development aid

The failure of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee’s to agree tough new rules governing aid invested in the private sector – so-called private sector instruments – was criticised by Oxfam and the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) today.

Oxfam welcomes the EU increasing its aid for education, public health and gender equality in developing countries in its budget for 2019. However, it still falls short of allocating 20 percent of the aid budget to these vital areas.

Following a vote in the European Parliament on the EU budget for 2019, Oxfam is concerned that the EU continues to prioritize migration management at the expense of humanitarian action and sustainable development.

Today, EU member states have proposed a spending increase of 10 percent in 2019 for the EU’s external policies compared to this year’s budget. However, governments are focusing on the wrong issues, Oxfam, Save the Children, DSW and IPPF EN say. The organizations argue a strong focus on human development is needed to counter increasing inequalities and make sure no one is left behind.

The EU is about to set out a multi-year framework for its budget after 2020, which will have an impact on sustainable development worldwide and on the EU’s support for people in humanitarian crisis. Oxfam calls on the EU and its member states to increase aid commitments, in order to reduce the gap between what is needed and what is being given.

The EU has decided its budget for 2018 with cuts long-term development aid that helps the poorest people. A coalition of development NGOs criticised the EU for putting its own short-term interests ahead of the people most in need.

At a meeting at the OECD in Paris on the future of development aid, governments of the world’s richest countries promoted the use of development aid to support private investment in poor countries, but failed to focus on the rules and safeguards needed to make sure it supports the people most in need.

A coalition of NGOs has welcomed the European Parliament's vote to increase humanitarian and development aid in the EU budget 2018, but call on the EU to ensure aid money really goes to those who need it most.

Plans for next year's EU budget mean that not the actual needs of people in developing countries will be addressed, but money will be spent on border security to stop migration, Oxfam deplores.