Government and Development Partners’ Implementation of the Aid Effectiveness Agenda: Collaboration

This chapter assesses the collaborative mechanisms jointly adopted by the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and its development partners (DPs) to implement the global aid effectiveness agenda at the local level, particularly in light of major international frameworks such as the Paris Declaration (PD) and Accra Agenda for Action (AAA). It evaluates the objectives, execution, and shortcomings of mainly two key instruments: The Harmonisation Action Plan (HAP) and Joint Co-operation Strategy (JCS). The chapter highlights that significant achievements have been made in this regard such as the creation of several notable collaborative dialogue mechanisms such as the Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF), Government-DP Local Consultative Group (LCG) Plenary, and LCG Working Groups (LCG-WG), as well as reforms in aid coordination and improvements in project management systems. However, longstanding issues, for example, aid fragmentation, lack of harmonization, tying aid, and the limited use of country systems by DPs, still remain. These shortcomings are mainly attributed to weak leadership of the country, DPs’ dominance, absence of standard operational procedures, and political aversion to resolving accountability issues. Although the JCS provided a promising platform for shared responsibility and mutual accountability between the GoB and DPs, its ultimate impact diminished immediately after the expiration of the “Strengthening Capacity for Aid Effectiveness” project in 2016 and the non-renewal of any follow-up strategy. The chapter concludes that while collaborative frameworks were established, their institutionalization failed due to the lack of political will, contending interests between the government and DPs, and their unequal power dynamics, eventually limiting the long-term success of the aid effectiveness agenda in Bangladesh.