_for_all_post_2015_en.pdf ‘A decent life for all’]. The OECD expressed political will to ensure PCD as noted its 2008 Ministerial Declaration and in the following 2010 Council Recommendations on PCD. The OECD Strategy for Development also assigns key importance to PCD. Both OECD and EU have put in place systems and tools define overall ambition and targets, facilitate decision-making and monitor progress, which include institutional mechanisms, monitoring tools, e.g. peer reviews, indicators and reporting, as well as policy tool-kits presented as practical measures to achieve progress. Some OECD Member states, for example Finland, the Netherlands, have currently developed and piloted self-assessment PCD toolkits. Finland and Switzerland are also testing developing country-level impact assessments in the area of food security.<ref name=":1" />

A recent report from the European Commission states that the European Union has made good progress on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) at both European and Member State level, a fact recognised by the OECD in the most recent (2012) OECD DAC peer review. It argues that the EU has cemented its position as a global leader in implementing PCD commitments in policy-making. It does however acknowledge that there is still room for progress in terms of using mechanisms such as impact assessments, evaluation and/or measuring, monitoring progress and reporting on implementation. The Commission argues that the EU remains the lead actor for PCD internationally, ahead of its main partners, with the highest levels of political and legal commitment. More recently, PCD issues have benefited from sustained high-level political attention in the EU and featured more prominently on the agenda of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.<ref>European Commission; Commission Staff Working Document 'EU 2013 Report on Policy Coherence for Development'; 2013; {{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/development-policies/documents/swd_2013_456_f1_staff_working_paper_en_v3_p1_746653_en.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2014-07-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729235649/http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/development-policies/documents/swd_2013_456_f1_staff_working_paper_en_v3_p1_746653_en.pdf |archivedate=29 July 2014 }}</ref>

 

 

Policy coherence for development is among the many criteria for the OECD [[Development Assistance Committee]] Peer Review Process. The 2011 DAC Peer Review of the United States stated that ''"The OECD/DAC describes progress towards policy coherence for development (PCD) as involving three building blocks: (i) a political commitment that clearly specifies policy objectives; (ii) policy co-ordination mechanisms that can resolve conflicts or inconsistencies between policies and maximise synergies; and (iii) monitoring, analysis and reporting systems to provide the evidence base for accountability and for well- informed policy making and politics (OECD, 2008a). The 2006 peer review encouraged the US government to develop a more explicit policy on the role of policy coherence for development and to put in place the resources needed to carry out analysis and effectively manage the policy coherence agenda. Five years on, the US has achieved mixed progress in implementing these recommendations and the three PCD pillars"''<ref>DAC PEER REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES; OECD; 2011</ref>

The OECD argue that national security strategy cannot substitute for a policy coherence for development agenda. After the passing of the FY14 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill in 2013, Kate Almquist Knopf, a former assistant administrator for USAID, blogged that ''"There is a fundamental mismatch between the United States’ foreign aid architecture, resources, and objectives"'' and that the bill was a ''"stinging reminder of the low esteem in which many members of Congress hold global development and the [[USAID|US Agency for International Development (USAID)]], the primary federal agency charged with delivering US foreign assistance worldwide."'' She called for the USAID administrator to be a standing member of the National Security Council, and the [[US Secretary of State]] could return actual budget and planning authority to USAID by restoring the USAID administrator as the dual-hatted director of US foreign assistance.<ref>Knopf, K A; "USAID: Destined to Disappoint" Centre for Global Development; 2013 http://www.cgdev.org/blog/usaid-destined-disappoint</ref>

 

 

[[Food security]] is a major development challenge and to address this, the EU amongst others has effectively put global food security high among its development priorities for the years to come. However, while the European Union is the world's major development actor on food security, as ECDPM argues some of its other policies are still contested as harmful to global food security and agricultural development.

An analysis of EU policy-making processes related to agriculture, fisheries, energy and trade shows that some tangible efforts have been made to strengthen policy coherence 'for food security'. However, these are tentative steps. Other concerns and interests dominate the debates and shape the outcomes, while global food security considerations play a very marginal to no role, or the food security rationale used is at odds with the logic of the EU's own food security policy framework.<ref>Engel, P., Lein, B., Seters, J. van, Helden, B. van. 2013. EU Policy Coherence for Food Security: Aligning parallel agendas. (ECDPM Discussion Paper 153). Maastricht: ECDPM</ref>

 

 

Amid international reflection on the form and content of a [[Post-2015 Development Agenda|post-2015 framework]], among many other issues, PCD was highlighted as being a key component of the 'beyond-aid' debate. The post-2015 agenda discussions emphasise the need for a universal development agenda that is relevant to the needs of all countries and which is based on shared responsibilities. This is against the background of a changing global development landscape and shared development and 'global public goods' challenges, such as climate change, widening income inequalities, resource scarcity and environmental degradation. The original PCD concept focusing on 'beyond-aid' policies of OECD DAC donor countries does not easily fit such a new 'universal' logic. For this reason, the OECD has reconceptualised PCD and now promotes a wider universal approach and definition of PCD in the context of the post-2015 agenda.<ref name=":2" />

A paper by ECDPM argues that the various of the ideas and principles of PCD can be mainstreamed in the post-2015 framework without using strong PCD jargon. These include i) targets for Means of Implementation in thematic areas that effectively require strengthened PCD efforts, ii) targets in relation to capacity building for more integrated and evidence-based policy-making and iii) efforts to build a strong accountability framework. The paper further concludes that independent from whether a universal PCD concept will explicitly be part of the language of a new framework, real progress on PCD will have to remain a major, if not the most, important component of OECD and EU MS action in achievement of post-2015 commitments.<ref name=":1" />

 

 

In 2013, the high-profile development blogger Owen Barder wrote a critique of the concept of 'Policy Coherence for Development' entitled 'Policy Coherence Is a Hobgoblin'. He argued that ''"The term PCD has given us an industry of reports and conferences focussing on whether countries have policies which are consistent with each other, and institutions thought likely to make them so, instead of focusing on whether and how those policies are individually supportive of, or inimical to, development."'' He argued that the PCD concept has ''"perhaps subconsciously, altered the country’s policy objectives away from impact to consistency."''<ref>'Policy Coherence Is a Hobgoblin' Barder, O. Centre for Global Development; Global Development: Views from the Center blog; http://www.cgdev.org/blog/policy-coherence-hobgoblin</ref>

 

==References==