In this issue of DACNews, we look at why donors will have to increase their aid faster than any other public expenditure to reach US$130 billion aid and double aid to Africa by 2010…

The latest annual OECD Development Co-operation Report (DCR) is just launched and reveals that aid funding, recently rising by 5% per year, would have to rise by 11% every year from 2008 to 2010 to reach agreed goals.
 

March 2007

A summary of the DCR takes you straight to the facts and figures.

The DCR reviews aid volumes, and which donors give the most (the US by volume, Sweden and Norway as a percentage of their GNI); which countries receive the most (Iraq got US$12.9 billion annually in 2004-05 and Nigeria US$3.2 billion, both boosted by exceptional debt relief). Plus it looks at major trends in aid allocation, and includes early findings from the first survey monitoring the implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

In 2005, global official development assistance (ODA) reached a record high of US$106.8 billion. Some 20% of that corresponds to debt relief for Iraq and Nigeria.

The OECD expects that aid will decline modestly in 2006 and 2007 as exceptional debt relief declines.

Michael Roeskau, outgoing Director of the OECD Secretariat which services the Development Assistance Committee, looks back at major events which have changed the way we do aid. From the tragic events of 9/11, to the promises made at Gleneagles in 2005 to increase aid, the reality of aid has changed dramatically in the last few years.

Richard Carey, formerly Deputy Director of the Secretariat, will take over as Director in March.

Find out more about the Third Roundtable on Managing for Development Results held in Hanoi (February), where developing and donor countries, private companies and NGOs called for ‘stronger action’ to improve results in poorer countries.

Also in this issue...

Peer Reviews

• United States: Main findings and recommendations
• Greece: Main findings and recommendations

Coming up: first mini-review of a non-DAC donor, the Czech Republic, due out shortly.

Planned for 2007:

• Denmark - 8 June
• European Commission - 26 June
• Canada - 10 October
• Spain - 6 November
• Finland - 4 December

What is a Peer Review?

News in Brief

• The 2007 OECD DAC High Level Meeting (HLM) will take place 3-4 April in Paris. Ministers and heads of agencies will discuss migration and development, the influence of non-OECD donors, the importance of good governance and the need to stay engaged in fragile states, the political challenges of the aid effectiveness agenda, and security sector reform in developing countries.
• The OECD Global Forum on Development will be held in Paris on 3 April. High-level participants will analyse the past year's activities on development finance.
• What is the best way to support developing countries’ trade expansion? Find out in: ‘’Aid for Trade: Making it Effective’’.
• Guidance on how to do environmental assessments: “DAC Guidelines and Reference Series: Applying Strategic Environmental Assessment: Good Practice Guidance for Development Co-operation”.
• Guidance on capacity development: ‘’DAC Guidelines and Reference Series: The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working Towards Good Practice’’.
• DAC in Dates: the history of development assistance seen through the eyes of the DAC.
• Also, just released:
  - 2007 edition of the International Development Statistics CD-ROM provides economists and researchers with a unique source of up-to-date comparative statistics and information on international development;
  - Geographical Distribution of Financial Flows to Aid Recipients. This report includes comprehensive data on the volume, origin and types of aid and other resource flows to around 150 developing countries for the period 2001-2005. The data show each country's intake of official development assistance or official aid, as well as other official and private funds from members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, multilateral agencies and other donors. Key development indicators are also given for reference.

OECD DAC Statistics including Aid at a Glance charts for DAC members, recipient countries, and by region.

About Us

The OECD-DAC  is the main global forum where bilateral donors, alongside multilateral donors, work together to achieve real development progress for poorer countries.

More information about OECD Development work.

Subscribe

Register to the DACNews. If you know someone who would like to subscribe, please forward them this link: www.oecd.org/dac/newsletter/register.