DGDC Annual report 2008 - Buitenlandse Zaken - Belgium
DGDC Annual report 2008 - Buitenlandse Zaken - Belgium
DGDC Annual report 2008 - Buitenlandse Zaken - Belgium
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KINGDOM OF BELGIUM<br />
Federal Public Service<br />
Foreign Affairs,<br />
Foreign Trade and<br />
Development Cooperation<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> ANNUAL REPORT<br />
<strong>2008</strong><br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> - Directorate-General for<br />
Development Cooperation
A word about the form. This year’s annual <strong>report</strong> is the first to appear only in a CD<br />
version rather than on paper. In addition, we are publishing this <strong>report</strong> together with<br />
a <strong>report</strong> by BTC, our partner for the implementation of bilateral cooperation.<br />
The financial <strong>report</strong> and the statistical data for <strong>2008</strong> are found, as usual, in the<br />
annexes, at least as far as the global <strong>DGDC</strong> figures go. Other departments also contribute<br />
to the total Belgian official development assistance (ODA), but these data were<br />
not yet all available as we went to press.<br />
Over the next few months, more detailed data will be available to be accessed via the<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> and BTC websites and via an expanded CD-ROM.<br />
The <strong>DGDC</strong> <strong>2008</strong> annual <strong>report</strong> is a publication of the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs,<br />
Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.<br />
It is available free of charge in French, Dutch and English.
Table of contents<br />
Foreword by Charles Michel,<br />
Minister for Development Cooperation 2<br />
<br />
1. International policy context: development agenda under pressure 5<br />
1. Slow progress towards the Millennium Development Goals 7<br />
2. Economic crisis hits poor countries 8<br />
3. High food prices, global shortage 13<br />
4. Climate-sensitive development cooperation 18<br />
2. Aid Effectiveness 20<br />
1. The international context 23<br />
2. Belgian practice 27<br />
3. Example of a new cooperation programme: Mali 29<br />
4. Example of a new cooperation programme: Niger 31<br />
5. Effective aid and the reality of fragile States 33<br />
6. Managing for results 36<br />
7. Aligning aid on systems in the partner country 39<br />
8. Harmonisation with non-governmental actors 43<br />
9. Effectiveness of multilateral cooperation 46<br />
3. <strong>DGDC</strong> awareness-raising activities 49<br />
4. Annexes 53<br />
1. Belgian Official Development Assistance (ODA) 2004-<strong>2008</strong> 54<br />
2. Multi-year bilateral obligations and budget aid 56<br />
3. Multi-year NGO programmes approved in <strong>2008</strong> 58<br />
Organization chart 62<br />
Abbreviations 65<br />
1<br />
Photo on cover and on this page: Novo Mundo
1<br />
Foreword<br />
Global poverty remains a stubborn and multi-faceted phenomenon.<br />
The world of international cooperation is therefore in constant evolution,<br />
looking for the most effective approach in order to deliver results and<br />
make a sustainable impact on poverty. Belgian Development Cooperation<br />
is resolutely committed to this dynamic. Last year was a year of extensive<br />
consultations, various shifts, and a catch-up movement in terms of bilateral<br />
programmes.<br />
Our aim in this annual <strong>report</strong> is to show this evolution, and also, above<br />
all, to spotlight the results of the work. That is easier said than done.<br />
We tend all too often to make an annual <strong>report</strong> into an account of<br />
activities: to show all that we have done, and how much money we have<br />
spent.<br />
What we are more keen to do, as we did last year, is to paint a picture<br />
of what effects and what results we are achieving with our cooperation.<br />
Obviously, what ultimately counts is the longer-term results on the<br />
ground: after all, every type of development cooperation seeks at the<br />
end of the day to improve living conditions for the poorest population<br />
groups, who stand in greatest need. But this often requires many intermediate<br />
steps. Donor countries should no longer attempt to make that<br />
difference on the ground themselves. Our partner countries, with their<br />
policy officials, their population and their institutions, are responsible<br />
themselves and they have to own the development process. That means<br />
that if we are to be genuinely effective in the longer term, we have to<br />
adapt the way in which we cooperate, and sometimes to overhaul it<br />
radically. In that sense, too, within our own administration and in our<br />
relations with the various actors in cooperation, lessons have been<br />
learned and results achieved about which we want to <strong>report</strong>.<br />
2
Yet development cooperation does not operate in a vacuum. We have<br />
observed major shifts over the past year in other policy areas - financial/<br />
economic, climate, food prices. These are all crises with a major impact,<br />
both on our partner countries’ scope for development and on development<br />
cooperation budgets. Here, too, we want to linger for a moment<br />
in this annual <strong>report</strong> and explain how we react to this with development<br />
cooperation.<br />
All of which means that this annual <strong>report</strong> is not just a backwards look, a<br />
way of logging what has been done in the past, but also an invitation to<br />
go the extra mile, to do better and to do more, for the challenges in the<br />
short and medium term are huge.<br />
There are various deadlines facing us in the next few years, by which<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> will have to account for the implementation of a number of<br />
principles and declarations to which we have signed up.<br />
In 2010, our cooperation will be examined by the Development Assistance<br />
Committee of the OECD. This will entail the entire policy, the procedures<br />
and the development programmes being submitted to a peer review by<br />
two other members of this international organisation. In 2010, <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
will also be holding the European Presidency: a perfect opportunity to<br />
drive the development agenda forward. In 2011 we will have to publicise<br />
the progress we have achieved in the implementation of the Paris<br />
Declaration and the Accra Action Programme on aid effectiveness, and<br />
finally, in 2015, the world is awaiting the achievement of the Millennium<br />
Development Goals.<br />
Charles Michel<br />
Minister for Development Cooperation<br />
3
1<br />
Internationale<br />
beleidscontext:<br />
ontwikkelingsagenda<br />
onder druk<br />
4
1<br />
International policy<br />
context: development<br />
agenda under<br />
pressure<br />
© Béatrice Petit<br />
1. Slow progress towards the Millennium Development Goals<br />
2. Economic crisis hits poor countries<br />
3. High food prices, global shortage<br />
4. Climate-sensitive development cooperation<br />
5
In this chapter, the annual <strong>report</strong> focuses specifically on the consequences<br />
of the crisis year of <strong>2008</strong> for developing countries. <strong>Belgium</strong> has also made<br />
efforts to mitigate the negative effects of the economic and financial crisis<br />
for the developing countries.<br />
6
1<br />
International<br />
policy<br />
context: development<br />
agenda under<br />
pressure<br />
1. Slow progress towards the<br />
Millennium Development Goals<br />
<strong>2008</strong> was a turbulent year. While the world was completely<br />
focused on the risks of climate change for the<br />
South, we were buffeted by first a food and energy<br />
crisis and then a serious economic recession. The<br />
urgency of the unfolding events was one of the main<br />
features shaping the world’s development agenda in<br />
<strong>2008</strong>.<br />
every country. The gender and education goals are<br />
not likely to be met globally, but there is often still<br />
some progress being made. The biggest disappointment<br />
is the lack of progress on infant and maternal<br />
mortality, and there still remains a major slippage<br />
between progress actually made and what was<br />
planned in terms of water and sanitary services.<br />
But the international community continued to work<br />
steadily through it all. The achievement of the<br />
Millennium Development Goals (MDG for short)<br />
by 2015 remains the most important policy framework.<br />
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon released<br />
an MDG <strong>report</strong> in September <strong>2008</strong> which stated that<br />
the progress being achieved is inadequate. According<br />
to the <strong>report</strong>, the poverty goal is likely, globally<br />
speaking, to be attained (thanks to strong economic<br />
growth in China and India), although by no means in<br />
A more detailed analysis reveals that progress is<br />
uneven across the various regions: most regions are<br />
posting solid progress, although the pace is not quick<br />
enough to be able to reach the 2015 target date.<br />
Moreover, the <strong>report</strong> expresses anxiety at the growing<br />
internal inequalities, even within countries achieving a<br />
good average. The gulf between rich and poor has<br />
actually increased in many countries. Every year,<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> drafts a specific MDG <strong>report</strong> for Parliament. This<br />
is available in French and in Dutch at www.dgdc.be.<br />
1. Eradicate extreme<br />
poverty and hunger<br />
5. Improve maternal health<br />
2. Achieve universal<br />
primary education<br />
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and<br />
other diseases<br />
3. Promote gender equality<br />
and empower women<br />
7. Ensure environmental<br />
sustainability<br />
4. Reduce child mortality<br />
8. Develop a global partnership<br />
for development<br />
7
1<br />
2. Economic crisis hits poor<br />
countries<br />
Lower growth<br />
World economic growth declined sharply because<br />
of the financial and economic crisis. Although poor<br />
countries do not have much of a stake on the international<br />
financial markets, they do still feel the<br />
effects of the crisis. The consequences vary widely,<br />
depending on a country’s economic situation, its<br />
exposure to risks and its problem-solving abilities.<br />
Middle-income countries appear to be hit harder by<br />
the economic crisis than low-income countries, because<br />
they are more strongly integrated in the world<br />
economy and the financial markets. However, low-income<br />
countries have fewer resources and a lower capacity<br />
to cope with the crisis. It is clear that the crisis<br />
is afflicting all developing countries, even the very<br />
poorest, which are virtually completely absent from<br />
the financial markets.<br />
‘Types’ of country<br />
The World Bank classifies economies according to their Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. This is the<br />
basis that the Bank uses when determining the arrangements and conditions for the granting of loans.<br />
Low-income countries: a GNI per capita of less than 936 US dollars. Eleven of the 18 partner countries for<br />
Belgian Development Cooperation are low-income countries.<br />
Lower middle income countries: a GNI per capita of between 936 and 3,705 US dollars. The partner countries<br />
Algeria, Bolivia, Ecuador, the Palestinian Territories, Peru and Morocco belong to this group.<br />
Upper middle income countries: a GNI per capita of between 3,706 and 11,455 US dollars. South Africa is<br />
the only partner country in this group.<br />
High-income countries: countries with a GNI per capita of over 11,455 US dollars. <strong>Belgium</strong> is in this category.<br />
Source: World Bank, 2009 (figures based on GNI per capita 2007)<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong>’s 18 partner countries for governmental development cooperation<br />
North Africa :<br />
1. Morocco<br />
2. Algeria<br />
Middle East :<br />
14. Palestinian Territories<br />
Latin<br />
America :<br />
15. Ecuador<br />
16. Peru<br />
17. Bolivia<br />
15<br />
16<br />
17<br />
West Africa :<br />
3. Mali<br />
4. Niger<br />
5. Senegal<br />
6. Benin<br />
5<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
Central Africa :<br />
7. DR of Congo<br />
8. Rwanda<br />
9. Burundi<br />
6<br />
4<br />
7 8<br />
9<br />
13<br />
10<br />
11<br />
12<br />
14<br />
East Africa :<br />
10. Uganda<br />
11. Tanzania<br />
12. Mozambique<br />
18<br />
Asia<br />
18. Vietnam<br />
13. South Africa<br />
8
The following four consequences of the<br />
crisis hit the developing countries hard:<br />
1. Trade declines. Many countries in the South<br />
depend on the export of raw materials. The economic<br />
recession meant sharp falls in the prices of a number<br />
of raw materials in the second half of <strong>2008</strong>. In particular,<br />
oil and metal ore prices went into freefall.<br />
