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Accra, 3 September 2008 - Speaking at the opening plenary of the Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana, GAVI Alliance Executive Secretary Julian Lob-Levyt highlighted the experience of GAVI and other global partnerships, saying that the strong focus on country ownership to achieve results had proved effective.
"Country ownership has to be the starting point of aid effectiveness. The challenge is genuinely to put the country in charge, to listen, adjust priorities, and measure results" he told 1300 delegates, including more than 100 government ministers and heads of development agencies, donor organisations and civil society organisations (CSOs) committed to making aid more transparent, accountable and results-oriented.
Julian Lob-Levyt said there was a need for more development finance and also better quality finance. GAVI's experience of the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) has proved the value of long-term predictable aid. Mobilising long-term donor funds has enabled the GAVI Alliance make funding commitments to countries up to 2015, aligned to countries' own plans. This has given countries confidence to introduce new vaccines and has also had a market-shaping impact, affecting the price of vaccines."
Julian Lob-Levyt underlined GAVI's commitment to the principles of aid effectiveness by endorsing the International Aid Transparency Initiative, which is being launched in Accra by the UK's Minister for International Development Douglas Alexander. The initiative commits donors and agencies to improve public access to information on aid flows.