European Parliamentarians with Africa

On 20 May, the Irish section of AWEPA held a special meeting in the Irish parliament focusing on the question of aid effectiveness. Billed under the title “How effective is Irish Aid?” the importance of the meeting was reflected by an attendance of 20 Irish MPs and senators, including the new Minister of State for Development and Irish Aid, Peter Power, TD.

Ireland is now the sixth largest per capita donor of development assistance in the world and is set to spend over €900 million this year on ODA.  The new Minister Power paid tribute to the debate on aid effectiveness that took place and the contributions made by a number of experienced politicians. These included strong contributions from two of his predecessors as ministers for development, Tom Kitt TD and Michael Kitt TD.

Travelling from AWEPA International in Amsterdam, AWEPA's Director Research and Evaluation, Dr Jeff Balch, addressed the meeting on AWEPA's intention to monitor aid reciprocally through a structured monitoring programme, linking European and African parliamentarians. Dr Balch asked the Irish section to support the establishment and funding of this AWEPA initiative.

The importance of The Paris Declaration as a blueprint for monitoring aid effectiveness was also highlighted at the meeting - especially in the context of a strengthened role for parliaments, which would hopefully be endorsed as part of the forthcoming review of the Paris Declaration later this year.

In the second part of the meeting, other items on the agenda were also raised including the section's ongoing campaign to support human rights in Zimbabwe. Irish chairperson and AWEPA vice-president, Brendan Howlin, reported that he had reiterated the call for support to the other European sections of AWEPA at the most recent Executive Committee meeting, on Monday, 19th May, in Amsterdam.

The Irish section endorsed the suggestion of perhaps sending a group of Irish AWEPA members to travel to Zimbabwe for the second round of the presidential elections on 27th June in order to act as witnesses to the events surrounding the election, if not as official election observers.