Developing countries with significant raw material<br />
exports have seen their incomes collapse; export<br />
demand is also falling because the industrialised<br />
countries are placing fewer orders.<br />
2. Investments dry up. Developing countries are<br />
regarded by investors as being more risky than<br />
industrialised countries, and in addition, there is a<br />
clear reduction in North-South investment movements.<br />
Confidence has evaporated. Banks and investment<br />
funds are strapped for cash. Investments in the<br />
developing countries in 2007 amounted to some<br />
1 trillion dollars, the equivalent of 8% of global GDP.<br />
By <strong>2008</strong>, the investment flow had halved to 500 billion<br />
dollars.<br />
TCX – innovative financing in the<br />
local currency<br />
Financial crises demonstrate the impact of the<br />
exchange risks that hamstring entrepreneurs and<br />
local banks in developing countries. The famous<br />
hyper-devaluations of the late Nineties illustrate<br />
the catastrophic consequences for financial<br />
systems and economies. Many businesses were no<br />
longer able to repay their loans because they had<br />
become exorbitantly expensive.<br />
The Currency Exchange Fund (TCX), intended to<br />
promote investments in local currencies, offers a<br />
solution to this problem. The fund can take on the<br />
exchange risks formerly shouldered by the local<br />
entities without putting their expansion on the<br />
line. This means that institutions are no longer exposed<br />
to risks that they cannot handle themselves.<br />
The Belgian Investment Company for Developing<br />
Countries (BIO) invested 10 million dollars in TCX.<br />
The fund is unique of its kind. TCX aims to drastically<br />
curb the risk of non-payment by businesses,<br />
and to make a robust contribution to the development<br />
of the local capital markets. TCX was originally<br />
an initiative by the Netherlands Financing<br />
Company for Developing Countries (FMO), in which<br />
several bilateral and multilateral institutions hold a<br />
stake.<br />
www.tcxfund.com<br />
9
3. Remittances decrease. Migrants are the most<br />
important bridge between developing countries and<br />
the rest of the world. Between them, they send more<br />
money back to their countries of origin (in remittances)<br />
than the entire development cooperation budget<br />
across all donors. But the crisis means that these<br />
figures have fallen. Migrants are losing their jobs, or<br />
the cost of living is rising steeply. So that knocks on<br />
to their families back at home.<br />
4. Development aid is threatening to fall. After<br />
investments and remittances, development aid is the<br />
third biggest monetary flow to the poor countries.<br />
But the aid budget is being squeezed. It is one of the<br />
most striking effects of this crisis. In recent years,<br />
many donor countries promised to spend more on<br />
development aid. This might prove to have been no<br />
more than words, now that there is a greater tendency<br />
to tighten the purse-strings. The consequences<br />
would be particularly dramatic for sub-Saharan Africa:<br />
almost two thirds of net capital inflow consists of<br />
development aid. In many donor countries, development<br />
aid is pegged to national income. When the<br />
economy shrinks, it would mean an automatic drop in<br />
the aid budget.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> is continuing to aim for<br />
the 0.7% standard<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> decided to meet the United Nations standard<br />
by 2010. This standard lays down that the<br />
industrialised countries must dedicate 0.7% of their<br />
gross national income (GNI) to development cooperation.<br />
This decision was enshrined in a law in<br />
2002, making <strong>Belgium</strong> more ambitious than the EU,<br />
which has set 2015 as the target date for achieving<br />
the 0.7% standard.<br />
This growth curve was sustained until 2005. In<br />
2006 and 2007, federal spending on development<br />
cooperation stalled, and in addition the period of<br />
exceptionally high debt relief operations came to<br />
an end. This meant a drop in total official assistance<br />
for development cooperation, both in <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
and in the other member countries of the OECD<br />
Development Committee.<br />
despite the difficult budgetary situation, the <strong>DGDC</strong><br />
budget rose by 252 million euro (almost 23%) to<br />
1.362 billion euro.<br />
The total Belgian official development assistance<br />
(ODA) includes<br />
■■ spending on the <strong>DGDC</strong> budget,<br />
■■ the development spending of Foreign Affairs,<br />
Finances and some other federal public services<br />
(FPSs),<br />
■■ the debt relief operations by the National<br />
Delcredere Office (which is a public institution that<br />
insures export businesses against all manner of<br />
risks such as non-payment, coups d’état, etc),<br />
■■ some spending by the communities, regions,<br />
provinces and municipalities.<br />
To counter this negative trend, the government<br />
decided to raise the <strong>DGDC</strong> budget for <strong>2008</strong> to<br />
1.11 billion euro, an increase of 244 million euro (or<br />
28% compared to 2007 expenditures). The amount<br />
budgeted was entirely spent. When drawing up the<br />
2009 budget, the growth dynamic was confirmed:<br />
For <strong>2008</strong>, total ODA was estimated at 0.47% of GNI<br />
(a provisional figure), compared to 0.43% in 2007.<br />
The surge in <strong>DGDC</strong> spending was to some extent<br />
offset by a further drop in debt relief operations.<br />
10
© IFAD / R. Grossman<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> and the World Bank<br />
In order to tackle the consequences of the credit<br />
crisis, the World Bank extended an extra 100 billion<br />
dollars in <strong>2008</strong> for traditional loans to middle-income<br />
countries. The Bank also reserved an extra 42 billion<br />
dollars for loans at favourable conditions to lowincome<br />
countries. The poorest countries could rely on<br />
an emergency loan of up to 2 billion dollars, over the<br />
long term and with no interest.<br />
Belgian development cooperation in <strong>2008</strong> had about<br />
195 million euro available for the World Bank, money<br />
that was deployed as both voluntary and mandatory<br />
contributions. These funds financed the following<br />
programmes, among others:<br />
Belgian Poverty Reduction Partnership.<br />
This is a programme that <strong>Belgium</strong> has been<br />
financing at the World Bank since 2000. Trough<br />
this programme, <strong>Belgium</strong> supports, inter alia, 10<br />
partner countries (Senegal, Mali, Niger, Benin,<br />
Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, Tanzania and<br />
Mozambique) in drafting and implementing their<br />
strategies to combat poverty, for this World Bank<br />
contribution is used to finance ‘poverty economists’<br />
expertise in these countries. The programme was<br />
evaluated in 2006. The positive results formed the<br />
basis for a new phase in the programme.<br />
In Mozambique, as an example, such expertise is<br />
closely aligned on the ‘General budgetary aid’<br />
programme that <strong>Belgium</strong> supported for several years<br />
(see chapter 2, p. 40), which was linked to the reform<br />
of public finances. The expert supported the Ministry<br />
of Planning and Development in exploring the effects<br />
of the policy to combat poverty.<br />
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© World Bank / Simone D. McCourtie<br />
Fast Track Initiative (FTI). The objective of this<br />
initiative is to make faster progress in the field of<br />
universal basic education in the low-income countries<br />
(MDG 2 and 3). Donors pledge through the FTI<br />
that every partner country can work out a credible<br />
national plan for universal, high-quality lower education.<br />
They supply the financial resources for this plan.<br />
A fund helps the partner country to bridge education<br />
spending until the bilateral donors come on board<br />
with their own support. Since 2003, <strong>Belgium</strong> has<br />
been participating in the financing of this FTI fund<br />
via an annual voluntary contribution of 1 million euro.<br />
In Vietnam, this dovetails closely with the sectoral<br />
budgetary aid that <strong>Belgium</strong> awards.<br />
countries. Over 500 businesses have filed a business<br />
proposal. Among the prize-winners were also three<br />
African entrepreneurs from <strong>Belgium</strong> with a project to<br />
brew beer from sorghum for Burkina Faso, a project<br />
to extract biofuel from jatropha in Cote d’Ivoire and<br />
an ethical publicity project for Mali and Burkina Faso.<br />
The development Marketplace for African<br />
Diaspora in Europe. D-MADE stimulates people<br />
from the African diaspora (living in Europe) to set up<br />
businesses in their home countries. D-MADE gave<br />
16 African entrepreneurs the opportunity in <strong>2008</strong><br />
to set up a business in their homeland. In this way,<br />
almost 1 million dollars is to be invested in 11 African<br />
© Béatrice Petit<br />
12
‘Higher food prices during <strong>2008</strong> alone may have increased<br />
the number of children suffering permanent cognitive or<br />
physical injury due to malnutrition by 44 million’<br />
(World Bank, Global Economic Prospects 2009)<br />
3. High food prices,<br />
global shortage<br />
Food security under pressure<br />
Humanitarian actions<br />
<strong>2008</strong> had yet another crisis in store, which brought<br />
high food prices and a global food shortage. From<br />
Bangladesh and Haiti to Ethiopia, food riots broke<br />
out. The World Health Organisation quotes a figure<br />
of 178 million children suffering from malnutrition in<br />
<strong>2008</strong>. In the light of the first Millennium Development<br />
Goal (to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015),<br />
this is a painful statistic to have to record.<br />
Although ‘agriculture and food security’ has long<br />
been among the five priority sectors for Belgian<br />
development cooperation, <strong>Belgium</strong> has still decided<br />
to further boost its efforts in the future: by 2010,<br />
10% of the total aid budget must be devoted to<br />
agriculture and food security. This percentage<br />
must be raised to 15% by 2015. In the 7 Indicative<br />
Cooperation Programmes agreed in <strong>2008</strong> (see below,<br />
chapter 2), 5 partner countries (Benin, Bolivia, Mali,<br />
Niger and Mozambique) chose ‘agriculture and rural<br />
development’ as a priority sector.<br />
The humanitarian actions are directed towards the provision<br />
of food aid in the event of shortages. The aim is<br />
to alleviate need in the short term. Belgian food aid<br />
is largely delivered via the World Food Programme<br />
(WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)<br />
and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for<br />
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In addition,<br />
food aid is also distributed via non-governmental<br />
organisations. Spending on food aid in <strong>2008</strong><br />
amounted to 22.1 million euro.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> also plays a driving role on the international<br />
forum and is an advocate for unconditional food aid<br />
in cash, in other words without the obligation to buy<br />
the food in the donor country. <strong>Belgium</strong> also lobbies<br />
at the WFP and the FAO for the purchase of food<br />
(aid) from local farmers’ organisations and on local<br />
markets (see text box on P4P). At <strong>Belgium</strong>’s instigation,<br />
the WFP has taken a decision along those lines<br />
regarding its purchasing policy.<br />
In order to be able to guarantee food security,<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> has a two-pronged policy: humanitarian<br />
actions and structural interventions.<br />
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© FAO<br />
P4P – <strong>Belgium</strong>’s pioneering stance in<br />
the campaign against the food crisis<br />
One of the spearheads of Belgian policy is the<br />
purchase of food (aid) on local markets, in order<br />
to strengthen their development. For example,<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> has for some years been stimulating the<br />
purchase of corn and beans from the local farmers<br />
in North Kivu (DR Congo).<br />
Thanks to persistent efforts at international<br />
level, Belgian policy has garnered a following.<br />
In September <strong>2008</strong>, the World Food Programme<br />
launched the revolutionary ‘Purchase for<br />
Progress’ (P4P) initiative. The aim of this initiative<br />
is to radically reform the way in which the WFP<br />
organises food purchases, in line with the logic of<br />
local purchasing.<br />
Belgian development cooperation in <strong>2008</strong> released<br />
557,500 euro for the P4P project in the Democratic<br />
Republic of Congo. This made <strong>Belgium</strong> the first<br />
