Review of the International and System in Mali:
Progress Report

1. In September 1996 the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) proceeded with a new activity attuned to the objectives and the operating philosophy in its report on Shaping the 21st Century; The Contribution of Development Co-operation. Following agreement by the Malian authorities, the Committee decided to initiate a pilot exercise under this new activity in Mali. The objective was to determine how the principles of partnership, co-ordination and local ownership are being applied in Mali and what concrete improvements might be called for with generic lessons for other partner countries. The broad process followed is outlined in Box 1.

2. Reflecting the very strong, and high level, interest that has taken hold in this review process, a Special Meeting was convened in Paris on 2-3 March 1998 by the two Malian Ministers most directly involved, with the co-operation of the DAC Chair and the President of the Club du Sahel.

Problems
There is a striking distance between the assessed effectiveness of aid projects (with a relatively high level of attainment of objectives: 55 percent for the 133 evaluations and 67 per cent for the detailed case studies) and development outcomes in terms of socio-economic trends which show that human development progress and poverty reduction have not been commensurate with the resources allocated to development over the period examined.
Malian interviewees from civil society also expressed a fairly negative general perception of the impact of aid-funded projects and programmes on the living conditions of the broader population. The views of direct beneficiaries of the 15 innovative projects and programmes were more nuanced; the implementation phase did lead to direct benefits but longer term benefits were judged to be limited by maintenance and operating problems. In general, the lack of information and transparency about the aid system, and perceived gaps between the theory and practice of aid have contributed to ambivalence in public and political support for aid.

Opportunities
There are also some very promising indications that the Malian authorities and aid donors have a unique opportunity to make major improvements in the impact of development activities in Mali:

There is agreement on both sides that significant changes are urgently required to introduced a collegial approach to co-ordinating and managing the international aid system in support of Mali's development priorities and to promote the potential role of civil society (from Mali and donor countries) as a powerful constituency for more effective aid for locally-based development.

Results

3. There is widespread support for experimenting with adjusting aid mechanisms and procedures so that the feasibility and benefits of change can be tested. Malian authorities recognise the need to take on the role of co-ordinator and promoter of development. They also acknowledge that conditions of employment in the civil service are not conducive to an effective public administration - changes in incentives and practices would need to be made to improve the situation. Partnerships with civil society could also be made more effective. Donor participants, in their turn, recognise that they would have to devote more time and effort to interface with Malian institutions even if it meant a temporary drop in disbursements, and to further adapt aid procedures and practices to local institutional capacities.
4. A set of operational principles have been discussed as an underpinning for the change process. They are as follows:
   • The joint effort to improve the international aid system is in support of Mali's own development strategies and efforts. The aid system should always be seen as a supportive mechanism, and not as an end in itself.
   • A in-country mechanism including key Malian ministries and major donors, should be created to monitor reforms and deal with any obstacles that may arise.
   • During a pilot phase (i.e. 18 months) both sides would agree to adapt or temporarily waive certain procedures that hinder local ownership, co-ordination and management of aid-funded activities. The objective would be to harmonise along the lines of national procedures but that meet internationally acceptable accountability standards.
   • In the spirit of partnership, changes would be made on both sides and a strong element of reciprocity built into the pace of change.
   • The system can only become more effective if subject to monitoring of indicators of results -- the new working set of agreed core indicators for development progress, together with Mali's identification of its top priority indicators, should help guide this effort. The indicators to assess aid contributions need to be further developed.
   • The reform of the international aid system should be monitored periodically at high level in order to draw out generic lessons and sustain the political commitment to change. This could take place during regularly scheduled international meetings (UNDP Round Table meetings, Bank-Fund Annual meetings, DAC Senior Level and High Level meetings).

5. The latest high level monitoring took place at the UNDP Round Table Meeting for Mali in Geneva on 16-17 September 1998. The Malian Minister of Economy and Planning announced that a secretariat had been established to facilitate the reform process and that dialogue is to be institutionalised through a joint Malian-donor commission and a technical committee. At the Round Table meeting it was agreed that one or two sectors would be selected for testing priority reforms and that focus would be on actions likely to have a short term impact. Given the importance of the reform of the international aid system for the ongoing decentralisation process, it was also decided that the technical work would be led by the Head of the Malian Decnetralisation Mission and Special Advisor to the President on Institutional Reform.