Luxembourg: a generous aid donor | WPN World People News

Luxembourg allocated 0.97% of its gross national income, or USD 413 million, to official development assistance in 2011.“Luxembourg is the Development Assistance Committee’ s third most generous donor as a portion of its economy – after Sweden and Norway – and it has a high quality programme” says Brian Atwood, Chair of the DAC. “We commend Luxembourg’s commitment to keeping its ODA at 1% of GNI until 2014”.

The OECD’s review of Luxembourg’s development policies and programmes notes the country’s strong stand on reducing poverty, humanitarian assistance and its effective work with 9 developing country partners. Luxembourg plans to end its aid programme to Vietnam and Salvador, and the review encourages Luxembourg to ensure that this exit is predictable and transparent.

The Review makes a number of other recommendations to increase the positive impact of Luxembourg’s aid.

● With about a third of its ODA channelled through multilateral organisations, and another 20% through NGOs, Luxembourg should ensure that their efforts are complementary.

● To further boost development, and in addition to the government’s procurement of fair-traded goods, Luxembourg should more actively promote policy coherence for development in order that its domestic policies better support developing countries’ efforts – e.g. environment, climate change and finance.

● Luxembourg’s Development Co-operation Directorate, which decides policy, and LuxDex which implements 2/3 of the budget allocated to the bilateral programme, should work more closely together in order to get the most out of their resources and competencies. This includes setting and monitoring the country’s development objectives, training and appraising staff, and delegating more responsibilities to the country level.

● Some 15% of Luxembourg’s aid is devoted to humanitarian assistance and the country is an example of good humanitarian practices. Luxembourg now needs to strike an appropriate balance between the scope of its programme, the administrative burden it presents, and available staff resources to ensure the long-term quality and effectiveness of its humanitarian efforts.

Source: OECD