AccraAgendaen

The Accra Agenda for Action is an international framework focused on improving the effectiveness of development cooperation, adopted in 2008 in Accra, Ghana, during the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. It emerged as a political agreement to translate high-level aid principles into practical reforms for donor-recipient relationships.

The agenda builds on the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) and emphasizes five core commitments: country ownership, alignment of aid with recipient governments’ strategies and systems, harmonization of donor actions, managing for results, and mutual accountability. It calls for concrete actions to strengthen aid quality, including greater use of partner country systems, more predictable and multi-year financing, less earmarking of aid, increased transparency, joint missions, and coordinated support to national programs and procurement processes.

Impact and legacy of the Accra Agenda for Action are mixed. It helped to shape donor practices and the broader aid effectiveness agenda in the late 2000s and influenced subsequent initiatives such as the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (2011). However, implementation varied across countries and donors, with ongoing debates about the extent of improvements in aid effectiveness, the balance between country ownership and donor conditions, and the fragmentation of aid in some contexts.

In summary, the Accra Agenda for Action is regarded as a pivotal but transitional step in the evolution of development cooperation, reinforcing the pursuit of more principled, predictable, and country-led aid flows. See also: aid effectiveness, Paris Declaration, Busan Partnership.