The Administrator
Dear Colleagues:
In December, development leaders from more than one hundred countries gathered in
Busan, South Korea, for the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to chart a more
effective, efficient and inclusive course for global development. I was honored to join Secretary
Clinton and the U.S. delegation in Busan.
First and foremost, please accept our sincere thanks for the counsel we received in the
lead-up to the Forum. We incorporated many of your recommendations into the U.S. agenda and
carried the mantle of our common vision into the Forum. Once we arrived in Busan, your
collective efforts were immensely valuable and helped to advance sound development policy and
practice.
With the Forum outcomes in mind, I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight some of
our key accomplishments and share our vision for next steps. Most important, I want to convey
our commitment to working together to promote the Busan principles of transparency,
accountability, and results.
Busan Accomplishments
The Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation—detailed in the official
outcome document of the Forum—represented noteworthy progress. U.S. leadership was central
to expanding the range of stakeholders, while ensuring that we remain committed as a
development community to our core principles and shared goals. For example, catalytic
cooperation appeared as a key action; democratic ownership, human rights, and gender equality
were included; and outcomes—rather than inputs—were central to the results framework.
Taking a significant step forward, the United States signed on to the International Aid
Transparency Initiative. This is aligned with President’s Obama’s commitment to the Open
Government Partnership and our efforts to make our data more accessible through the foreign
assistance dashboard and other tools.
We also stressed the need to strengthen the enabling environment for civil society
organizations and welcome the private sector as a valued partner to the development
effectiveness dialogue. Notably, for the first time, the U.S. delegation included a civil society
representative who enhanced the consultative process and provided valuable input to our
deliberations.
U.S. Agency for International Development
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Washington, DC 20523
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While we have made important progress, we need to shift our focus to next steps. We
must continue to promote transparency and accountability; ensure that we are collectively
focused on achieving, measuring, and communicating results; and improve our coordination and
collaboration efforts.
The Next Six Months
We are committed to collaborating with you over the next six months as we define a new,
agile and effective global architecture for monitoring commitments and meaningful development
outcomes.
We will support the development of five post-Busan areas of focus: results and
accountability, transparency, private sector, building effective institutions and policies, and
fragile states. This approach will concentrate our collective actions on high-priority, high-impact
activities.
We will also continue defining and implementing the Busan Joint Action Plan on Gender
Equality and Development that Secretary Clinton launched with UN Women, the Organization
of Economic Cooperation and Development, the Korean government, and other partners.
Finally, we will further mainstream country ownership, gender, and inclusive development in our
programs to ensure that marginalized groups are well represented.
Like you, we believe that joining the Global Partnership is not just a commitment to a
series of principles and activities, but also a renewed pledge to improve the lives of millions of
people. Instead of simply endorsing the Busan Outcome Document, we are helping to change it
in meaningful ways.
I have asked Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg to continue to lead our dialogue
with you. We look forward to ongoing consultation and collaboration to deliver real results in
global development.
Sincerely,
Rajiv Shah