Financing for Development: The Abuja Commitment to Action Adopted at the Abuja Conference, Abuja, Nigeria On 22 May 2006
1. African Finance Ministers, along with a number of African Education
Ministers, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, international financial
institutions, UN agencies, development partners, the Archbishop of Cape
Town, Bono and other representatives of civil society met in Abuja on May
21 and 22, 2006. The Abuja Conference, which was sponsored by the
Nigerian Government, African Development Bank and UN Economic
Commission for Africa, symbolized a critical first step by African
Finance Ministers to lead a process that translates financing for
development commitments into action.
2. The conference focused on scaling up efforts to achieve and sustain the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2005, the United Nations, G8,
European Union, African Union and others made a series of commitments
to deliver more and better aid, debt cancellation, reduced conditionality
and more coherent, ‘joined up’ policies in support of development. At the
G8 Conference in Gleneagles, African Heads of State and Finance
Ministers called for an African led process to monitor those commitments
and encourage international development partners to translate them into
action.
3. We reiterate our commitment to accelerating progress towards the MDGs
and to the actions required on our side to achieve them. These include the
ongoing strengthening of governance and accountability through
institutional reforms, and the implementation of ambitious and costed longterm
plans to meet the MDGs. We also recognize the interdependence of
the various MDG targets, and acknowledge the need for scaled-up
investments in all MDG-related sectors such as education, health,
infrastructure and agriculture. We welcome the commitment of our
development partners to provide the necessary resources to fully
implement these plans.
4. In particular, we recognize the special situation of post-conflict nations,
which require scaling up of aid to build stability, and to develop the
institutions for increasing growth and reducing poverty. Support is also
needed for middle-income countries to expand social spending, particularly
in addressing the scourge of HIV/AIDS. We recognize the situation of
countries that are yet to accede to the Highly Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPC) initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), and urge
an acceleration of their qualification for these schemes.
The Framework for Scaling Up Action to Achieve the MDGs
Ambitious Plans and Budgets
5. A growing number of African countries have national development plans
that outline a balanced set of priorities that will reduce poverty. We will
place much greater emphasis in these plans on achieving rapid and
sustainable growth to underpin poverty reduction. We acknowledge the
importance of these plans being owned by national governments,
parliaments and citizens to facilitate effective implementation. We call on
our development partners to recognize and respect the responsibility of
African governments and citizens to decide, plan, and appropriately
sequence their growth and poverty reduction policies, and partner with us
to achieve their objectives.
6. We commit to integrating national plans and budget processes with
effective mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation, and accountability for
results. National parliaments should establish processes for greater
involvement in the development of these budgets. We will fulfil our existing
international and regional commitments to allocate additional budgetary
resources to achieving the MDGs. We will also use appropriate
consultative frameworks as a mechanism for allocating resources at the
country level and for ensuring mutual accountability.
7. Scaling up action is both critical and urgent if our countries are to meet the
MDG targets. This requires ambitious long-term plans. On education,
many African countries have already produced comprehensive and costed
plans to achieve the education MDGs by 2015. We commit to a total of
twenty (20) countries – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon,
Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique,
Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Swaziland,
Tanzania and Uganda – providing 10-year education plans by September
2006. In addition, Liberia and Sudan have committed to making the
maximum use of partners’ technical support in striving to meet this
timetable. We will write to the G8 setting out our commitments to present
these 10-year plans at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in September
2006. The plans will demonstrate how Africa can meet its education
targets with increased resources. We welcome the UK’s commitment to
provide at least US$15 billion over the next ten years starting in April 2006.
We ask our other development partners to meet their share, and allocate
long-term predictable financing through expansion of the Fast Track
Initiative (FTI) and through bilateral programmes. An important signal of
development partners’ commitment and credibility will be an agreement to
fill the existing education financing gap for FTI countries for 2006 and
2007. We look forward to further discussions on financing these plans at
the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in September 2006.
8. On HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria, we will immediately take forward the Abuja
commitment to develop, or revise, costed national plans in order to
operationalize our pledge to achieve universal access to treatment,
prevention and care by 2010. To support this process, we ask the
international community to use the upcoming Global Fund for AIDS TB and
Malaria (GFATM) meeting to review these plans, and commit the
predictable long-term resources needed to implement them.
9. We recognize the macroeconomic challenges of effectively managing
large resource inflows. We can manage the macroeconomic impact of
scaling up aid. Fiscal space can be opened up. We note that the IMF is
ready to work with us to this end on a country-by-country basis. The
current volatility of aid flows constrains budget planning. We therefore
call on development partners to provide long-term and predictable
financing. Achieving the MDGs will require more effective fiscal and
monetary policies, including stronger linkages between national plans and
budgets. We commit to: improving public expenditure management;
developing long-term costed plans to ensure the productive expenditure of
resources; implement policies to improve growth and competitiveness; and
spend resources in a manner that is pro-poor. Many of us have produced
the long-term strategies and plans needed to provide the platform for
development partners to scale up resources in a predictable medium-term
manner. We believe that the human and economic cost of failing to provide
adequate funding far outweighs the potential risk involved in scaling up
aid.
