Aid
EU aid
In 2005, encouraged by a wave of support from millions of Europeans, EU member states collectively agreed to establish timetables to increase their ODA towards 0.7%. This was a historic step, as it was the first concrete plan made by a group of developed countries to deliver on the 0.7% commitment, first made in the United Nations General Assembly in 1970. Coming hot on the heels of the Millennium Review Summit and agreement of the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development (FfD), this step also promised to usher in a new era for EU development assistance.
2011 AidWatch Report
May 2011
The 2011 AidWatch report was launched in Brussels on 19 May, detailing the performance of EU members states against their agreed targets on aid quantity and quality.
Now in its sixth year, the AidWatch report is the annual flagship pan-European report that documents and analyses the aid commitments of all 27 EU member states. As well as country by country summaries, the report also offers a comprehensive comparative analysis and an in-depth investigation of key development issues. In the lead up to the high level forum on aid effectiveness (HLF4) in November, this year’s report focuses on the issue of aid quality.
Read the 2011 AidWatch Report and the CONCORD press release
Review the aid performance of each member state
Report highlights:
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The EU is the world’s biggest aid donor but in 2010, only nine countries, including the UK, met the EU aid targets.
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In 2010 EU member states inflated official aid spending by more than €5bn. This is equivalent to almost 10% of the total aid provided by the EU to partner countries last year.
- Aid is becoming increasingly dictated by domestic political agendas and tied to security, immigration and commercial objectives
For more information about the 2011 report, please contact Joanna Rea, jrea@bond.org.uk
EU Foreign Affairs Council Conclusions on Aid quantity
On May 23 the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) agreed Council Conclusions on Aid levels. The document, 'The First Annual Report to the European Council on EU Development Aid Targets' is one of the many conclusions from the May FAC.
About AidWatch
AidWatch is an initiative by CONCORD, the pan-European confederation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on international development issues. AidWatch monitors and advocates on the quantity and quality of the Official Development Assistance (ODA)provided by European Union Member States and the European Commission. AidWatch represents civil society organisations (CSOs) working onthe quantity and quality of aid across the 27 Member States of theEuropean Union (EU). The AidWatch project is currently co-ordinated by Alessandro Bozzini.
As a member of CONCORD, Bond and its partner network the UK Aid Network (UKAN) actively contribute to the policy and campaigning work associated with the AidWatch initiative in the UK and in the EU.
AidWatch issues a report annually on how EU states are performing on the quantity and quality of aid. The 2010 report "Penalty against Poverty: More and Better EU aid can score Millennium Development Goals" stressed that EU Member States are missing their official development aid targets and jeopardising global efforts to reach the MDGs.
The 2009 report "Lighten the Load" highlighted that EU governments are still unlikely to achieve their aid commitments by 2015, and that aid quality and effectiveness is still problematic.
In 2008, the report was entitled "No Time to Waste". The report highlighted serious discrepancies between the levels of aid that EU governments had promised to deliver, and those that they actually did. The report also exposed that governments, including the UK government, were inflating the figures they claimed as aid by including items there that weren't really aid, such as debt relief and migration control measures.
AidWatch reports
2010 - Penalty against Poverty
2009 - Lighten the Load
2008 - No Time to Waste
2007 - Hold the Applause
What is Bond doing?
Through CONCORD, Bond keeps putting pressure on the EU to deliver more and better aid. Since 2005, European NGOs collectively monitor EU member states' official development assistance quantity and quality through the Aid Watch initiative.
Bond also works very closely with the UK Aid Network to keep up the pressure on the UK government on UK aid effectiveness.
Furthermore, Bond has produced a number of publications and submissions on EU aid, which can all be found in the resources library of the Bond website.
What you can do...
Promote the messages of the Aid Watch report and reinforce the demands to the UK and other European governments in your advocacy work
Join campaigners working with UK, 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 the Bond Advocacy team.
Get more involved with Bond's work on Europe and join the Bond European Policy Group or the Bond EC Funding Working Group.