country to actively back the P4P reform initiative.<br />
So as the pioneer, <strong>Belgium</strong> has also brought about<br />
a multiplier effect.<br />
P4P will be rolled out in 20 pilot countries in Africa<br />
and Central America over the next 5 years. At least<br />
350,000 local farmers will gain easier access to reliable<br />
markets, where they can sell their goods for<br />
honest, competitive prices.<br />
14
‘The thing is to allocate funds for research<br />
into sustainable agricultural methods,<br />
because world food production may indeed<br />
have already reached its peak’.<br />
Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur<br />
on the Right to Food since 1 May <strong>2008</strong><br />
© DGOS / Jean-Yves Standaert<br />
Structural interventions<br />
Of at least equal importance are the structural interventions<br />
designed to increase and improve food<br />
production. Where food aid serves to react urgently<br />
to a food shortage, structural interventions need to<br />
prevent such shortages. The Belgian Survival Fund (BSF)<br />
has been specially set up to improve food security in the<br />
poorest African countries with the help of long-term<br />
projects. This fund was established in 1999 at the<br />
initiative of Parliament – what it is, in fact, is the successor<br />
to an older parliamentary initiative. Projects<br />
by the Survival Fund seek to take an integrated approach<br />
to food security: alongside initiatives to improve<br />
or increase food production, account is also<br />
taken of such issues as health, sanitation, training<br />
and institutional reinforcement.<br />
A striking example of a project to promote food<br />
security, backed by the Belgian Survival Fund, has<br />
been carried out in Eastern Tigray, in the north of<br />
Ethiopia. As a consequence of recurrent droughts, a<br />
desperately degraded environment and border conflicts,<br />
the area is under constant threat from food<br />
shortages.<br />
The results have been impressive. Over 10,000<br />
households have been reached by the project.<br />
Traditionally, women were not allowed to cultivate<br />
the land. Training and awareness-raising activities in<br />
the communities helped overcome the taboo, and 391<br />
women with sole responsibility for their families are<br />
now tilling their own land themselves.<br />
The short rainy season normally allows no more than<br />
one crop a year, but thanks to irrigation, farmers can<br />
now tend a small vegetable plot, where they can<br />
harvest up to 3 times a year. The vegetables also<br />
form a valuable supplement to the traditional diet.<br />
After 2 years, there were already 519 vegetable plots<br />
under cultivation.<br />
Finally, the quality and productivity of the local<br />
livestock (cattle) was improved, without having to<br />
increase the actual number of animals. This was<br />
achieved by feeding them more, improving veterinary<br />
services and making available good breeding stock. In<br />
the meantime, 486 calves from the improved strain<br />
have already been born.<br />
The BSF was subjected to a thorough evaluation last<br />
year, from which lessons were drawn for a new multiyear<br />
programme (see chapter 2, p. 37).<br />
A second form of structural intervention takes the form<br />
of support to the agricultural sector, via bilateral,<br />
multilateral and indirect cooperation. An example of<br />
this is the increased funding for international<br />
agricultural research via the Consultative Group on<br />
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). This consultative<br />
group links donors to agricultural research<br />
institutions and supports agricultural research to<br />
the benefit of the poor. The research institutions are<br />
specialised and between them cover pretty much all<br />
the important food plants and crops for developing<br />
countries (fish-farming and livestock, rice, potatoes,<br />
corn, bananas, etc), as well as broader themes such<br />
as biodiversity and deforestation.<br />
15
1<br />
Internationale<br />
beleidscontext:<br />
ontwikkelingsagenda<br />
onder druk<br />
© Béatrice Petit<br />
At bilateral level, there is renewed interest in<br />
the agricultural sector in the new multi-year programmes<br />
with the partner countries. These include<br />
a whole string of projects and programmes. Here<br />
are a few examples:<br />
In Benin, <strong>Belgium</strong> is very active in the improvement<br />
of agricultural productivity. Various programmes<br />
provide aid to the government in implementing this<br />
strategy. One such project is PAMRAD, the support<br />
project for the rural community in the Atacora and<br />
Donga departments. The aim of this project is take<br />
a sustainable approach to food security and increase<br />
yields for the farmers by promoting crops<br />
other than cotton. These include rice, vegetables,<br />
cashew nuts and crops with a short cycle. The initial<br />
results were rather patchy. By focusing more<br />
on institutional reinforcement and less on the<br />
production itself, the effects on yields were pretty<br />
minimal. And after all, higher yields are crucial for<br />
sustainable food security. But more income can<br />
be made from the vegetable crops if the problems<br />
with storage and sales can be tackled, and that<br />
calls for stronger organisations. Compelling results<br />
have been achieved in the area of production<br />
control and marketing of the cashew nuts.<br />
In Mali, <strong>Belgium</strong> is supporting the development of<br />
livestock-raising with a project to select and<br />
multiply the Azawak cattle breed. The objective<br />
is that as many people as possible from Menaka<br />
become owners of the cattle as a guarantee for<br />
food security and against poverty. This demands<br />
a shift of mindset in order to change both the aim<br />
and the methods in stock-breeding, certainly after<br />
the succession of droughts. The farmers are slowly<br />
beginning to get away from the idea that their<br />
survival depends simply on owning animals. The<br />
quality of the upkeep, care for the production and<br />
the preservation of the environment are becoming<br />
more important objectives.<br />
The project has made the growth of the Azawak<br />
cattle breed possible once again, after it had virtually<br />
died out in the region as a result of drought<br />
and other problems. The general conditions for<br />
cattle breeding have been improved (in terms of<br />
feeding and health) and milk production is back<br />
on stream. Progress is also expected once the cooperative<br />
organisations are set up. In the current<br />
phase, efforts are being made to concentrate on<br />
genetic improvement and upgrading production<br />
and incomes from raising cattle.<br />
In Niger, <strong>Belgium</strong> is supporting the project for the<br />
‘promotion and dissemination of the red-coated<br />
Maradi goat’. These goats are bred by the women<br />
in the region. This action is designed to increase<br />
16
© Vets without frontiers<br />
the incomes of the female goat-breeders by<br />
improving the productivity of the goats. The provisional<br />
result is an increase in that productivity<br />
and therefore in the incomes, meaning that the<br />
women’s autonomy is being strengthened.<br />
In Tanzania, <strong>Belgium</strong> is supporting the project for<br />
the sustainable improvement of banana growing.<br />
The project seeks to raise incomes in the Kagera<br />
area and the Kibondo district, and to guarantee<br />
food security. This requires a reinforcement of institutional<br />
capacity and public-private cooperation,<br />
so that the innovations in growing methods can be<br />
sustainably disseminated. In the first phase of the<br />
project, the introduction of some superior banana<br />
varieties has made for increased productivity. This<br />
has delivered alternative incomes, bringing to life the<br />
banana product (wine, beer, chips, flour) processing<br />
and marketing sector. 2.5 million of these banana<br />
varieties have now been planted. This has had a<br />
positive effect on profits, but also on the environment<br />
(soil and biodiversity). At the same time, this<br />
project has had a snowball effect on other farmers<br />
who were not involved in it.<br />
17
4. Climate-sensitive<br />
development cooperation<br />
Climate change has a direct impact on development<br />
actions. According to the World Bank, no fewer than<br />
one quarter of its projects are running a significant<br />
risk of damage because of the adverse effects of<br />
climate change. A study by the OECD has shown that<br />
in some areas, this figure may be as high as 65%.<br />
These are sobering statistics. Accordingly, Belgian<br />
Development Cooperation staged a conference<br />
in March <strong>2008</strong> called ‘Climate change and Belgian<br />
development cooperation policy: challenges and<br />
possibilities’.<br />
The concluding item in this conference was a <strong>report</strong><br />
by the Belgian professor of climatology Jean-Pascal<br />
van Ypersele. The <strong>report</strong> speaks of the ‘fundamental<br />
injustice of climate change’. While responsibility<br />
for global warming lies mainly with the developed<br />
countries, it is the poor countries that are feeling its<br />
most negative consequences. In addition, they are<br />
least equipped with the resources to adapt to it.<br />
The answer to climate change is a combination of<br />
two thrusts: mitigation and adaptation.<br />
Mitigation includes measures designed to reduce<br />
the emission of greenhouse gases: ‘greener’ transport,<br />
low-carbon industry, energy efficiency, etc.<br />
Adaptation refers to interventions which limit the<br />
consequences of climate change for our society:<br />
building dams, reversing desertification, droughtresistant<br />
seeds and suitable agricultural methods,<br />
etc.<br />
■■<br />
A climate test for every project<br />
Annemarie Van der Avort is the new climate<br />
officer at <strong>DGDC</strong>, where she works to strengthen<br />
multilateral environmental programmes. This is her<br />
snapshot of the situation.<br />
How much progress has <strong>DGDC</strong> made with integrating<br />
climate-sensitive thinking?<br />
“A Climate Task Force has been set up with representatives<br />
from <strong>DGDC</strong>, BTC and the Minister’s<br />
cabinet. Its remit is to convert the recommendations<br />
in the climate <strong>report</strong> into concrete actions.<br />
The first action has been to set up an environment/<br />
climate unit within our service. The task force has<br />
set up a Climate Action Plan, on the basis of professor<br />
van Ypersele’s 13 recommendations.”<br />
(© <strong>DGDC</strong> / Dimitri Ardelean)<br />
18<br />
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele delivers his climate <strong>report</strong> to<br />
Minister Charles Michel
Which recommendations from the <strong>report</strong> will be<br />
quite easy to implement, and which will be a lot<br />
harder?<br />
“Of the 13 recommendations, there are two which<br />
we have already been working on in the past few<br />
years. We have built up a fair body of expertise<br />
around sustainable forest management. We have<br />
built up experience with renewable energy projects<br />
in places such as Rwanda. We have also engaged<br />
in some groundwork for a policy on biofuels. What<br />
is harder to do is to further raise and redirect the<br />
development cooperation budget. When we carry<br />
out bilateral cooperation, where the principle of<br />
ownership is a central plank, there has to be a<br />
demand for such a reorientation from the partner<br />
country. So the ball is not always in <strong>DGDC</strong>’s court.<br />
In 2007, <strong>DGDC</strong> devoted about 5% of its total budget<br />
to specific activities dedicated to tackling climate<br />
change.”<br />
In the first phase, the new projects will be subjected<br />
to a climate test, but the test is intended<br />
for all projects. What is the likelihood that<br />
current projects will have to be cut back because<br />
they are not sufficiently climate-friendly?<br />
“The aim is to take every project and examine what<br />
it needs in the way of adjustments. The Climate<br />
Task Force would love it if the budgets for development<br />
cooperation were to allow for making<br />
projects climate proof. But this is a political choice,<br />
one that has to be validated by our partners in the<br />
South.”<br />
What is in the pipeline for 2009?<br />
“We are organising training for the <strong>DGDC</strong> staff.<br />
This internal awareness-raising should hopefully<br />
allow us to include the fight against climate change<br />
as a transverse theme in Belgian Development<br />
Cooperation, for example when drawing up future<br />
Indicative Cooperation Programmes (ICPs) with<br />
the partner countries. Obviously there are also<br />
the climate negotiations, including ‘COP 15’ in<br />
Copenhagen, the major climate summit for drawing<br />
up a post-Kyoto protocol. One very tangible action<br />
