The Paris Declaration reaffirms the 2001 DAC Recommendation on Untying Official Development Assistance to Least Developed Countries.  The Recommendation covered most categories of aid, but exempted TA and food aid.  It sets out monitoring and review procedures that enable DAC to keep statistics on the tying status of aid (here).  Overall, 82% of aid is currently untied.

Preparations for Accra

• The DAC Joint Venture on Public Financial Management is planning to produce a report on progress on use of country PFM systems, with recommendations for key actions by donors and partner countries.
• The DAC Joint Venture for Procurement will be producing guidelines on using the new benchmarking methodology, as well as a good practices guide on procurement reform.
• The DAC is preparing a feasibility study on options for promoting regional and local procurement, as part of its Recommendations on untying aid.
• The Strategic Partnership for Africa and the Collaborative African Budget Reform Initiative are preparing a study on ‘Putting Aid on the Budget’.  Based on 10 country case studies, it will produce a synthesis report and good practice note.
• The Strategic Partnership for Africa is also producing a study on capacity for aid management, including 9 country studies, synthesis report and good practice note.
• The Multilateral Financial Institutions-Working Group on Environment is planning to organising three complementary workshops at Accra: (a) Opportunities in and Challenges to the Use of Country Systems for Environmental and Social Safeguard Policies; (b) Strengthening the Capacity of Public and Private Sector Institutions to Address Environmental and Social Dimensions of Development Plans, Programs and Projects; and (c) Experience with the Use of Strategic Environmental Assessments.
• JICA is coordinating a multi-country study on technical cooperation for capacity development, to generate empirical evidence on how to make TC more effective.  It will include 11 country case studies, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan and Vietnam.  Outputs will include a synthesis report and a booklet containing good practices and recommendations.