Development Cooperation Report 2012 - UNDP Afghanistan

DEVELOPMENT AID IN SUPPORT OF AFGHANISTAN’S VISION
FOR SELF-RELIANCE
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In its vision paper Towards Self-Reliance, presented at the Tokyo conference on
Afghanistan in 2012, the Government of Afghanistan aspired to gradually reduce
its dependence on foreign aid and to improve revenue collection and generation to
meet an increasing portion of its operational and development financing needs. The
vision is grounded in two main premises. First, it highlights the need to increase the
effectiveness of foreign aid, particularly in relation to greater government ownership
and leadership of development so that aid is channeled towards foundational
investments in sectors that are growth inducing such as infrastructure, agriculture and
extractive industries. And second, the realization and commitment of the Government
of Afghanistan to make progress in improving security, good governance, rule of law,
protection of human rights and its commitment to curb corruption and create an
inhospitable environment for narcotics and nepotism. Combined together, progress
in both of these areas will create an environment in which the private sector, trade
and not aid, will lead growth, create jobs and establish a vibrant and stable economy.
Three strategic milestones have been identified by the Afghan government which
will gauge the progress of the country towards self-reliance. That is by 2015
Afghanistan aspires to take full responsibility for its security; by 2025 the country
would have reduced its reliance on foreign aid to levels consistent with other least
developed countries; and by 2030 the country would have achieved enough progress
in development and governance that it will emerge as a model of a developing
democratic state.
As demonstrated earlier, achievement of these milestones depends on the
government’s ability to implement a rigorous reform program to foster investment
and improve service delivery and on the donor’s commitment to work closely with the
government and implement measures to improve the quality of aid and achieve value
for the money that their tax payers contribute to the rebuilding of Afghanistan. None
of these achievements would have been possible without an honest and constructive
partnership between Afghanistan and the international community. During 2011, the
international community provided USD 12.9 billion in development aid to the country.
Although short of their Kabul conference commitment to channel 50% of their
assistance through the government systems and to align 80% of aid with government
priorities, significant progress has been made to improve the effectiveness of aid.
In particular, USD 2,334 million provided through the national budget, of which the
government was able to spend USD 688 million on priority development projects.
DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION REPORT