Creating a Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation

In this essay, J. Brian Atwood, chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), analyzes the process and achievements of the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, held in Busan, South Korea, in 2011. He provides a firsthand account of the negotiations that ultimately overcame political opposition and created trust among diverse actors.

His essay provides a better understanding of how consensus is reached among nations, institutions, and individuals with diverse interests, orientations, and personalities. It is a story, he argues, of how a unique organizational entity, the DAC and its member states, backed by a highly competent secretariat and strong leadership at many levels, exercised effective leadership at critical moments to achieve a positive outcome.