A Communique on the 3rd Preparatory Committee Meeting of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4)

10-14 February 2025

New York

A delegation of select civil society organisations (CSOs) from around the world recently gathered in New York organised by the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) to engage in the 3rd Preparatory Committee Meeting of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) under the International Development Cooperation (IDC) Workstream of the CSO FfD Mechanism.

FfD4 presents an opportunity for civil society to advocate for meaningful reforms in the IDC architecture and mechanisms in revitalisation of the Development Effectiveness agenda.  CSOs, including CPDE, have engaged meaningfully with the 3rd PrepComm where the Zero Draft of its Outcome Document (OD) was deliberated but much is still to be done on the road to Seville. While there is abundance in clear messages intent to uphold past agreements, the OD requires higher ambition in time-bound commitments, actionable priorities, and substantive reforms to reach the level of a transformative agenda it needs to be.

What we achieved

1. Delegates, through interventions in the plenary, presentations and oral comments in side events, and bilateral talks with representatives of member states, other CSOs and development actors, demonstrated the robust civil society constituency advancing effective development cooperation (EDC).
2. The political messages delivered by the delegation emphasized the need for reforming the international development cooperation architecture to put countries of the Global South in the driver’s seat, the importance of democratic country ownership and evidence base to inform behaviour change in development policy and programming. Further, these messages were backed by concrete recommendations on how to move things forward demonstrating technical competency in engaging global issues, grounding on what is happening locally, and the crucial linkages between the two.
3. There was a significant number of Member States recognising the weaknesses in the IDC architecture and speaking strongly on the need for reform and revitalisation of the effectiveness agenda with alignment and openness, even support, to CSO positions. Similarly, many Member States recognised the need to escalate the fulfillment of the target of 0.07 percent GNI of the developed countries devoted to ODA to reduce the financing gap of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). CSOs voiced loudly and clearly the need for a binding instrument for mutual accountability and transparency. Whether or not this is enough to move the discourse closer to establishing an intergovernmental process towards a needed legally binding convention on development cooperation remains to be seen.

What are continuing challenges

1. It is with some concern that the Meeting did not delve in any substantive manner the significant occurrences of unilateral decisions that undermine the multilaterally agreed norms in development financing and, more specifically, international development cooperation. In the face of this trend and its impacts to the Global South especially to impoverished and marginalised communities, there is a need to reflect on how to bring this on the global policy stage and, if possible, in the FfD process. Mobilisation of broad support needs to be made to: (a) challenge the use of ODA as a tool for political coercion (b) encourage a firm and coordinated stand against these unilateral measures to reaffirm collective commitment to leaving no one behind and (c) initiating strategic development partner engagement, alternative funding mechanisms, and a renewed push for multilateral cooperation to mitigate the fallout.
2. While there is a level of recognition on the critical role CSOs play in development financing, concerns regarding the continuing trend of shrinking civic spaces and lack of enabling environment for CSOs was not satisfactorily addressed, including in the issue of CSO access and voice in negotiating the FfD4 Outcome Document.
3. The Outcome Document’s admonition to devote official development assistance (ODA) to long term development may not be sufficient to ringfence it to its original mandate of addressing poverty and inequality, and ensure it flows directly to the countries of the Global South.
4. Similarly, the proposed agreement to scale up commitment on aid volume is a mere reiteration of previous commitments and falls short of the level of ambition needed to respond to the many current crises the world faces. To help address the financing gaps needed to deliver the SDGs, the call to recognise the cumulative shortfall in the Development Assistance Committee’s (DAC) commitment estimated at USD 7.1 trillion as unmet ODA debt that should be delivered to Global South countries in full and unconditionally needs to gain more traction.
5. Despite its clear following and championing from a number of influential Member States, the effectiveness agenda (and its global platform – the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation) does not enjoy wide recognition and suffers from a lingering perception that it is purely driven by donor agenda.

What are the next steps

1. In the light of the above, the delegation recommends that CPDE continue to engage the FfD4 process, specifically to:

• Involve the rest of the platform in developing an advocacy strategy that will:
  • identify focus to maximise potential for favourable outcomes
  • strengthen our advocacy positions’ linkages to our lived experiences at national level
  • engage more vigorously and systematically Member States, globally and in our countries, including past and current champions of EDC
• Develop policy and communications materials with messages that clearly articulates positions and recommendations (including, if needed, specific language recommendations for the OD) with the objective of broadening support for the effectiveness agenda that has people and their rights front and centre
• Seek to strengthen the development effectiveness section within the OD and throughout the process of negotiations to achieve policy gains and amplify issues relevant to CPDE constituencies and their realities on the ground
• Deepen commitment and understanding to the effectiveness principles within the FfD process by communicating its (potential) application to other financing pillars outside of IDC (e.g., private finance, trade, etc.)
• Engage in positive discourse to expound on the place and potentials as well as challenges of genuine multi-stakeholder development partnerships, even with sceptical elements of the broad CSO community, including the legitimacy of GPEDC as a multi-stakeholder platform for EDC.