The OECD's Development Assistance Committee and German Development Cooperation: A Relationship under Scrutiny

Abstract

"The OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) is a coordinating body of the major bilateral donors which seeks to improve the effectiveness of development cooperation. The DAC’s work focuses on three areas: (1) the setting of quality standards for development cooperation and the uniform recording of resource flows and aid performance, (2) policy coordination through the establishment of guidelines for important areas of development cooperation and (3) periodic reviews of the members' aid policies and programmes in the light of the common standards and guidelines (aid reviews). Some criticism of the DAC emerged from the German development cooperation community in the past. The two most important criticisms were that (1) the DAC was exceeding its mandate by claiming to implement a strategy of its own, which was formulated in the 1996 document 'Shaping the 21st Century: The Contribution of Development Cooperation' ('S 21'); (2) the DAC had expanded its work programme too far and was neglecting its core tasks." (excerpt)