The approach to planning and delivering aid has evolved significantly in recent years. Formalised by the Paris Declaration of 2005, donors and recipient countries have committed themselves to improving the way aid is planned, disbursed, managed and utilised in order to ensure that it has the greatest impact on economic growth and development. This cuts across donor policies and procedures, recipient country governance and financial management, and issues of political economy.
We work with governments and donor agencies to ensure that aid is a real tool for growth and development. Donor agencies value our practical understanding of the challenges recipient countries face in forecasting and managing aid inflows whilst recipients rely on us for our understanding of aid modalities and donor procedures.
Our understanding of these issues, through practical experience and research for agencies such as the OECD and DFID, enables us to help strengthen government systems and make it easier for them to absorb and manage increasing levels of aid. Our services are based around:
- Helping partner governments to exercise more control over their own development by improving their management of external assistance
- Advising on the design and management of grant facilities, pooled funds and other financing mechanisms, including their disbursement systems
- Enhanced harmonisation and alignment through analytical studies of donor practices and programmes
- Facilitating aid disbursement by verifying the use of aid funds
- Meanwhile, public-private partnerships are increasingly favoured by governments and donors alike as modern business interests align more closely with investment and development priorities.
Crown Agents plays a central role in uniting the economic, environmental and social agendas of businesses and governments by providing support and services for the success of their developmental projects. In addition, we are able to advise on the economic and fiscal implications of alternative sources of financing for growth and development