One of the challenges of the dialogue between the NEPAD Steering Committee and the G-8 leaders is to clarify what these concepts mean to each of them. [...] The wealth of the donor countries and the great financial need of the African part- ners tilts the balance of power heavily in favour of the donors. [...] The purpose of this paper is to present the essence of the proposed country performance assessment framework, explore the strengths and shortcomings of the approach adopted, and give indications for the way forward. [...] The main weaknesses include: issues relating to methodology and econometrics, country specificity, uncertainty and stabil- ity concerns, issues relating to the composition of aid, the impact of reverse aid flows through debt servicing or tied aid, issues of good policy and the process involved in improv- ing the quality of policy, and concerns about aid fungibility. [...] This finding and the broader significance of poverty should have been pursued further in the assessment framework.11 Questions of uncertainty and instability One strand of the literature has raised the question of the role of external shocks, aid insta- bility, and the associated uncertainty.