Chapter 4 SEA EXPERIENCE IN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

Document begins: Chapter 4 SEA EXPERIENCE IN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION EIA requirements are now an established component of development cooperation. Recently, multilateral and bilateral donor agencies and other international development organisations have emphasised the use of SEA to promote more sustainable and integrated approaches to sectoral and broader development plans, programmes and policies. This emphasis by the donor community has resulted in growing SEA practice in developing countries and has been a vector for the wider introduction and adaptation of SEA for domestic applications. The World Bank is in a leading position in this regard and we describe its activities first. Other multilateral and bilateral donor agencies also have important SEA initiatives underway. These are then described in alphabetic order in sections 4.1 (multilateral development agencies) and section 4.2 (bilateral aid agencies). In the last few years, poverty reduction strategies have become the most prominent strategic planning processes in development cooperation. Multilateral development banks, bilateral donor agencies, international organisations and many poor countries now see such strategies as the main framework within which to address sustainable development. Poverty alleviation is a driving theme of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit of Sustainable ...