World Customs Organisation Working Group on Donor Engagement and Co-ordination

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1 World Customs Organisation Working Group on Donor Engagement and Co-ordination Interim Report to the 3 rd meeting of the WCO Capacity Building Committee February 2012

2 Capacity Building Context Value: Increase macro-economic performance and significantly contribute to wider economic security and development objectives. Issues: Needs political support and extensive funding; Must fit alongside other strategic, political and developmental initiatives; Customs reform cannot be seen or tackled in isolation; must be sustainable and coordinated. Proposal: Enhance WCO co-operation and engagement ; Align with the strategic approach to aid and development; Increase cooperation, information sharing and coherence.

3 Working Group Members David Hesketh Varsha Singh Roy Skarslette Mohammad Ehteshamul Hoque Yoshiro Baba Chris O Keeffe Kelvin Wong Hugo Richard Mayer Benjamim Meque Massocha Lars Karlsson Pirjo Kotro Cynthia Fontenova United Kingdom (Chair) South Africa Norway Bangladesh Japan Australia ROCB Asia Pacific Austria Mozambique Sweden Finland European Commission Aid Agencies Patterson Brown Giorgio Cocchi USAID DG DEVCO Support by WCO Secretariat

4 The purpose of the Working Group is: WCO and its members to further develop and expand interaction with donors; Identify options for sustainable funding for WCO Capacity Building; To develop an orientation package for policy makers, addressing the question why to invest in Customs? ; Consider the Project Map Pilot in the Americas and Caribbean Region and to develop a strategy on how to roll out the Project Map database on a global level; To review existing WCO training material for Capacity Building activities on donor interaction, maintenance and development of business cases etc. and collect successful business cases as best practices ; To develop guidelines on the organization of regional donor conferences.

5 Initial Priorities Develop ideas on how best the WCO and its members can further develop and expand interaction with donors; Sustainable Funding for WCO and Members Capacity Building; A look at the international developments on Aid Effectiveness e.g. Paris Declaration, Busan Agreement; Trade Facilitation - Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors - G20; WCO s Global Dialogue on Customs Capacity Building 2007 in Johannesburg and London in 2008; Bilateral meetings with Donors, September 2011 to January 2012.

6 Paris and Busan (Aid Effectiveness) a partnership for effective development co-operation Ownership Recipient members set their own strategies for capacity building, improve their institutions and tackle corruption; Alignment - Donor countries and WCO members align behind these objectives and use local systems; Harmonisation the WCO will coordinate and simplify procedures for funding and share information to avoid duplication; Results Recipient members and donors shift focus to development results and results get measured; Mutual Accountability - Donors and recipient members are accountable for development results. Compliance with these principles by the WCO is critical for fund acquisition and programme management.

7 G20 - three proposed areas for action centre on:- Upgrading its web portal to provide more comprehensive and accessible information on trade facilitation activities, good practices and analysis; (WCO Project Map database) Establishing an Africa-wide platform to support co-ordinated transport and logistics policy and regulatory reform to complement investments in regional infrastructure; A joint effort by G20 countries to provide a pool of qualified Customs officials and trade facilitation experts to assist in the implementation of border management improvements. (Columbus Programme) The agenda goes beyond providing monetary resources towards the equally important provision of leadership, expertise (people) and support for focused engagement and knowledge sharing on trade facilitation.

8 Donor Engagement Meetings September to January UK Department for International Development (DfID), London UK Department for International Development, Southern Africa United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) Africa Development Bank (AfDB) European Commission, Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DG DEVCO) Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) Asian Development Bank (ADB) Regional Office for Capacity Building, Asia Pacific Region (ROCB AP) Bangladesh - World Bank and the Asian Development Bank

9 Working Group Findings from bilateral meetings: Engagement is highly valuable for all parties; WCO: close relationships with donor Members and other donors, such as NORAD, SIDA and IADB, some - partly adhoc - co-operation such as with USAID, OSCE, EUBAM and some development banks (MoUs), virtually no relationship at all such as with DfID; result-based management of CB exists, but partly a need for better showing the results to the outside world identified; G20 and Aid Effectiveness (Busan) drivers chime with WCO approach;

10 Working Group Findings from bilateral meetings: Considerable funding for Customs and trade related aid and assistance is available from the international donor community, also in times of global financial difficulties; In a number of cases, getting access to funding by the WCO and/or by Customs administrations is still not easy; The complexity of the donor process is sometimes a barrier; Internationally, there is a wide range of separate donor initiatives and programmes but there appears to be no overall strategic picture/overview of either engagement or initiatives. Duplications and overlaps still existing.

11 Six Key Issues Arising 1. Interaction with Donors WCO and its members further develop and expand sustainable interaction with donors 2. Sustainable Funding Suggestions for sustainable funding for Customs modernization and the WCO Capacity Building programmes 3. Simplification of Procedures Simplify the donor funding application process 4. Aid Effectiveness Donor expectations from the WCO and Customs administrations after the Busan Agreement 5. Ownership and Coordination Donors and Members view of the issue of engagement and co-ordination? 6. Working Group Plan What work is needed over the next 12 months?