Guidelines agreed for financing of local costs in development cooperation in VN

The agreement, signed by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viết Sinh, UN Resident Coordinator John Hendra, and Ambassador of the Czech Republic Michal Kral representing the European Union Presidency, endorses the use the Guidelines by UN agencies and EU Member States as part of efforts to harmonize procedures and reduce the costs of delivering aid by donors.

It is expected that the Guidelines will be a benchmark for further aligning donor and government cost norms in the future.

The 2009 Version provides clear and transparent guidelines for the management of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in Việt Nam and represents a tangible contribution to aid effectiveness in the context of the Hà Nội Core Statement on Aid Effectiveness.

The unified UN-EU rates are to be used as reference guidelines by all national implementing partners and other counterparts in Việt Nam for the local costs of projects funded by UN agencies and EU Member States’ missions in Việt Nam.

The revised rates are market oriented in order to attract high quality human resources, and services, and encourage full collaboration, yet flexible enough to accommodate different business models and project requirements. They will be reviewed periodically to reflect changes in market prices.

The signing also kicks off an action plan for training and orientation workshops on how to apply the cost norms for relevant Government, UN and EU staff and implementing partners.  Implementing partners will then be able to start using the new cost norms, which include remuneration for project staff, consultant rates, translation services, travel and meeting costs, and related project expenses.  Work-plans of ongoing projects would also be revised to accommodate the new costs, subject to current financial year budget availability.

By Phương Hạnh