ONE welcomes the OECD’s review of EU development assistance while Council negotiations on the post-2013 budget gain momentum

Anti-poverty group ONE today welcomed the OECD’s assessment that European Union development assistance has improved, but stressed that more must be done to ensure it is as effective as possible.

Responding to the publication of the OECD’s independent peer review report presented at the international organisation’s headquarters in Paris today, ONE’s Acting Brussels Director Alexander Woollcombe said:

“EU aid plays a key role in the global fight against extreme poverty so it is encouraging that the OECD has found improvements in the way that it is delivered. Thanks to aid spent by the Commission more than nine million children were able to go to primary school and more than five million children were vaccinated against measles between 2004 and 2009.

“However it is clear that further steps need to be taken to ensure that one of the largest aid budgets in the world reaches those most in need. The Commission should prioritise aid spending in low income countries and streamline the way in which that aid is delivered.

“This is especially important as leaders from the EU’s 27 member states enter crucial negotiations to agree the European Commission’s next seven-year budget. With the current proposals for development spending under threat, the OECD’s review reinforces ONE’s call on European leaders to prioritise spending on the world’s poorest in the on-going negotiations.”

Notes to editors:

1. ONE is a global grassroots advocacy and campaigning organisation backed by 3 million people that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. For more information, please visit www.ONE.org
2. Every four to five years, each of the 24 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee – of which the EU is a full member since 1961 - is scrutinized by its peers within the Committee. The aim is to assess the extent to which development policies, strategies and activities of the reviewed member meet the standards set by the Committee. The last OECD peer review of EU aid took place in 2007. For more information, please visit http://www.oecd.org
3. In its Communication “A budget for Europe 2020” published in June 2011, the European Commission proposed a total of €51 billion of earmarked spending for development assistance under the EU’s next Multi-Annual Financial Framework 2014-2020: €21 billion for the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) under heading 4 and €30 billion for the 11^th European Development Fund (EDF).