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NGO monitoring of EU aid quantity and quality

Alex Wilks, Coordinator, European Network on

Debt and Development.

Talk at Society for International Development Conference, The Hague, 4 July 2007

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Main messages

• Non-aid items counted by EU governments as Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2006: €13.5 billion, close to 1/3 of the EU’s claimed ODA figure of €47.5 billion.

• “If European governments do not improve on current performance, poor countries will have received €50 billion less from Europe by 2010 than they have been promised” Lucy Hayes, Eurodad.

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Further messages

• “Poverty reduction does not always seem to be the main objective of European aid. Security, geopolitical alliances and domestic interests often take precedence”. Justin Kilcullen, President of the European NGO confederation CONCORD

• “While more resources are needed, an increase in aid volume alone is not sufficient. European governments have a moral obligation to both increase resources but also to make sure that money is targeted and effective for helping the world’s poor”. Hussaini Abdu, the Africa Regional Governance Coordinator for ActionAid.

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Report contents

Section 1:• Analysis and ranking

of EU Member State performance against individual and collective targets.

• Sources: OECD DAC figures, European Commission.

Section 2:• Country by country

analysis of aid quantity and national NGO statement of demands to their governments.

• Main sources: Stats as before, national NGOs

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Percentage of gross national income EU governments have pledged to give as overseas aid in the next ten years

Target year EU 15 Member States(Austria, Belgium, Denmark,

Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,

Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom)

EU 10 Member States (Czech Republic, Cyprus,

Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland,

Slovak Republic and Slovenia)

Individual Minimum ODA/GNI

Collective Average

ODA/GNI

Individual Minimum ODA/GNI

Collective Average

ODA/GNI

2006 0.33% 0.39% - -

2010 0.51% 0.56% country specific

0.17%

2015 0.7% 0.7% 0.33% 0.33%

Agreed aid targets

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Failing states

• Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain missed the individual minimum 2006 target outright.

• Once non-aid items are deducted, France, Germany and Austria also failed to reach the levels they promised.

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Heavyweight states

• Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands all provide aid of at least 0.7% of GNI even once inflation is taken into account.

• No room for complacency, though: reporting and quality challenges remain.

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Quality asks

• Ensuring poverty focus and allocation• Untying aid• Increasing aid predictability• Reducing the amount of technical assistance• Increasing developing country ownership,

reducing conditionality, aligning with national systems and

• harmonising donor systems to reduce burdens.

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Report results

Reports formally signed onto by 50 networks and organizations, representing a total of over 2,000 individual NGOs

Media coverage across the EUMinisters and officials forced to respondEstablished solid analysis and good CSO

links for joint and separate advocacy around the DAC, national governments and EC.

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Media and advocacy

• Media coverage all across Europe (TV, radio and print), good quality coverage

• Letters to ministers

• Meetings with officials

• Parliamentary hearings

• Stunts and public actions.

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Advocacy impact (1)

• OECD official: “The analysis in the report on EU Aid has been very influential in strengthening the disaggregation of aid budget reporting , and has allowed me to strengthen policy documents and frameworks in my own organisation”.

• Source: External review of Eurodad 2004-2007 programme, Cambridge Policy Consultants, May 2007

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Advocacy impacts (2)

• The May 2007 Council of European Ministers for Development concluded that the Council 'encourages Member States to work on … national timetables, by the end of 2007, to increase aid levels within their respective budget allocation processes, towards achieving the established ODA targets'.  According to the EU official interviewed, Eurodad could be credited with having directly contributed to this Council conclusion.       

• Source: External review of Eurodad 2004-2007 programme, Cambridge Policy Consultants, May 2007

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Outlook and plans

• The big debt spike from Iraq and Nigeria is about to drop off. Are EU countries now going to provide and programme the new money that they have pledged and their citizens expect?

• National governments will continue to be under pressure from NGOs and OECD DAC discussions and reports closely monitored.

• CONCORD plans a similar EU aid levels report next Spring. Eurodad will continue in a leading role.

• Also Eurodad will do developing country case studies and overview reports on aid effectiveness.

• And Eurodad will establish a new blog on aid quality and quantity, with insights on aid negotiations and practices.

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Clean Up Your ActWe demand:• Genuine aid increases in European aid• Clear and binding year-on-year timetables • Tighten official aid reporting • End all tied aid• Ensure aid is focused on poverty• Accelerate progress on the aid effectiveness

targets.

In short: deliver on your aid promises

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For further information …

• The 2007 EU Aid report – take a copy here.

• www.concordeurope.org

• www.eurodad.org.