● The fourth evaluation round of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation was held in Egypt to determine the progress made in achieving the goals of development cooperation.

● Launching the electronic system for managing data and following up on projects funded by development partners

The annual report of the Ministry of International Cooperation for 2023, entitled “International Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Platforms for Policy and Practice,” reviewed the Ministry’s efforts to enhance transparency and governance and document development cooperation efforts, to enhance the effectiveness of international partnerships, and maximize the returns from joint work with development partners. And achieve effective results.

Fourth evaluation round of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC)

During the current year, Al-Mashat held the joint coordination cooperation platform to launch the fourth evaluation round of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), through which the progress achieved in development cooperation efforts in Egypt is monitored, in cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners.

The GPEDC is the main platform for relevant parties and stakeholders to exchange knowledge, experiences and information about development cooperation and its evaluation, to maximize the benefit in order to achieve development and enhance mutual benefit. It was agreed to launch this partnership in 2011 in Nairobi, By more than 161 countries and 56 organizations, it is the result of the High-Level Forum on Development Cooperation Activities held in Busan, South Korea.

This partnership helps track the progress made in achieving SDGs and strengthen development partnerships to support the goals. Through it, the effectiveness of development cooperation in each country is periodically evaluated based on 4 principles: state ownership, focus on results, comprehensive partnerships, transparency and shared responsibility. The organization provides Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Nations Development Programme, and technical support to the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.

The current evaluation rounds aim to identify priorities as well as available opportunities for development partnerships to maximize their impact and benefit from them, as the follow-up framework of the GPEDC has been updated over the past three years to ensure a change in the actions of all relevant parties, which enhances comprehensive dialogue, shared responsibility and tracking of results, while consolidating national priorities.

During the meeting, Al-Mashat gave a presentation on the results of the last follow-up course that the Ministry conducted in 2018, explaining the improvement in performance indicators, especially those related to strengthening state ownership, national planning, public financial management systems, follow-up systems, and the possibility of predicting future needs, as Egypt achieved Progress was made at the level of the four principles, as it achieved progress by 61% to become more capable of annual prediction of disbursement rates for development cooperation programmes. Egypt’s ability to plan and manage development cooperation programs increased by 93%, as well as focus on national priorities in international partnerships by 73%, and recorded The transparency rate in development cooperation programs was 70%, and parliamentary oversight of development cooperation programs recorded a rate of 91%.

The electronic system for managing data and following up on soft development financing projects (IMS)

During the current year, and in the context of enhancing the effectiveness of development cooperation, the Ministry of International Cooperation launched the electronic system for managing data and following up on concessional development financing projects, within the framework of the country’s trend towards digital transformation and to enhance the principles of transparency and governance around development cooperation efforts with multilateral and bilateral development partners.

This is consistent with the Ministry's commitment to advancing transparency and accountability, as the Ministry of International Cooperation has developed an integrated monitoring and information management system to facilitate regular follow-up of development finance projects, including financial and technical data: Official Development Assistance (ODA) Monitoring and Information Management System (IMS).

The Ministry of International Cooperation has already trained more than 250 government officials on the new system, which aims to track progress, identify successful practices, and challenges and resolve them, and support evidence-based decision-making. It is designed in accordance with international standards and good practices to collect, analyze and disseminate ODA data in line with the GPEDC Principles of Effectiveness which focus on country ownership, inclusive partnerships and management for results as well as transparency and accountability.

The system is a mechanism for linking and unifying data related to development cooperation agreements, projects and programs with development partners in a way that ensures the availability of relevant information at all levels between the Ministry and all national authorities to enhance their role in following up on the evaluation process and supporting decision-making. In addition, the new system monitors the financial and technical performance of projects funded by multilateral and bilateral development partners, extracts periodic reports for decision-makers, and exchanges data with entities related to the project.

Moreover, the Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, opened the high-level conference on the program to support public and economic governance in Egypt, funded by the European Union in light of the strategic partnership between Egypt and the European Union, and in cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The program is based on three main axes: supporting the vision of Egypt 2030, supporting the national plan for administrative reform, and implementing effective working financial systems, through effective participation between all national authorities and business partners.

Funds to strengthen governance within 4 years

On the other hand, the Ministry of International Cooperation, through multilateral and bilateral development partners, made development grants worth $276 million available for programs and projects to enhance governance within 4 years, as the United States of America made grants worth $184 million available to implement many programs, including the Trade and Investment Stimulus Program. 

In Egypt, TIPE and the Comprehensive Economic Governance Programme, Germany also made grants worth $48 million available for institutional capacity-building programs in the field of public administration, the e-Government Support and Innovation in Public Administration Programme, and the Risk Management Mechanisms Programme in Egypt.

Through the European Union, a program was implemented to support the strengthening of administrative and economic governance in Egypt with a grant worth $19 million. South Korea also provided a grant worth $8 million for the program to improve the electronic procurement system for the Government Services Authority.