OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews: Australia 2018

Annex A. Progress since the 2013 DAC peer review recommendations

Towards a comprehensive development effort

 

Recommendations 2013	Progress in implementation
Australia is encouraged to share publicly its achievements and challenges of making national and foreign policies coherent with development aspirations.	Not implemented

Aid volume, channels and allocation

 

Recommendations 2013	Progress in implementation
Australia is in a very strong position to deliver a growing aid budget effectively and efficiently. In line with its commitment to punch at or above its weight in international development, Australia should achieve its stated aid goal of 0.5% ODA/GNI by 2016/17.	Not implemented
In line with its Transparency Charter and the Government’s decision in 2012 to change its approach to counting in-country refugee costs, Australia should state clearly what refugee costs will be counted as ODA over the coming years and explain how the costs are calculated.	Implemented

Organisation and management

 

Recommendations 2013	Progress in implementation
Australia should consolidate its impressive organisational reform by ensuring that staff understand and implement the new corporate culture; by making, as planned, information management and accounting systems fit for purpose; and continuing to tweak ways of working.	Partially implemented
Australia should continue to implement the second phase of its workforce plan to ensure that staff are capable of delivering the objectives set out in the aid policy and that it has the skills to manage a range of partnerships and aid modalities, including programme-based approaches.	Partially implemented

Delivery and partnerships

 

Recommendations 2013	Progress in implementation
Australia should increase the medium-term predictability of aid for all its partner countries by providing public, regular and timely rolling three-to-five year indicative forward expenditures as it does for some partners.	Implemented
Australia needs to increase the share of aid delivered through programme-based approaches, and make use of partner country systems for programme design, management, expenditure, monitoring and reporting, as recommended in the 2008 peer review. In particular, it should: 1. Meet its target for 2014 of increasing the share of aid using partner systems by 30% and once achieved identify and agree more ambitious milestones with partners. 2. In countries where Australia considers the use of partner systems to be too risky, it should continue to support partners’ efforts to strengthen their financial management systems and build up capacity to manage programme-based approaches.	Not implemented Implemented

Results management and accountability

 

Recommendations 2013	Progress in implementation
Australia should build on its achievements with reporting headline results by ensuring that it captures and reports results that are being tracked in more detail within individual programmes and reported in independent and operational evaluations.	Implemented
Australia should strengthen, as planned, the focus on learning from successes and challenges in its overall reporting on results.	Partially implemented

Humanitarian assistance

 

Recommendations 2013	Progress in implementation
Australia should expand its disaster risk reduction programmes to all partner countries; and share its tools and good practices with other donors.	Partially implemented
Australia should demonstrate how its criteria for who, what and where to fund have been applied to actual grant decisions each year.	Not implemented

Figure A.1. Australia’s implementation of 2013 peer review recommendations