will be the offsetting of the CO 2<br />
emissions from the<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> staff’s flights.”<br />
(© Béatrice Petit)<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> supports the ‘Programme to preserve<br />
biodiversity in World Heritage Sites’ in DR Congo.<br />
This programme was set up by UNESCO, the Institut<br />
Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN)<br />
and specialist NGOs. The programme allows the<br />
protection of five sites, each of which has very high<br />
biodiversity. A number of pilot actions to conserve<br />
them have already been conducted, in order to<br />
increase the involvement of the local communities<br />
in this programme. The ICCN is being reinforced<br />
in its monitoring capacities. Some urgent action<br />
plans also arose for the cleaning-up of the National<br />
Parks.<br />
In Bolivia, <strong>Belgium</strong> is supporting a programme for<br />
integral forest management in the tropical forests<br />
around Cochabamba. The anticipated result from<br />
the programme needs to be more than the simple<br />
reforestation of the pieces of forest used.<br />
It should lead to communal, sustainable management<br />
by the local communities. They are being<br />
trained to grow new plants, and to manage smaller<br />
and larger tracts of forest in an ecological way.<br />
19
2<br />
Aid effectiveness<br />
(© Béatrice Petit)<br />
1. The international context<br />
2. Belgian practice<br />
3. Example of a new cooperation programme: Mali<br />
4. Example of a new cooperation programme: Niger<br />
5. Effective aid and the reality of fragile States<br />
6. Managing for results<br />
7. Aligning aid on systems in the partner country<br />
8. Harmonisation with non-governmental actors<br />
9. Effectiveness of multilateral cooperation<br />
21
The Millennium Declaration by the United Nations gave the first description<br />
of the mutual obligations of both donor and beneficiary countries.<br />
The declaration also gave the eight concrete Millennium Goals to be<br />
achieved by 2015 (see chapter 1). In 2002, these countries met again in<br />
Monterey, Mexico, to flesh out a global partnership for development.<br />
They also discussed the question of the financing of the plan.<br />
But it is not just a matter of quantity. Because these funding currents were<br />
supposed to have an impact on the fundamental aspects of the problem -<br />
access for the world’s poorest to elementary rights – it was also necessary<br />
to put in place some qualitative rules. This was the subject of international<br />
meetings which led in 2005 to the ‘Paris Declaration’ on aid effectiveness.<br />
In this second chapter, the annual <strong>report</strong> goes into more detail on some<br />
aspects of this agenda for more effective aid.<br />
22
1. The international context<br />
The Paris Declaration<br />
The Paris Declaration laid down five principles<br />
which combine to determine the effectiveness. They<br />
stem from the general observation that development<br />
cooperation was not productive, being based upon<br />
good intentions, but riven from below by conflict and<br />
individual interests.<br />
The five principles are:<br />
1. Ownership: The developing countries must exercise<br />
effective leadership over their development<br />
policies and carry out development plans.<br />
2. Alignment: Donors base their overall support on<br />
partner countries’ national development strategies.<br />
Funding must be channelled via the partner<br />
countries’ financial systems.<br />
3. Harmonisation: Effectiveness also means that<br />
the donor countries co-ordinate and complement<br />
their actions, instead of all trying to carry on acting<br />
independently.<br />
4. Managing for results: Results must be presented<br />
in order to be able to account for spending.<br />
5. Mutual accountability: From now on, there is<br />
talk of a partnership in which each party is accountable<br />
vis-à-vis the other.<br />
The Accra Action Programme<br />
A wide gulf persisted between the intentions<br />
expressed in the Paris Declaration and the actual implementation<br />
by the States and other actors. Donor<br />
co-ordination ensures a loss of individual visibility by<br />
being subsumed into the whole, something that is<br />
difficult to accept and dampens enthusiasm.<br />
In September <strong>2008</strong>, therefore, a meeting was organised<br />
in Accra, Ghana. The aim was to reinvigorate the<br />
Declaration and press for faster application of the<br />
principles it had enunciated. Some specially adapted<br />
measures and new deadlines were now to strengthen<br />
the Paris Declaration. By 2011, a new <strong>report</strong> is<br />
expected on the extent to which each party has lived<br />
up to these promises.<br />
The Accra Action Programme contains recommendations<br />
which <strong>Belgium</strong> and the other OECD countries<br />
have to integrate into their development cooperation.<br />
This assumes an unavoidable change in behaviour so<br />
that every country can convert these political intentions<br />
into reality on the ground. This entails, inter<br />
alia, the following:<br />
■■ less geographical and thematic spread,<br />
■■ focus on those countries and sectors where<br />
expertise and competences have been built up,<br />
■■ more co-ordination with other bilateral or multilateral<br />
donors,<br />
■■ making more use of the existing systems in the<br />
partner countries themselves, accompanied by<br />
support measures to reform the local institutions<br />
and education systems,<br />
■■ predictability of the aid,<br />
■■ better co-ordination with all parties involved<br />
within development cooperation, each one within<br />
its own borders and procedures.<br />
In other words, Accra seeks to ensure that both<br />
partner and donor countries abide by the promises:<br />
we want more, better and faster.<br />
23
The true criterion for assessing the effectiveness of aid is<br />
the improvement of the living standard of peoples.<br />
Survey in 2006 on the follow-up to the Paris Declaration,<br />
summary of the results, OECD 2007<br />
‘The school building made from reinforced concrete<br />
was still standing, but the education did not improve<br />
noticeably’<br />
The results are always shared<br />
Interview with Marc Denys,<br />
Director of Bilateral Cooperation<br />
On 1 December <strong>2008</strong>, Marc Denys became the<br />
new director of the Bilateral Cooperation directorate.<br />
This is his first job at the headquarters in<br />
Brussels, after some 31 years out in the field. He<br />
began his career in Africa as a junior agricultural<br />
researcher for the FAO, and he has now returned<br />
from Uganda, where as Attaché for International<br />
Cooperation his roles included chairing the donor<br />
groups on ‘health policy’ and ‘decentralisation’.<br />
The emphasis in international development<br />
thinking and action is now on effectiveness.<br />
So was that not the case before?<br />
The first change that ensured a much more systematic<br />
and focused approach had already emerged<br />
twenty or so years ago, when we began to use a<br />
methodological framework at project level. But<br />
even the most meticulously devised projects<br />
remained much too isolated, set up by donors, run<br />
by donors, evaluated by donors. Once the foreign<br />
staff were no longer there, things all too often fell<br />
apart, without any impact, without any transfer.<br />
Even when foreign aid providers were employed<br />
by a ministry in a partner country, there was too<br />
little transfer and interaction. At that time, the<br />
education programmes for the competent ministry<br />
in Rwanda were set up by foreign advisers. They<br />
also set the examinations, and corrected them. It<br />
was just the actual teaching that was dispensed by<br />
Rwandan teachers, and sometimes not even that.<br />
You saw that approach reflected in the staff policy<br />
of what was then the BADC. Cooperation staff<br />
were accredited for periods of one or two years.<br />
You had to be able to demonstrate your own<br />
results for that, to prove yourself. Actually the best<br />
thing was to make yourself indispensable – and<br />
some local staff indeed found that quite easy.<br />
What results stay with you from your long career<br />
on the ground?<br />
There were some undeniable concrete short-term<br />
results, the immediate ‘output’: school buildings,<br />
training for staff, planting projects and so on, but<br />
they did not lead to lasting change, because they<br />
were not embedded in a specific local and national<br />
plan. The school building made from reinforced<br />
concrete was still standing, but the education did<br />
not improve noticeably. The point is that there was<br />
usually no specific policy framework.<br />
I see it as being a positive development that we<br />
are now supporting our partner countries in drawing<br />
up that policy of their own. The emergence of<br />
homegrown high-quality development plans, in<br />
general and for the various sectors, is a really<br />
important result.<br />
And once that plan is in place, the best way to support<br />
it is with budgetary aid. It is better to stop<br />
allowing any more isolated projects. Every project<br />
24
© World Bank / Scott Wallace<br />
causes distortions, even under the optimum circumstances.<br />
When you as a donor support a particular<br />
defined district, you cause an unbalanced distribution.<br />
Either that one district is given an advantage<br />
compared to others, or the external support is withdrawn<br />
from the financing by your own government.<br />
And there is always the temptation to handle the<br />
resources of a donor project with less care than if<br />
you have to account for the disbursement of your<br />
own budgets vis-à-vis your own authorities.<br />
But that does assume that there is a functioning<br />
national monitoring and accountability system…<br />
That is exactly what we have to support: the good<br />
sectoral programmes via budgetary aid, and at the<br />
same time, if necessary via projects and technical<br />
assistance, strengthening of the institutions for<br />
planning, monitoring and evaluation. Partner countries<br />
are often not very far into this, partly because<br />
donors have been monitoring their own projects<br />
themselves for too long. But here, too, I see some<br />
results over the past 10 years. In Uganda, for example,<br />
there is now a great deal more involvement<br />
by parliament. There is a properly working public<br />
accounts committee which receives <strong>report</strong>s from<br />
an independent auditor-general and looks at the<br />
responsibility of the State spending and the results<br />
achieved by each ministry, including budgetary aid.<br />
Is the emphasis on ‘results’ not in conflict with<br />
the focus on more co-ordination, harmonisation<br />
and ownership? The better the mutual cooperation,<br />
the harder it is to still talk about results<br />
from Belgian cooperation?<br />
Managing for results is not a question of planting<br />
our own flag, but of clarity over what we want<br />
to achieve. As donors, we must understand that<br />
results are shared, and primarily by the partner<br />
country. The fact that we, with various donors,<br />
have supported the development of basic education<br />
in Tanzania for ten years via budgetary aid has<br />
led to better educational institutions by Tanzania<br />
itself, and to better school results. That is a shared<br />
result. Donors must not formulate these results<br />
themselves, but must take them over from the<br />
partner country. Partner countries must be able to<br />
develop their own indicators. We must encourage<br />
the conducts of baseline studies.<br />
How, then, does the role of Belgian development<br />
cooperation change?<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> has become more active in the technical<br />
and political dialogue with the partner country,<br />
and with the other donors. It is far more a matter<br />
of policy work and less about the details of the<br />
implementation.<br />
25
In any case, budgetary aid is more a political issue.<br />
You are negotiating with a country about how it<br />
dispenses scarce resources. So budgetary aid is a<br />
huge lever. As a donor group, you can bring pressure<br />
to bear when, for example, too much money<br />
is being ploughed into defence, or spending is not<br />
being evenly distributed across the regions. That<br />
is work on the ground that the embassy team has<br />
to take on – not just the attaché but also the ambassador,<br />
and backed by the expertise of BTC. To<br />
act effectively, that team needs to have sufficient<br />
decision-making authority and to be sufficiently<br />
trained. You need, together with technical experts,<br />
to weigh up whether all policy and monitoring conditions<br />
are being met, and the results anticipated<br />
are being achieved, in order to channel another<br />
tranche of 1 or more millions of euros into the<br />
partner country’s budget. That is quite a different<br />
