Appointed by the Government for its four-year term of office, the Development Policy Committee is the only body monitoring and evaluating Finnish development cooperation and policy on a systematic and broad basis.

Development Policy Committee’s goals and tasks

The Development Policy Committee (DPC) is a permanent parliamentarily and societally representative advisory body on development policy. Its operations are based on the Government Decree on the Development Policy Committee (1071/2019). The DPC’s purpose is to strengthen the effectiveness of development policy and to promote development policy dialogue. The Decree defines five main tasks for the Committee:

1. formulate a common vision of political parties and stakeholders on current issues in development policy
2. monitor and analyse the realisation of Finland’s development policies and Finland’s international commitments
3. promote decision-making that supports sustainable development in policy sectors affecting the situation of developing countries
4. provide the Government with recommendations on the planning and implementation of development policy
5. increase awareness of current development policy issues

DPC Work Program 2020-23

DPC Work Program 2020-23

Broad main goals for the term 2020-2023

The DPC appointment letter (Department for Development Policy/Ministry for Foreign Affairs) lists the general main goals for the Committee term, including, for instance:

  • monitoring the implementation of key international agreements and commitments (including the Paris Agreement on climate change), the Government Programme and the Government’s Development Policy Programme
  • promoting policy coherence that supports sustainable development in national decision-making
  • increasing awareness of the global responsibility related to sustainable development
  • providing the entire Government with recommendations on these themes
  • promoting cooperation among stakeholders and interest groups and especially parliamentary cooperation to achieve development policy goals and to link them with sustainable development goals
  • cooperation with parties evaluating and researching development cooperation to improve the quality and effectiveness of development cooperation

The tasks defined for the Committee in the Decree are an extensive entity and the DPC can perform them in various advisory roles. These include:

  •  planning-stage advice, various policy analyses and implementation assessments, in which the DPC gives recommendations
  • dialogue between different actors, which is an integral part of the DPC’s operating model, opinion exchange and position statement formulation
  • communications about the themes, goals and recommendations discussed by the Committee to advisees and political decision-makers as well as to the general public, as far as possible.

Anchor themes determine work priorities

The Committee chooses main themes, or so-called anchor themes, for the Committee term and defines related concrete goals. The theme choices reflect the trends in both the national and international operating environment. Read more about the themes in DPC’s Work Programme.