10. Improved plans and strategies that are strongly owned will create the basis
for more efficient use of public resources (domestic and external) to
achieve the MDGs. To this end, we will continue current efforts to
strengthen expenditure management processes. Ten (10) countries will
commit to carrying out analysis of the efficiency of public expenditure
management systems, including expenditure tracking surveys, by
December 2007. This will include expenditure tracking surveys. The
findings of these reviews will be reflected in the implementation of 2008
budgets. We will promote transparency at all levels on the use of all public
resources, and make information freely available to civil society
organisations, within existing legal frameworks, to enable independent
monitoring of progress. We call on non-state actors to establish national
coalitions to support this process. We support the development of improved
statistics, including the development of national statistical bodies, in order
to monitor progress, in collaboration with ECA and other institutions.
Predictable and Effective Delivery of Aid
11.Scaling up will place additional pressures on the aid architecture with its
longstanding structural problems. We recognize the need for a range of aid
instruments and institutions to deliver the commitments to better aid made
in the Paris Declaration. We encourage the development of innovative
financing mechanisms such as taxes on airline tickets being implemented
by the French Government, and the International Finance Facility
(IFF).African Ministers acknowledge the role of the Nigerian government in
supporting them, and specifically call for the continued support that the
Nigerian Trust Fund (NTF) has provided over the years.
12.Selection of aid instruments should also be context specific, and designed
flexibly to reflect the requirements of individual countries and the need for
regional integration. The comparative advantage of the various
development partners should be recognized in this regard. We call for
greater effectiveness of the aid architecture to ensure it is aligned with
national development plans and includes accountability from governments
to citizens. We urge all Donor Assistance Committee (DAC) member states
that have not already done so to announce their own action plans for
operationalizing the Paris Declaration principles, including full untying of aid
and reform of technical assistance. We ask for a progress report to be
submitted at the next DAC High Level Meeting.
13.We wish to express disappointment at the slow progress made in the Doha
negotiations, and call on the WTO to intensify negotiations with a view to
concluding an ambitious deal in this development round. Ministers
welcome the offers of support from the UK, and other development
partners, on the aid for trade package as a complement to the Doha
negotiations.
Coordinated Monitoring
14.Monitoring commitments that have been made by Africa and the
international community, on the basis of mutual accountability, is critical to
ensuring that we stay on track and achieve success. The African
Partnership Forum (APF) is setting up a mechanism for monitoring
commitments. This should include a framework specifying roles and
responsibilities of the various actors involved, including civil society, which
can be a powerful and effective force in monitoring. In this regard, we call
on civil society to co-ordinate their efforts at the national, regional and
international levels. We recognize that an empowered citizenry can also be
an effective monitoring force. We encourage the use of innovative
mechanisms of engagement with communities, individuals and faith-based
organisations. We support these partnerships by upholding transparency
and freedom of information of government financial operations, while
recognizing the need for mutual accountability.
15.These commitments will feed into the development partner communiqué at
the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in September 2006 in Singapore. We
will meet next year in Ghana, to review progress on these issues.
16.Finally, we urge the G8 to maintain Africa as a priority.
Abuja, 21 – 22 May 2006
Action Points for Governments
1. Provide additional budgetary resources for achieving the MDGs in line with
existing international and regional commitments.
2. A total of twenty (20) countries to provide costed 10-year education plans by
September 2006. Ministers agreed to write to the G8, setting out their
commitments to present 10-year plans at the IMF/ World Bank Annual Meetings in
September.
3. Review and strengthen macroeconomic frameworks in existing and new national
development plans in the context of scaled up assistance from development
partners.
4. Carry out an analysis of efficiency of public expenditure management systems in
ten (10) countries by December 2007. Lessons will be reflected in implementation
of 2008 budgets.
5. Make information on government financial operations freely available to civil
society organizations (CSOs) and other stakeholders, within the context of
existing legal frameworks.
Action Points for International Partners
6. We call on partners to deliver on commitments already made, and to provide
additional resources in a timely and predictable manner to achieve MDG targets.
7. Agree to and fill the existing education financing gap for FTI countries for 2006
and 2007.
8. Review HIV/AIDS plans during upcoming GFATM meeting and commit to
increased and predictable funding.
9. IMF to assist individual countries to review their macroeconomic frameworks with
a view to strengthening and aligning them towards scaling up for meeting MDG
targets. The IMF will report on progress during annual meetings.
10. DAC member countries, who have not already done so, should announce their
own action plans to achieve Paris Declaration principles.
11. Provide a progress report on item 10 above at the next DAC high-level meeting.
12. As part of the information needed for mutual accountability, development partner
agencies should publish what is disbursed to non-state actors.
13. Explore the possibility of additional assistance to middle income countries with
specific problems relating to HIV/AIDS.
Action Points for Civil Society
14. Establish coalitions to support process of improving preparation and
implementation of development plans .
15. At the international level, coordinate efforts towards monitoring aid and agree
sustainable framework specifying roles and responsibilities of various actors
involved.
16. At the national level, form strong coalitions to monitor progress against
commitments by both governments and development partners including
monitoring the use of domestic resources.
17. As part of the information needed for mutual accountability, non-state actors
should publish their accounts and provide information about the use of funds