sort of responsibility, and you have to want to<br />
carry it.<br />
26
2. Belgian practice<br />
In <strong>2008</strong>, <strong>Belgium</strong>, together with various partner<br />
countries, organised a catch-up operation in the<br />
establishment of new cooperation programmes. ICP<br />
stands for Indicative Cooperation Programme,<br />
which is the most important document in bilateral<br />
cooperation. This document sets out the relationship<br />
between <strong>DGDC</strong> and every partner country for the<br />
next four years. The ICP follows the priorities of the<br />
poverty reduction plans and the sectoral development<br />
plans of the country. The document sets out<br />
the priority sectors and the results to be achieved, as<br />
well as the strategy to achieve all this. The ICP is also<br />
used as a basis for Belgian positions in the political<br />
dialogue with the partner country and the co-ordination<br />
process with other donor countries.<br />
tasks between donor countries, Belgian Development<br />
Cooperation is to concentrate in future on two<br />
priority sectors in each partner country (with the<br />
exception of the countries in the Central African<br />
region, because of the scale of Belgian Development<br />
Cooperation). Drafting an ICP is a long-haul task,<br />
with various actors involved. This takes place in two<br />
phases: the diagnosis or analysis of the country and<br />
the description of the strategy.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> wants more cooperation between the bilateral<br />
programme and the other Belgian actors active<br />
in the partner country (NGOs, universities, etc).<br />
Possible partnerships and synergies are being explored<br />
and encouraged, in order to exchange experiences<br />
and good practices. Accordingly, the NGOs are<br />
now involved in the Joint Committees in Mali, Niger<br />
and Uganda. In Mali and Uganda, the NGO representatives<br />
are invited as observers. <strong>Belgium</strong> is making<br />
a study fund available in the partner countries. The<br />
partner country can use part of this study fund to<br />
convert the ‘Paris Declaration’ into practice.<br />
(© <strong>DGDC</strong> / Dimitri Ardelean)<br />
Henrique Banze, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development<br />
Cooperation of Mozambique, and Minister Charles Michel sign a new<br />
cooperation agreement on 10 April <strong>2008</strong><br />
When drawing up the new ICPs, <strong>Belgium</strong> has made<br />
huge efforts to tie them in with the new dynamic<br />
in terms of effective aid. In keeping with the<br />
European Code of Conduct on the distribution of<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> also wants to investigate whether the implementation<br />
of specific actions can be delegated more<br />
to other (bilateral or multilateral) donors. <strong>Belgium</strong> will<br />
devote approximately 5% of the ICP budget to actions<br />
falling outside the priority sectors. These actions are<br />
indeed directed at important topics such as women’s<br />
rights (issues such as genital mutilation), the environment,<br />
the social economy, the battle against HIV/AIDS<br />
and children’s rights (for instance the battle against<br />
exploitation and trafficking), but also the setting up<br />
of businesses and the private sector (such as measures<br />
to improve the commercial climate).<br />
.<br />
27
<strong>Belgium</strong> has not stood still, and in <strong>2008</strong> it has already set up new ICPs with 7 partner countries for the coming<br />
four years. The countries and sectors involved are as follows:<br />
Countries Sectors ICP amount<br />
Palestine<br />
Benin<br />
Mozambique<br />
Bolivia<br />
Mali<br />
Niger<br />
Uganda<br />
Education and consolidation of the society<br />
Agriculture and health<br />
General budget aid, rural development and health<br />
Health and agriculture<br />
Decentralisation, rural development and food security<br />
Health, rural development and food security<br />
Health and education<br />
50 million euro<br />
(<strong>2008</strong>-2011)<br />
52 million euro<br />
(<strong>2008</strong>-2011)<br />
48 million euro<br />
(2009-2012)<br />
40 million euro<br />
(2009-2012)<br />
50.5 million euro<br />
(2009-2012)<br />
52 million euro<br />
(2009-2012)<br />
64 million euro<br />
(2009-2012)<br />
28
3. Example of a new cooperation<br />
programme: Mali<br />
Malian context<br />
At the instigation of the OECD’s Development<br />
Assistance Committee, Mali agreed in 1996 to a revision<br />
of the aid. Since then, the country has made<br />
huge strides in terms of the harmonisation of the<br />
aid. Among other things, it has accepted a joint aid<br />
strategy, and set up a technical unit and a secretariat.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong>, as president of the group of donor countries<br />
(autumn 2006 to spring 2007), has thrown its weight<br />
behind this initiative.<br />
is in eleventh place among the donors to Mali.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong>’s aid amounts to 2.4% of the total international<br />
aid for Mali. Mali is one of the 31 countries<br />
chosen to accelerate the division of labour in the<br />
framework of the Paris Declaration.<br />
The technical unit is a support group which stimulates<br />
the reflection within the group of donors so<br />
that a dialogue with Mali is possible. This unit has<br />
as its global objective to help to realise the Paris<br />
Declaration. <strong>Belgium</strong> funds the operation of the secretariat.<br />
It is this group of donors, known over there<br />
as the Technical and Financial Partners, that has<br />
devised the Joint Strategy for Aid to the Country<br />
(SCAP in French). The aim of this strategy is to align<br />
itself on the government’s orientations and priorities.<br />
One of the elements is division of labour and complementarity<br />
between the donors in their support<br />
measures for the development of Mali. The aim is to<br />
help Mali in the implementation of its growth and<br />
poverty reduction policy. The common strategy is<br />
based upon new cooperation agreements, a financing<br />
plan and the dialogue with the Malian government in<br />
line with a monitoring framework.<br />
In addition, a detailed matrix has been set up by<br />
the donors, offering an overview of the current and<br />
future aid (2007-2011). The matrix also describes the<br />
division of labour of the donors per sector. <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
© BTC<br />
29
© BTC<br />
What is <strong>Belgium</strong>’s place in this<br />
process?<br />
In the period 2004-07, Belgian bilateral cooperation<br />
was involved in seven sectors and six regions. This<br />
fragmentation did nothing to help the impact and the<br />
effectiveness of the aid. To improve this, the new ICP<br />
for 2009-2012 restricted the aid to two priority<br />
sectors. In those two sectors, Mali and the other<br />
technical and financial partners surely recognize<br />
Belgian expertise.<br />
Mali is a very large country, a factor which demands<br />
a great investment in time and human capital if actions<br />
are to be pursued. The geographical extent also<br />
makes it not ideally suited to achieve synergies and<br />
complementarity between actions. By imposing numerical<br />
and spatial restrictions, the resources can be<br />
better deployed to the benefit of the results that<br />
Mali wishes to achieve. <strong>Belgium</strong> wants to continue to<br />
support the national policy, to ensure continuity and<br />
develop a long-term view in terms of bilateral actions.<br />
The actions financed by Belgian Development<br />
Cooperation are entered in the budget for Mali. This<br />
is an important aspect, because it means that Mali<br />
is much better able to plan the income and expenditure<br />
for the various sectors. In 2005, as much as 82%<br />
of the Belgian aid was already entered in the Malian<br />
budget. This is set to rise to 85% by 2010.<br />
The ownership of the interventions is entrusted to<br />
the responsible Malian institutions. This puts them<br />
more in tune with the national financing systems.<br />
One step further is the use of Mali’s own public<br />
financing systems to channel the aid (for example,<br />
payments via the Malian exchequer). In 2005 this<br />
was still 0%, by 2010 it is supposed to reach 60%.<br />
In terms of the use of Mali’s own systems for public<br />
tender procedures, we are faring rather better,<br />
with the percentage reaching 79% by 2005.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> plans 50.5 million euro for Mali in the new<br />
ICP in support of Mali’s policy on growth and poverty,<br />
formulated as ‘redistributive growth and a reduction<br />
in poverty via the revival of the productive sectors<br />
and the consolidation of the reforms in the public<br />
sector’.<br />
Accordingly, the funding is directed to:<br />
■■ rural development and food security (first pillar of<br />
the Malian policy plan), through support for subsectors<br />
such as livestock, fisheries and agriculture;<br />
■■ consolidation of the reforms in the public sector<br />
(second pillar), through enshrining the decentralisation<br />
achieved in the Koulikoro region.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> participates in the technical group on<br />
‘Agriculture and environment’ as part of the coordination<br />
of donors. On the basis of its earlier<br />
interventions (institutional support to the Ministry of<br />
Agriculture and the project with the Azawak cattle<br />
breed), <strong>Belgium</strong> has won itself a central position<br />
among the donors in this sector. <strong>Belgium</strong> has delivered<br />
genuine added value in the rural development<br />
sector, more specifically livestock, where <strong>Belgium</strong> is<br />
the most important bilateral donor and the leader of<br />
the group.<br />
In the decentralisation project in Koulikoro, too (in<br />
the Banamba, Kolokani and Nara regions), <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
has delivered added value, something that has also<br />
been recognised by the Direction Nationale des<br />
Collectivités Territoriales as being a reference and<br />
pilot project.<br />
As far as delegated development cooperation goes,<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> is making an intervention for Cyprus for the<br />
second successive year. This intervention (<strong>2008</strong>-09)<br />
falls within the decentralisation of the Koulikoro<br />
region.<br />
30
4. Example of a new cooperation<br />
programme: Niger<br />
The context in Niger<br />
Compared to Mali, Niger is not so far ahead with the<br />
implementation of the Paris Declaration. The coordination<br />
of donor countries is still rather tentative<br />
and no matrix has yet been put in place in which all<br />
donor contributions are brought together or in which<br />
common objectives are framed. The process of interministerial<br />
co-ordination is weak, and does not yet<br />
make it possible for the government to take over its<br />
running, a factor that hampers dialogue. However,<br />
efforts have already been made in terms of the internal<br />
co-ordination of donor countries working towards<br />
better effectiveness of the aid. The government has<br />
also already set up some sectoral frameworks in line<br />
with the strategies, the action plans and the medium<br />
term expenditure framework (MTEF).<br />
Niger has not yet fully claimed ownership of the sectoral<br />
approach, whereby the development of a sector<br />
(health, agriculture, education, etc) is viewed as a<br />
whole rather than there being simply more separate<br />
projects carried out. However, this approach does<br />
seem to have been accepted, and to be beginning to<br />
bear fruit, in the Education and Health sectors. The<br />
Technical and Financial Partners still have work to<br />
do in terms of aligning the aid to the government’s<br />
priorities.<br />
What is <strong>Belgium</strong>’s place in this<br />
process?<br />
The previous ICP, for 2004-08, had already thrown its<br />
weight behind the objectives in Niger’s plan for combating<br />
poverty, and focused on three sectors: basic<br />
education, basic healthcare (including maternity<br />
care, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, water and water purification)<br />
and rural development (livestock, rural water<br />
works and gender). The ICP already had a geographical<br />
concentration, which made for synergies and<br />
complementarity between the interventions.<br />
The preparation for the next ICP, for 2009-12, could<br />
not be tackled via a matrix giving the contributions<br />
from all donors, because this has not yet been set up.<br />
According to the same principles as in Mali, <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
was able to choose two priority sectors in which its<br />
added value has been recognised by Niger and by the<br />
other donors.<br />
The global objective of direct bilateral cooperation<br />
2009-12 between <strong>Belgium</strong> and Niger fits within<br />
