AidWatch 2008: EU breaking aid promises
European governments' aid efforts are continuing to fail the poor to the tune of €75 billion, the latest AidWatch report reveals.
'No Time to Waste', published 22 May 2008 by CONCORD, the European NGO confederation of which BOND is the UK national association, reveals that on current trends the EU will have given €75 billion less in aid by 2010 than it promised.
Progress on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set for 2015 is threatened; if the recent record of slow progress continues, Europe will find it harder to meet its target with every year that passes.
Full report and other AidWatch resources
What BOND members can do
! Promote the report
! Reinforce the demands to the UK and other European governments in advocacy work
! Join campaigners working with European and international colleagues on aid issues, as well as keeping up the pressure on the UK Government to honour commitments to more and better aid.
For more information, please contact Sarah Mulley, UK Aid Network Coordinator.
! Get more involved with BOND's work on Europe : contact the BOND EU team, join the BOND European Policy Group and EC Funding Group
- Full 2008 Report - "No Time to Waste: European governments behind schedule on aid quantity and quality" (pdf, 4.7 MB)
- Executive Summary (pdf, 30 KB)
- UK Government Summary (pdf, 600KB)
- UK News Release (word, 100KB)
- Backgrounder on AidWatch
Comment: Richard Hawkes, BOND Chair
"AidWatch reveals yet another year of disappointing progress on aid targets. The EU provides over half of global aid, yet the promising potential of European aid is being held back by delays in meeting aid targets, insufficient accountability, poor transparency and a lack of leadership across Europe's governments in the fight against world poverty.
Too many EU countries are likely to fail in meeting their aid commitments. BOND is calling on the UK Government to step up its pressure on other member states to keep their aid promises.
The UK Government has made welcome and significant progress on aid quality and quantity in recent years from which further steps must now be taken. UK NGOs set out a clear agenda for the Government to improve on aid in this year's AidWatch: commit to a year-by-year timetable to meet the 0.7% target by 2013, stop counting debt relief as aid, increase transparency and release additional resources to tackle climate change for poverty reduction.
Decision-makers need to reflect and act on the concerns of European NGOs and their partners as set out in the AidWatch report. EU governments have opportunities for action in upcoming Brussels meetings and ahead of September's High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Ghana and the UN Financing for Development meeting in Doha later this year. They must take the necessary leadership on more and better aid; and keep their promises to their own citizens and those living in poverty in countries across the world."