Manila, Philippines — An independent team will evaluate the impact of aid effectiveness initiatives on the country’s health and rural sectors, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The study was commissioned to assess the implementation of the Paris Declaration (PD) on Aid Effectiveness in the country, along the principles of ownership, alignment, harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability.

It would identify the factors which affected the relevance and implementation of the Paris Declaration, as well as assess to what extent its implementation led to an improvement of aid delivery, management and partnerships.

With the use of sector studies on health and rural development, the study will assess the plausible impact of aid effectiveness initiatives on development outcomes.

The health sector study will assess the impact of aid on health reforms and the achievement of the goals such as the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV-AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

Meanwhile, the rural development sector study will assess specific programs and projects of the Departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, and Environment and Natural Resources in terms of the principles of ownership, alignment and harmonization.

“We have to consider the nature of the aid and its impact on our development process. This will put into perspective the financial assistance given by our development partners,” said NEDA Deputy Director General for Investment Programming Rolando G. Tungpalan during a recent meeting of the National Reference Group (NRG).

Tungpalan also noted that the impact of the Paris Declaration should not be limited to the results derived from the sheer volume of aid, but should encompass non-monetary aspects such as knowledge transfers and effective partnerships.

He also emphasized that while the implementation of reforms supportive of the principles of the Paris Declaration started, the assessment should look at how it has accelerated towards achieving aid effectiveness.

The Paris Declaration is an international agreement among donor and developing countries as well as multilateral development agencies aimed at improving the quality of aid and its impact on development.