Today, the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) has released a paper entitled Benchmarks for Effective and Accountable Australian Aid, outlining eight core benchmarks for an effective and accountable Australian aid program.
“We welcome the Government’s statements on the development of rigorous benchmarks and ACFID has already commenced thinking in this area,” said Dr Julia Newton-Howes, ACFID Vice President and CEO of CARE Australia.
“A benchmark is an industry-standard of best practice that you can use to measure your own performance against and seek improvements of your performance to meet those standards. To integrate these into the aid program is something NGOs really support.”
“In this paper, we have identified best practice and effective aid benchmarks based on the experience of aid practioners working around the world and drawn from our experience in developing an NGO sector Code of Conduct, which ACFID members hold themselves accountable to. We have also identified examples of where Australia is already performing very well, said Dr Newton-Howes.
“We’re pleased that the Government has committed to consult with Australian NGOs on the development of benchmarks. Yesterday’s announcement starts this consultation process, and we see that there is much shared agreement,” said Dr Newton-Howes.
“One element of industry best practice relates to sustainable development and we’re pleased to see that reflected in the Minister’s comments yesterday. However, this seems at odds with the budget cuts to environment programs and the humanitarian emergency funds that were also announced.”
“In 2011, disasters cost our own Asia-Pacific region a staggering $294 billion in economic loses.[1] Economic growth for our nearest neighbours will depend on sustainable management of disaster risks. We want to know more from the Government about how it will reconcile the cut to environmental and disaster relief funds with the needed focus on sustainability, adaptation and disaster risk reduction to ensure mitigation and prevention of economic losses due to disasters,” said Dr Newton-Howes.
“We’ve shared this report with the Government and look forward to further dialogue on these issues,” concluded ACFID’s Vice President.