Donor Coordination Forum meeting organized by the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury
24/02/2009
-
The BiH Donor Coordination Forum held its quarterly meeting, for the first time organized by the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury, since its Sector for Coordination of International Economic Aid has assumed responsibility for the Forum’s Secretariat in January 2009.
The Donor Coordination Forum (DCF) is a semi-formal information-sharing and coordination platform for twenty of the major donors in BiH, including the European Commission, the World Bank, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States. Since the Forum’s establishment in 2005, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has served as the Secretariat of this body and has carried out a yearly Donor Mapping Exercise on behalf of the participating donors.
In an effort to ensure better oversight of donor activities and to further reinforce the governments’ ownership over its own development, the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MOFT) and UNDP have agreed to transfer these responsibilities to the Sector for Coordination of International Economic Aid (SCIA).
With continued support from UNDP, the SCIA will organise the Forum’s quarterly meetings, carry out the Donor Mapping Exercise and provide technical support to the Forum’s members. Through these functions, the BiH MoFT will be able to systematise information on official development assistance (ODA) flows to BiH and in using this information for resource planning and programming. The 24 February meeting of the DCF – chaired by H.E. Mr. Dragan Vrankic, BiH Minister of Finance and Treasury – is a landmark event because it was the first to be organised by the SCIA.
The meeting’s agenda included a presentation by the World Bank on the possible implications of the global financial and economic crisis on BiH. Furthermore, BiH Government representatives explained how they plan to approach aid coordination and effectiveness activities in 2009-2010. Finally, the Directorate for European Integration (DEI) presented details of the 2009 Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) programming and its relevance for donor agencies active in BiH.
For more information about the Donor Coordination Forum, please refer to www.donormapping.ba.
|