On 12 July 2019, the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) officially adopted the Guiding Principles on Managing for Sustainable Development Results.
More than ever, development actors are called upon to join efforts and maximise the impact of individual and collective interventions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The Guiding Principles on Managing for Sustainable Development Results (MfSDR) help development organisations navigate complex development co-operation and humanitarian challenges to reach their expected results and support sustainable development effectively. These new principles reflect the changing context for development co-operation and the broader set of actors involved, and help organisations to address the recurrent challenges they have been facing in practice.
The Guiding Principles on Managing for Sustainable Development Results are aspirational and should serve as a reference point. They guide development organisations in setting up or refining results-based management approaches that are fit for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Guiding Principles will also help to support institutional change and promote a culture of results.
The six Guiding Principles build on the MfDR principles and incorporate principles that have been adopted since 2004, including the principles for effective development co-operation agreed in Busan in 2011. The first three principles set the direction while the three others focus on the organisational set-up for MfSDR. The principles are closely inter-related, and each principle should be read and applied in connection with the others.
Guiding Principles
1. Support sustainable development goals and desired change.
MfSDR approaches should maximise the impact of efforts towards achieving social, economic and environmentally sustainable development that leaves no-one behind.
2. Adapt to context
MfSDR systems, methods and approaches should be flexible to allow for tailoring to different operational contexts, modalities of engagement, and types of partnerships.
3. Enhance country ownership, mutual accountability and transparency
MfSDR approaches should foster development effectiveness by strengthening and using partner countries’ systems for strategic planning, monitoring and statistics, and promoting participatory approaches to enhance ownership, mutual accountability and transparency.
4. Maximise the use of results information for learning and decision-making.
While responding to communication and accountability needs, results information should systematically be used for learning and decision-making in order to improve delivery and enhance impact.
5. Foster a culture of results and learning
A culture of results should be promoted and sustained through consistent leadership, and supported by appropriate guidance, tools and capacity building as well as proper incentives.
6. Develop a results system that is manageable and reliable
While providing credible results information that can be used by all partners, results frameworks, measurement and reporting systems need to be suitable to each organisation’s needs and capacities.
More information: https://www.oecd.org/dac/results-development/docs/mfsdr-guiding-principles.pdf