Niger’s national strategy for faster development<br />
and poverty reduction. The aid is focused on two<br />
sectors: health and rural development/food security. In<br />
order to accomplish this ICP, an amount of 52 million<br />
euro is being made available to Niger.<br />
31
© Béatrice Petit<br />
The actions being funded by <strong>Belgium</strong> are consistent<br />
with the national priorities and the sectoral programmes.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> is playing an active role in the<br />
co-ordination of the aid, in particular in the healthcare<br />
sector, where <strong>Belgium</strong> leads the donor group.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> is making use, where possible, of the national<br />
systems and legislation, as in the case of public<br />
tenders. However, the use of the national financing<br />
systems is confined to sectoral budgetary aid for<br />
Education.<br />
Sectoral budgetary aid for Education has demonstrated<br />
the limitations on the use of national<br />
financial systems. Indeed, a financial audit indicated<br />
cases of embezzlement. At the same time, this aid<br />
demonstrates how much the dialogue<br />
between the government of Niger and the<br />
Technical and Financial Partners plays a role in<br />
the constructive resolution of this crisis. To some<br />
people, this ‘affair’ showed that democracy in<br />
Niger is beginning to work better: the arrest of the<br />
highest-up culprit, a parliamentary debate and a<br />
cabinet reshuffle. However, it remains a question<br />
to be tracked closely.<br />
Capacity-building has always been a priority. The<br />
new programme provides for a continuation of institutional<br />
support. Technical support must not become<br />
a ‘substitute’, but it must contribute to stronger institutions<br />
for the country itself.<br />
In the framework of harmonisation, <strong>Belgium</strong> is actively<br />
working alongside other donors present in the same<br />
regions: with Luxembourg in the Dosso region, and<br />
equally with the Belgian NGO ‘Vets without Frontiers’<br />
and Unicef in Maradi. <strong>Belgium</strong> and Niger have still not<br />
formulated any objectives (to be achieved in 2010)<br />
with regard to co-ordination, harmonisation and alignment.<br />
This work is planned for the course of 2009.<br />
32
5. Effective aid and the reality<br />
of fragile States<br />
The fine principles which are supposed to lead to<br />
more effective aid sometimes collide with the stubborn<br />
reality of development cooperation. These<br />
clashes are all the more violent in countries rated as<br />
‘fragile States’ in international development jargon.<br />
These are countries with weak structures which have<br />
trouble breaking out of the vicious circle between<br />
conflict and underdevelopment. This is a major group<br />
for Belgian cooperation. Depending on the definition,<br />
at least 6 of the 18 partner countries would belong<br />
in this category: DR Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Niger,<br />
Bolivia and the Palestinian territories.<br />
to switch immediately to budgetary aid. This means<br />
that in the education sector, an intermediate stage<br />
has been built in, taking the shape of a ‘common<br />
fund’, into which donors pay their contributions.<br />
Instead of direct injection into the budget, managed<br />
by Burundi, this fund is run jointly by Burundi and the<br />
participating donors. At the same time, the running<br />
of the fund is geared towards improved capacity in<br />
terms of management at the level of the Minister of<br />
Education. <strong>Belgium</strong> heads up the donor co-ordination<br />
during the first three years of the Fund (see also<br />
p. 42).<br />
A consensus exists on the fact that fragile States<br />
demand different responses than countries turning in<br />
better performances. In Accra, the partner countries<br />
and the donors made a formal commitment to tailor<br />
their aid policy and practices to fragile situations, and<br />
also pledged to monitor this more specific approach<br />
carefully.<br />
The difficulties facing Belgian cooperation in the<br />
‘fragile’ partner countries illustrate the need for an<br />
individual approach. In countries such as Niger, harmonisation<br />
and alignment take longer, as can be<br />
seen from the preparatory process for a new cooperation<br />
programme (see above).<br />
Burundi<br />
In Burundi, too, the search is on for a differentiated<br />
approach. The (financial) management systems are<br />
still not fully ready to be able to be used by the<br />
donors as they stand. They, in turn, are not inclined<br />
© Béatrice Petit<br />
33
© Béatrice Petit<br />
DR Congo<br />
Likewise, in DR Congo, which not only shows all the<br />
signs of being a fragile State but is also a huge,<br />
diverse country, the international aid community finds<br />
itself facing restrictions. Congo is the focus of a large<br />
number of donors from all round the world. Since 2006,<br />
these donors have set an important process in motion,<br />
the Country Assistance Framework. This is intended<br />
to harmonise and co-ordinate the aid via a system<br />
of Thematic Groups, discussion and decision-making<br />
bodies which are supposed to form a framework for<br />
the implementation of the aid. The Congolese arm of<br />
the World Bank’s Belgian Poverty Reduction Partnership<br />
(see also part 1 of the annual <strong>report</strong>) also supports this<br />
process with a number of experts and studies.<br />
Two years later, the results paint a mixed picture.<br />
In conceptual terms, the system is recognised by<br />
an external mission by the World Bank and the UN’s<br />
Development Programme (UNDP) as exemplary; yet<br />
there is a yawning gulf between theory and practice.<br />
Both the Common Aid Framework (CAF) and the<br />
Congolese poverty reduction plan contain sectors<br />
which are highly political, such as security, reform<br />
of the public administration, and support for democratic<br />
institutions. This remains too much a matter<br />
of ‘development specialists’, with the political decision-making<br />
layer feeling sidelined. After ten years<br />
of war, development aid was virtually restricted to<br />
humanitarian aid, administered by the humanitarian<br />
organisations and not directed at the development<br />
34
of a specific policy by the country itself. Against that<br />
background, it is not easy to integrate economic development<br />
and the fight against poverty in political<br />
terms both with the external partners and within the<br />
Congolese structures. In response to the weakness<br />
of the public, private and NGO structures, the donors<br />
and their Congolese interlocutors all too often provide<br />
substitute aid that is detached from the sociopolitical<br />
reality in Congo: technical assistants still do<br />
the work themselves too often, while the Congolese<br />
organisations should be being strengthened.<br />
being increasingly pulled into the dialogue about aid<br />
– which indicates that the political character is being<br />
underscored and it is not merely a technical question.<br />
Work is also underway on a structural strengthening<br />
of the civil society organisations, instead of simply<br />
using them for the delivery of the aid. And finally,<br />
more and more attention is also being paid to the<br />
informal economy, which ultimately comprises 80% of<br />
the reality in Congo.<br />
The absence of genuine ‘ownership’ is a major cause<br />
for the malfunction in the mechanisms which have<br />
been created just to help increase the effectiveness<br />
of the aid. Other factors are also involved. The<br />
macro-economic framework remains food for specialists,<br />
and everyone expects more and better from<br />
the public institutions, in a State whose budget is the<br />
same as that of its neighbouring country of Congo-<br />
Brazzaville, which has 15 times fewer inhabitants. The<br />
State does not yet have a strong enough presence<br />
everywhere, and it has particular difficulties in correctly<br />
channelling the major interests of Congolese<br />
and foreign private investors. Some of them are the<br />
first to complain about the incompetence, but on the<br />
other hand, this chaos plays into the hands of some<br />
dishonest contractors as well.<br />
The painful realisations are shared by many involved<br />
on the ground, and are increasingly giving rise to the<br />
reorientation of the approach to aid. For example,<br />
the priority for the EU and some Member States is to<br />
reform the technical assistance and have it less centralised<br />
in the capital, Kinshasa. Diplomats are also<br />
35
6. Managing for results<br />
It is not enough just to <strong>report</strong> how many resources<br />
an organisation is devoting and what activities it is<br />
conducting. The most important thing is to know<br />
precisely what it is actually achieving. So we have to<br />
manage cooperation for results. This is less obvious<br />
than it looks. After all, the tendency is always to say<br />
how much money you are going to give, and what<br />
activities you are going to conduct. In the preparatory<br />
process ahead of the new Indicative Cooperation<br />
Programmes, efforts are also made to give a clear<br />
indication of what results are being pursued. In the<br />
same way, when it comes to subsidies to NGOs,<br />
they are requested to formulate results. But what<br />
sort of results can we expect from the development<br />
programmes?<br />
Sorts of results<br />
■ ■<br />
■■<br />
The impact on development: this result in the<br />
longer term is harder to measure or attribute. It<br />
is usually the result of the interaction between<br />
many factors. Alongside the efforts by the partner<br />
country involved and the common contributions<br />
by the various donors, external contextual<br />
elements such as climate, politics, situations of<br />
conflict, economic shocks and so on also have just<br />
as much a role to play.<br />
Ultimately, it is a matter of the results in the<br />
longer term on the ground. But this often implies<br />
a lot of intermediate stages. Lessons are also<br />
learned from these intermediate stages, and results<br />
achieved, too, in the procedures and organisation<br />
of the individual administration and in the<br />
relations with the various actors in cooperation,<br />
and this <strong>report</strong> covers those as well.<br />
Results are not always easy to quantify, or even to<br />
see. It is important to define what sort of results a<br />
project or programme is seeking to achieve:<br />
■■ If it is the immediate material accomplishments,<br />
such as a school building, a water pump, roads,<br />
an education programme or a new organisational<br />
model, then we talk about the product or the<br />
output.<br />
■■<br />
The outcome: the results in the short or medium<br />
term that show what direct effects the development<br />
project or programme has achieved. Has the<br />
school building led to an increase in the number<br />
of children able to get an education? Has the<br />
water pump meant that women have more time<br />
for other tasks?<br />
The results on the basis of<br />
evaluations<br />
Evaluations of development programmes can help in<br />
estimating whether Belgian development aid is being<br />
wisely dispensed and contributing to the reduction of<br />
poverty in the world. There is thus a need for feedback<br />
of the results, but this does not suffice. It is<br />
not enough to know what the evaluations have to<br />
say. A relevant and efficient evaluation also clearly<br />
indicates how the experiences collected can be used.<br />
The importance of evaluations is no longer up for<br />
discussion. The use of these results thus assumes<br />
that decisions are made and measures taken which<br />
are based upon them. Likewise, an evaluation can<br />
show how the knowledge acquired, the techniques<br />
36
and the new attitudes can have an influence on these<br />
decisions. This method is particularly important in<br />
the evaluation of the organisational capacity building<br />
programmes: everyone still has things to learn<br />
here. The evaluations in this field provide information<br />
to help improve strategies for capacity-building<br />
and make them more sustainable. Also, the manner<br />
in which the <strong>DGDC</strong> administration itself sets about its<br />
business can be refined and improved in this way.<br />
So it is the responsibility of the evaluation service<br />
and the management of <strong>DGDC</strong> to make good use of<br />
the results of evaluations and carefully follow the<br />
recommendations. Every evaluation must also contain<br />
an answer, a reaction on the part of the political<br />
decision-making and the management. In the recent<br />
past, too little direct use has been made of the recommendations,<br />
but in <strong>2008</strong>, that changed. One of<br />
the indicators laid down by the <strong>DGDC</strong> management<br />
plan in order to manage for results is that 100% of<br />
the evaluations must get a management response.<br />
