Taking charge not taking charity!

The HLF is showing the clear and strong intention of developing countries to take responsability of their own development.

We heard many declarations, especially from african representatives, of strong commitment to ownership, once again marking a shift from past weaker or not clear enough examples.

From President Kagame of Rwanda to the US Secretary of state and many other speakers, expressions of strong will in this sense have been voiced. Professor Li Xiaoyun from China, intervening in a side event dedicated to the exchange of experiences in development between China and Africa, affirmend that the chinese model for development is made of few basic pillars which include strong capacity development at all levels and strong self reliance. This last aspect was underlined as one of the factors that helped the success of the chinese development model : taking the responsability for development and using external support strategically.

This will has been paired with a strong pledge for the use of country systems. According to President Kagame, paradoxically, developing countries spend more time on procedures than on actual development work.

"This is not about what should happen in theory, but about getting the damn thing done" Tony Blair explained at the side event "Taking charge not taking charity"

Will the donor community be ready to devolve rightly and entirely decision making on development to the developing countries themselves?