The United Nations Development Group on Monday called on development partners to increase and accelerate their efforts to make aid more effective. This was during the opening of the Third High-Level Conference on Aid Effectiveness in Accra. UNDG, which unites 28 UN funds, programmes, agencies, offices and departments, helps to deliver more effective support to developing countries. A delegation which was led by the chairman of the UNDG, Mr Kemal Dervis, would hold meetings which are expected to lead to more rapid progress on commitment to improve the harmonisation, alignment and management of aid and is also expected to improve in the quality of development assistance in the light of growing global challenges. Before the opening ceremony of the three-day conference which is from 2-4 September, the representative of the UNDG, stated progress in implementing the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness as an international agreement to better harmonise, align and manage aid had been insufficient. The statement said development finance often remained unpredictable, conditional and tied, instead of being aligned to countries' priorities and systems. The statement said the conference would address these challenges and would go beyond the commitments made in the Paris Declaration. The UNDG affirmed that developing countries are drivers of their own development and required the skills and capacities to manage and lead the development process, which should be supported through development assistance. Source: GNA