But the responsibility lies not just with the management.<br />
The evaluation <strong>report</strong>s must be readable and<br />
of high quality, with conclusions based on correct information,<br />
sound and well argued.<br />
A participative process can also strengthen the<br />
evaluation. The <strong>DGDC</strong> evaluation service strives to<br />
work this out in the preparation and implementation<br />
of evaluations. In every evaluation, the most important<br />
plus points have emerged because the managers,<br />
staff members and other persons involved have<br />
taken part in full. For them, it is also an important<br />
learning process. The changes put forward encourage<br />
these participants to take decisions and to act.<br />
The evaluations of Belgian development cooperation,<br />
whether they be conducted by the internal<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> evaluation service or by the Special Evaluation<br />
Service, can be consulted at www.dgdc.be and<br />
www.diplomatie.be. Where a ‘management<br />
response’ has been formulated, this is likewise<br />
available on the website.<br />
The evaluation of the Survival<br />
Fund<br />
The programme of the Belgian Survival Fund (BSF) focuses<br />
on food security, in partnership with Belgian<br />
Technical Cooperation (BTC), NGOs and multilateral<br />
institutions. A recent evaluation covered the activity<br />
programme from 1999 to 2007. The evaluation <strong>report</strong><br />
is actively used and forms the basis for a new multiyear<br />
programme for the Survival Fund. This is the<br />
subject of broad discussion, both in Parliament and<br />
with the various actors carrying out projects in the<br />
framework of the BSF.<br />
The conclusions of the evaluation indicate that the<br />
context of cooperation has evolved considerably<br />
over recent years. Nevertheless, the BSF approach<br />
remains relevant:<br />
■■ emphasis on agriculture,<br />
■■ integrated approach to the food issue with other<br />
social services,<br />
■■ capacity-building in grassroots organisations and<br />
decentralised authorities,<br />
■■ attention to the problem of individual capacity of persons<br />
and defensive strategies against external shocks.<br />
37
© Vets without frontiers<br />
In addition, projects within the BSF are often test<br />
cases, laboratories for an innovative approach by<br />
means of which relatively scant resources can still<br />
tackle a complex topic.<br />
But at the same time, there are also weaknesses.<br />
In practice, not enough work has been done on<br />
the aspect around the ‘defensive strategy’ against<br />
threats in terms of food security. There is a lack of<br />
more concrete directives on how to apply such a<br />
strategy. Also, the criteria for the choice of the countries<br />
seem not be very operational in practice. The<br />
programme is not reaching the poorest and most vulnerable<br />
groups systematically enough. Many projects<br />
still seem to be making a relatively modest contribution<br />
to actual food security - although they certainly<br />
satisfy the needs of the beneficiaries. There is (too)<br />
little synergy with other cooperation initiatives (by<br />
the BSF itself and other channels).<br />
The contribution made by the BSF to development<br />
cooperation is, however, more topical than ever,<br />
given the current food crisis. In order to increase the<br />
effectiveness of a new BSF programme, it will be<br />
necessary to take better account of aspects such as<br />
the following:<br />
■■ the specific focus on food security needs to be<br />
sharpened still further;<br />
■■ better integration into the other programmes by<br />
Belgian Development Cooperation. This certainly<br />
applies in the case of the bilateral cooperation<br />
programmes, but also the work on a new strategy<br />
note for agriculture, the application of the principles<br />
of the Paris Declaration, etc;<br />
■■ greater attention to supporting local, decentralised<br />
institutions.<br />
These conclusions and recommendations are used<br />
to map out the strengths and weaknesses for a new<br />
phase of the BSF.<br />
38
7. Aligning aid on systems in<br />
the partner country<br />
Project aid and budget aid<br />
Conventional project aid tends not to be aligned on<br />
the management systems of the partner country.<br />
A project is carried out in many cases outside the<br />
national budget, and also often outside the policy<br />
framework, project materials are often purchased by<br />
(and in!) the donor country, etc. The partner country’s<br />
own management bodies are not strengthened<br />
by this, in fact often quite the reverse.<br />
In many cases, a form of budget aid is more appropriate<br />
as an aid instrument. This means that the financial<br />
contribution is merged with the budget of the<br />
partner country - which itself becomes responsible<br />
for it and administers it itself, under clearly-defined<br />
conditions (see text box).<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> has experimented for several years with<br />
various forms of budget aid. The experiences were<br />
evaluated in 2007, which resulted early in <strong>2008</strong> in a<br />
new handbook. This offers a framework with criteria<br />
for the assessment process - why budget aid should<br />
or should not be given to a particular country - and<br />
a practical guide with procedures and accountability<br />
mechanisms.<br />
We give a description below of three examples of<br />
Belgian budgetary aid: Mozambique, Vietnam and<br />
Burundi.<br />
What is budget aid?<br />
Budget aid is an instrument in development cooperation,<br />
just like projects or larger programmes.<br />
The great advantage of budget aid is that it makes<br />
use of the partner country’s management systems,<br />
cutting out the need for parallel circuits, which<br />
place an unnecessary burden on the partner country’s<br />
administration.<br />
However, budget aid is not a blank cheque.<br />
It is money that is pumped direct into the partner<br />
country’s budget, under clearly-defined conditions,<br />
as a contribution to the country’s general policy<br />
(general budget aid) or to a specific sector (sectoral<br />
budget aid). The authorities in the donor countries<br />
(ideally jointly) and the partner country itself make<br />
the assessment. In <strong>2008</strong>, <strong>DGDC</strong> developed a new<br />
handbook which set out precisely the conditions<br />
under which <strong>Belgium</strong> grants budget aid. <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
itself no longer grants direct general budget aid,<br />
but can delegate this via the World Bank or the<br />
European Union (as was agreed for Mozambique in<br />
<strong>2008</strong>). But <strong>Belgium</strong> is active in sectoral budget aid,<br />
in particular in the health and education sectors.<br />
Budget aid stands or falls with the political dialogue<br />
between the partner country and the<br />
donors. In that dialogue, the conditions are agreed<br />
(policy plans, objectives, indicators) and the monitoring<br />
is guaranteed (by reference to agreements<br />
on <strong>report</strong>ing, evaluations, audit obligations, etc).<br />
Also, almost always, technical expertise is supplied<br />
as well. The precise contributions by <strong>Belgium</strong> or<br />
any other donor can no longer be identified, and<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> can also not show that its money in par-<br />
39
ticular has delivered a given result. That is not the<br />
purpose. The purpose is for the partner country to<br />
be strengthened in achieving the planned results<br />
itself. <strong>Belgium</strong> can be proud to have contributed<br />
towards that.<br />
Budget aid is not a cure-all. In order to tackle specific<br />
questions that the partner country cannot immediately<br />
resolve for itself, though, projects often<br />
provide a useful addition, specifically in terms of<br />
training, as test cases, etc. These projects must<br />
also be aligned wherever possible on the partner<br />
country’s systems, and strengthen them, for example<br />
when it comes to tender procedures, <strong>report</strong>ing<br />
and financial responsibility, etc.<br />
IMF stated in January 2009 that Mozambique was<br />
effectively making progress in a number of fields of<br />
crucial importance for its development. For example,<br />
Mozambique was succeeding, despite the economic<br />
malaise, in attracting more private investment capital.<br />
Economic growth was maintained at a strong 7%.<br />
Mozambique also succeeded in generating more of<br />
its own income via more efficient tax collection.<br />
Mozambique - general budget<br />
aid<br />
© World Bank / Eric Miller<br />
Over the past 6 years, Mozambique has received<br />
11 million euro from <strong>Belgium</strong> in the form of general<br />
budget aid. This figure was added to the general<br />
budgetary resources of Mozambique, without being<br />
specifically allocated to one or another sector. This is<br />
not a blank cheque, the money serves to support the<br />
development policy that Mozambique itself has committed<br />
to paper.<br />
A policy dialogue is conducted around this strategy<br />
with the various donors. Every year, a thorough<br />
examination is conducted, by agreement between<br />
Mozambique and the donors, into the extent to<br />
which this policy is actually being effectively carried<br />
out. General budget aid comes with accompanying<br />
measures to improve the management of<br />
Mozambique’s public finances. <strong>Belgium</strong> also contributed,<br />
alongside the general budget aid, to a reform<br />
programme for the Ministry of Finance and the taxation<br />
system. Indirectly, financed via the World Bank,<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> also supported the Mozambiquan Ministry of<br />
Planning and Development with an expert on combating<br />
poverty.<br />
The results can be seen in the annual progress<br />
<strong>report</strong> that Mozambique itself draws up about the<br />
achievements and the challenges. In a common<br />
opinion about this <strong>report</strong>, the World Bank and the<br />
The IMF and the World Bank also applaud the careful<br />
monetary policy and the price stability. One important<br />
observation is that Mozambique is successfully<br />
driving back poverty, in particular in rural areas.<br />
But some areas of concern still remain. At the same<br />
time as a real reduction in poverty, a greater<br />
inequality is looming – a trend that must be closely<br />
monitored. The country still continues to be heavily<br />
dependent upon foreign aid. Until 2007, it was also<br />
neatly paying off its internal debt, but this stalled in<br />
<strong>2008</strong> because the foreign aid was late in arriving…<br />
Mozambique is keeping inflation under control with<br />
difficulty, partly because of climate shocks (such as<br />
flooding) and high food prices. So the country seems<br />
at the moment to be still very vulnerable, certainly in<br />
the present crisis. Many issues still remain to be discussed<br />
in the policy dialogue between Mozambique<br />
and the donor community. But the country is indisputably<br />
succeeding better in taking control of its own<br />
development.<br />
The exact contribution made by Belgian aid to the<br />
achievement of this result cannot be specified – after<br />
all, it is general budget aid. But there is no doubt that<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> has made an effective contribution towards<br />
this positive evolution.<br />
40
© <strong>DGDC</strong>/ Dimitri Ardelean<br />
Vietnam – budget aid for<br />
Education<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> is one of the seven donors who are contributing,<br />
via targeted budget support, to the<br />
Vietnamese programme for ‘Education For All’. This<br />
policy plan for 2003-2015 was set up by Vietnam, by<br />
agreement with the donors. Vietnam’s own contribution<br />
amounts to about three quarters of the total<br />
programme budget. In 2009, no more donor contributions<br />
are planned. At the request of the Ministry of<br />
Planning and Investment, the donors are contributing<br />
25% of the funding of 5 components in the ‘National<br />
Targeted Programs’ for basic education:<br />
■■ universalisation of lower and lower secondary<br />
education,<br />
■■ updating of the curriculum and textbooks,<br />
■■ improvement of teacher training by improvements<br />
to the infrastructure of the training institutions<br />
and the quality of the training programmes,<br />
■■ support for education in neglected areas and for<br />
ethnic minorities,<br />
■■ improvement of the general school infrastructure.<br />
The Vietnamese government took responsibility itself<br />
for the components relating to IT training and application<br />
in schools, boosting foreign language learning<br />
and support for vocational training.<br />
The most important indicators, drawn up in order to<br />
measure the progress of the programme, show a consistently<br />
