Policy Coherence
Developed and developing countries currently follow policies—on trade, agriculture, migration, and humanitarian assistance programs, among others—which conflict with one another, waste resources, and undermine the potential benefits of aid programs, increased trade, and growing world markets. In an effort to ensure that government policies are mutually supportive in the fight against global poverty, the Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) agenda aims to align policies across sectors and agencies that affect the developing world. While PCD still lacks the strong political support it warrants, its further acceptance and practice in governmental circles would greatly accelerate existing efforts to end poverty.
Entrenched economic interests, bureaucratic tensions, political realities, and even simple disinterest are often to blame for misalignments in current policies. Yet new opportunities for advancing PCD are burgeoning, including increased public debate over the foreign aid budgets of developed nations and greater discussion about how to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Policy coherence will become more prevalent as an issue following a final agreement in the Doha Round of trade negotiations at the WTO. Then, achieving a genuine “development” outcome will surely require the cooperation of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other multilateral organizations.
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