DAC
Sliding in just before the holidays, the OECD-DAC released its final update to the 2010 data on official development assistance (ODA) flows. The DAC — or, Development Assistance Committee — is a grouping of the world’s wealthiest donor countries. It tracks donor spending on development finance and helps coordinate development policy globally to improve spending practices.
The adjusted numbers released in December 2011 reflect final spending by countries in 2010, updating the preliminary figures released in April, and what ONE used in the 2011 DATA Report monitoring the G7’s commitments to Africa. As such, we can look at these numbers as the final report for how the G7 countries met their 2005 Gleneagles commitments to increase development assistance to Africa.
Based on the preliminary figures, ONE’s DATA Report found that the G7 delivered 61 percent of the Gleneagles commitments for sub-Saharan Africa. The final figures show that in fact the G7 delivered 60 percent of their total promises. The difference was mostly due to Japan, Italy, the UK and the US all delivering lower amounts of ODA than they originally reported in April. However, despite the revised figures, there were no changes in whether or not a country met its Gleneagles commitments. Net of bilateral debt relief, the G7 delivered a total of $28.5 billion of ODA to sub-Saharan Africa in 2010.
(more…)
South Korea is often praised for making the successful transition from aid recipient to donor country. Last Wednesday, South Korea solidified their role as an international donor by gaining membership in the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The DAC, which includes 23 member countries in addition to South Korea, acts as a unique global forum in which donor governments and multilateral organizations, such as the World Bank and the United Nations help countries reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. South Korea’s acceptance into the DAC is the first new membership since Greece’s membership in 1999.
According to Oh Joon, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs, South Korea’s membership in the DAC, effective January 1, 2010, will also serve an example for successful development. For almost fifty years, South Korea was heavily dependent on international aid; now, the country has not only seen drastic economic growth, but has become a significant donor as well. Joon noted that South Korea intends to keep increasing their international aid: “We offered aid worth $800 million last year, about 0.09 percent of gross national income, and this year’s amount is estimated to reach $900 million.’’ The government plans to increase its aid from 0.09 to 0.25% of GDP by 2015, he said.
The Committee Chair of the DAC, Eckhard Deutscher lauded South Korea’s impressive progress, noting: “We have had many opportunities to observe Korea’s great progress, as a nation, as an economy and as a provider of aid to the world’s poorest countries. Korea’s joining us today has paved the way for a more open and inclusive Development Assistance Committee.”
Each year in early April, the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) releases preliminary figures for what each large donor country spent on official development assistance the year before. This morning, the DAC released the figures for 2008. There is some good and bad news in there. Though we will post much more analysis later in the day, here is a quick summary of ODA for sub-Saharan Africa.
A few notes for accountants, seasoned advocates and others who follow the DAC and their processes. These are preliminary figures for 2008 ODA. They are net of debt relief, reported in 2008 US dollars, and do impute contributions through multilateral organizations to sub-Saharan Africa. SSA below means sub-Saharan Africa.
- OVERALL DAC donors: ODA to SSA was $36.661 billion, an increase of 11% over 2007
- G7: ODA to SSA was $25.165 billion, an increase of 14% over 2007
- Canada: Significant increases in bilateral ODA (47% over 2007) multilateral ODA (up by 63% over 2007) drove ODA to SSA up to $1.911 billion, up by 52% over 2007
- France: A decline in bilateral ODA to SSA drive decreases in ODA to SSA to $3.54 billion in 2008, down by 15% from 2007
- Germany: Germany’s ODA to SSA was $3.897 billion, up by 15% – $513 million – over 2007
- Italy: ODA to SSA in 2008 is $1.43 billion, down by 4% or $55 million largely due to falls in Italy’s multilateral contribution
- Japan: 2008 ODA to SSA is $2.6 billion, an increase of 56%, up by $938 million including large increases in multilateral (up 89% over 2007) and bilateral (up 31% over 2007) ODA
- United States: Large increases in bilateral ODA sent total ODA to SSA up by 26% over 2007 figures to $7.75 billion in 2008
- United Kingdom: ODA to SSA was $4.02 billion, a increase of 3% – or $100 million – over 2007 figures
More reactions to come shortly.
-Josh Lozman, Deputy Policy Director
A report released this morning shows that the world is falling short of the promises it made to developing nations.
Each year in early April, the independent nonprofit Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports on each donor nation’s contributions to the world’s poorest people. This year’s report shows that the world is not keeping pace with what’s needed to make good on their promises to help countries out of extreme poverty by 2015.
The United States has the ability to be the shining beacon of hope for the world’s poorest people. Right now, that beacon needs a voltage boost. Not counting debt relief (looking at the figures like this keeps everyone from overstating the cost to the donor or assistance provided to developing countries), United States foreign assistance to the world declined 3.55 percent last year, in big part because of a drop in aid to Iraq. For sub-Saharan Africa, American assistance last year increased by 8 percent. The United States spent $5.7 billion (2006 prices) on assistance to Africa last year.
The United States promised in 2005 to double foreign assistance to Africa by 2010. This would help end needless suffering across the continent and provide hope and opportunity for millions. While projections indicate that the U.S. is likely to meet its pledge to Africa by 2010, the pace has been slower than expected.
Looking ahead for the rest of this year, the United States is poised to increase aid through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). These relatively new initiatives are expected to scale up in the years to come.
The ONE Campaign applauds Congress and President Bush for boosting funding that targets diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Just this week, the House of Representatives voted by an overwhelming majority to reauthorize America’s HIV/AIDS program, PEPFAR, for another 5 years. This vote signals a commitment to build on the early successes of the program with the goal of saving millions more lives. Based on this Congressional action and what we already know about funding for initiatives already underway, future foreign assistance levels are promising. But there is a long way to go to meet America’s promise to double assistance to Africa by 2010.
Learn more about the OECD’s new statistics, or check out the stats for yourself. Many of ONE’s partners are talking about the OECD report as well. Our sister organization, DATA, offers its analysis of the numbers. Check them out here.
-Sara Rogge, ONE Senior Trade Advisor
Early tomorrow morning, the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will release preliminary foreign aid, or “official development assistance” (ODA) numbers for 2007 for the 22 member countries of the committee. The release will estimate how much each of these governments gave to poor countries in 2007.
Right after the DAC numbers are published, check to the ONE Blog tomorrow for our initial findings on how donor countries are doing on their promises to increase foreign aid, and more specifically, double aid to Africa by 2010.
In June, before the G8 Summit in Japan, we’ll release the 2008 DATA Report, which is a full analysis of how the G8 countries are doing on their aid promises to Africa.
Some more background on the DAC nummbers:
As part of their membership in the OECD/DAC, donor countries must report these figures each year and allow the OECD to release them. Each year, the DAC releases preliminary numbers in April for the previous year (in this case 2007) and then releases final numbers in December.
The members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) include all G8 countries as well as other wealthy countries. They full list:
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
-Sara Rogge, ONE Senior Trade Advisor