positive evolution. For example, Vietnam<br />
has made a major increase in the funding for education<br />
for ethnic minority children. Via the ‘Education<br />
For All’ programme, and other programmes in the<br />
education sector, Vietnam is succeeding in effectively<br />
delivering universal basic and lower secondary education.<br />
The country is working on improving the quality<br />
and accessibility of education. This is measured by<br />
reference to indicators such as the number of schools<br />
with minimal infrastructure, the number of teachers<br />
having taken extra training, the pupil/teacher ratio,<br />
the percentages of students repeating a year or<br />
dropping out, the number of graduates by sex, population<br />
group, location and so on.<br />
The actual payment of the donor contributions depends<br />
on the quality of the <strong>report</strong>s to be submitted<br />
twice a year (activity <strong>report</strong>, financial <strong>report</strong> and<br />
audit). This approach ensures an improvement in<br />
monitoring and financial <strong>report</strong>ing by the Vietnamese<br />
institutions, partly thanks to better cooperation between<br />
the Ministries of Education and Planning and<br />
Investment and the Exchequer.<br />
41
© Béatrice Petit<br />
Burundi - Common Education<br />
Fund<br />
The newly elected government in Burundi has set<br />
as priorities ‘education for all’ and free basic education.<br />
However, there are some serious challenges<br />
to be faced: there is a shortage of teachers, classrooms,<br />
books, budget … Some donor countries, such<br />
as France, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong>, have proposed supporting this ambitious<br />
project. Under the leadership of Burundi’s Minister<br />
of Education, Saïdi Kibeya, an important exercise<br />
was conducted in policy dialogue about a national<br />
sectoral plan, harmonisation of procedures, etc. The<br />
donors channel their aid via a Common Fund.<br />
Saïdi Kibeya says: “We have a national strategy to<br />
reduce poverty. Its third pillar relates to the development<br />
of the human capital within which education<br />
has a central place. That is why we started working<br />
back in 2005 on a sectoral plan for education, harmonised<br />
with the national poverty reduction strategy.<br />
But this plan obviously needs financial resources ...”<br />
So the role of the donors is purely a financial one?<br />
Yes, but they also have an accompanying role. They<br />
can mobilise technical and financial partners.<br />
The Common Fund brings together four different<br />
countries. Is it not hard to work with such a group?<br />
It is a unique and very effective framework compared<br />
to earlier mechanisms. Now we have a co-ordination<br />
structure with the partners. The procedures are<br />
unique and the relationships uniform. The Minister<br />
of Education does not have to react to four different<br />
projects or programmes with various procedures.<br />
There is a single point of contact and that circulates<br />
the necessary information. It is a lot easier to work<br />
with such a uniform framework.<br />
Which aspects does the Fund finance?<br />
These are set out in the sectoral plan. Basic education<br />
accounts for the lion’s share: 50 to 60% of the<br />
budget, intermediate education gets 25% and higher<br />
education and the universities 17%. The first sectoral<br />
plan, which is now being rolled out, deals with the<br />
infrastructure: cost estimates for 400 to 500 classes.<br />
Other elements relate more to quality: school books<br />
and teacher training.<br />
Training for staff of financial<br />
management institutions<br />
The financial management of government funds<br />
is of crucial importance in implementing efficient<br />
and sustainable development strategies. For the<br />
period December 2007 – November <strong>2008</strong>, <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
financed two training courses at the International<br />
Monetary Fund (IMF) for staff from Central Banks<br />
and Ministries of Finances from various African<br />
countries (both partner countries and others).<br />
These two training programmes were particularly<br />
warmly received by these countries.<br />
The first training course provided for a programme<br />
in ‘Financial Programming and Policies’ for 33 participants<br />
from 17 French-speaking African countries<br />
(including the partner countries DR Congo, Mali,<br />
Morocco, Niger, Rwanda and Senegal). The second<br />
course focused on ‘Macroeconomic Management<br />
and Fiscal Policy’ for 26 participants from 15<br />
African countries (including the partner countries<br />
Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and<br />
Uganda).<br />
Thanks to this success, the IMF decided to extend<br />
the training programmes, once again with Belgian<br />
contributions.<br />
42
8. Harmonisation with<br />
non-governmental actors<br />
One of the working principles in the Paris Declaration<br />
is the harmonisation of aid from the various donors,<br />
both the various countries and the various actors, in<br />
other words also multilateral and non-governmental<br />
organisations (NGOs). Over the past year, there has<br />
been quite extensive consultation with the NGO<br />
sector about further harmonisation, with results both<br />
on the ground and in <strong>Belgium</strong>. The revised co-financing<br />
of the sector (see below) must lead to a qualitative<br />
improvement in the future.<br />
Consultation on the ground –<br />
the example of Ecuador<br />
In Ecuador, the various actors involved did not wait<br />
for the Paris Declaration before starting to work<br />
more closely together – they have already been<br />
doing that since 2000. Lieven De La Marche, international<br />
cooperation attaché, outlines how, in this<br />
partner country, the discussion with and between<br />
the various governmental and non-governmental<br />
partners is proceeding, and what results this has<br />
delivered over the years.<br />
“In Ecuador, we set up FABEC, the ‘Forum of Belgian<br />
Actors in Development Cooperation in Ecuador’ -<br />
www.fabec.org.ec. FABEC seeks to create a local consultation<br />
and cooperation structure which will serve<br />
as a reference for Belgian Development Cooperation<br />
in this partner country. We want, in this way, to<br />
achieve greater effectiveness in the operation of<br />
each of the organisations. FABEC has fifteen or so<br />
members, including the Development Cooperation<br />
Bureau (<strong>DGDC</strong>) and BTC, ten or so NGOs, VVOB, BIO<br />
and the local representatives of university coopera-<br />
tion. The Forum meets about four times a year. We<br />
exchange information and hold debates about topics<br />
and sectors shared by different members. For example,<br />
in <strong>2008</strong>, a workshop was held around specific<br />
agricultural methods and a dialogue with Ecuadorian<br />
policy experts about the new constitution. In that<br />
context, FABEC was involved in the preparation of<br />
strategy notes and governmental cooperation programmes,<br />
a point which will be particularly highlighted<br />
in 2009 in the preparation of the Mixed<br />
Commission in 2010. Likewise, with regard to joint <strong>report</strong>ing<br />
and positioning vis-à-vis proposals and policy<br />
options from the Ecuadorian government, FABEC<br />
plays a role.<br />
Can you regard the efforts of local and Belgian<br />
non-governmental partners on the one hand,<br />
and government cooperation on the other, as<br />
complementary?<br />
Several cooperation associations have already been<br />
set up. NGOs and VVOB are involved in the framing<br />
and implementation of bilateral projects – in particular<br />
with regard to rural development and agriculture<br />
– and one bilateral project led to a university<br />
training project in the health sector. These intensive<br />
forms of cooperation have generally delivered good<br />
results. The most striking example was the bilateral<br />
project PROLOZA, which works on social and productive<br />
infrastructure in the provinces of Loga and<br />
Zamora Chinchipe, where both Vredeseilanden and<br />
VVOB and their local partners were involved in financial<br />
and supervisory terms. The cooperation associations<br />
can take on various shapes. We are shifting the<br />
focus increasingly on to strengthening the government<br />
institutions. They need to devise an adequate<br />
43
policy and guarantee high-quality service provision.<br />
This is regarded inter alia in the new programmes put<br />
forward in the ICP for 2007-2010. NGOs work even<br />
more with the ultimate target group(s) and ‘users’ of<br />
the public services. They serve to complement the<br />
bilateral programmes, for example by organising and<br />
training those users or setting in place social control.<br />
Experiences in Ecuador teach us that forms of<br />
cooperation are genuinely effective if the singularity<br />
of the approach, intervention mode and dynamic of<br />
each of the organisations is recognised and if good<br />
agreements are reached about responsibilities and<br />
objectives.<br />
Consultations in <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
1) The reform of co-financing<br />
The reform of the co-financing system stimulates the<br />
qualitative enhancement of the NGOs. Organisations<br />
with demonstrable transparent operation, sound<br />
financial health, good management and effective<br />
action can enjoy programme financing over three<br />
years (instead of annual action plans or even separate<br />
projects). Recognition as a ‘programme NGO’<br />
brings the organisation concerned more financial<br />
security and less administrative rigmarole.<br />
58 of the 76 candidate NGOs have already gained approval<br />
for this three-year financing. <strong>DGDC</strong> has already funded<br />
programmes (<strong>2008</strong>-10) for 51 NGOs. Ten or so have submitted<br />
projects in <strong>2008</strong> – this still remains possible.<br />
At the same time, therefore, there is also a need for<br />
measures to ensure the monitoring, evaluation and<br />
control of these projects and programmes, in close<br />
agreement with the NGOs themselves. Administrative<br />
and financial procedures are already operational, but<br />
these can still be simplified.<br />
2) Dialogue with all Belgian indirect<br />
actors<br />
The Minister for Development Cooperation has started<br />
an extensive dialogue with all actors receiving<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> funding (NGOs, universities and so on). The<br />
dialogue seeks to improve the effectiveness of the<br />
cooperation.<br />
© VVOB<br />
Do you notice an impact in the field of NGO<br />
reform: from a loose project approach via<br />
annual action plans to a multi-year programme<br />
approach?<br />
Various NGOs have been active here for years, and<br />
have clearly developed their own area of action and<br />
attention. The reforms allow the NGOs to guarantee<br />
continuity in their approach. NGOs such as VECO<br />
(sustainable agriculture), Protos (integral water management),<br />
Broederlijk Delen (environment and human<br />
rights/citizen participation) have a clear thematic<br />
focus and work within a long-term perspective. For<br />
others, such as Volens, the programme approach is<br />
relatively new.<br />
In the course of this dialogue, the role of the NGOs<br />
is explored, with regard to their activities both in the<br />
South and in the North, in a number of fields:<br />
■■ awareness-raising, education and calls for action<br />
from the public for an equitable North-South<br />
relationship;<br />
■■ mobilisation, co-ordination, framing of proposals<br />
with regard to North-South relations: control over<br />
the government and the private sector so that<br />
their actions and policy measures take account of<br />
the rights of weaker population groups from the<br />
South;<br />
■■ strengthening of local NGOs and their attempts to<br />
sustainably improve their rights;<br />
■■ interventions in emergency and sensitive<br />
situations.<br />
44
Throughout this debate, the innovative role of the<br />
NGOs was also mentioned.<br />
So the dialogue is being continued, and aims to<br />
achieve a consensus about what the NGOs can do<br />
in order to further improve their expertise and their<br />
comparative advantages, and refine their effectiveness.<br />
This dialogue can be tracked via the <strong>DGDC</strong> website<br />
(www.dgdc.be).<br />
.<br />
Against this background, the NGOs have also conducted<br />
a critical self-examination around their strong<br />
and weak points in terms of effectiveness. This<br />
examination can likewise be found on the <strong>DGDC</strong><br />
website.<br />
The authors of this reflection note that ‘we should be<br />
thinking about the effectiveness of the NGO sector<br />
in <strong>Belgium</strong> neither euphorically nor pessimistically.<br />
Belgian NGOs can do something, but they certainly<br />
need to work on eliminating their weaknesses’. The<br />
government is willing to work with them in this frank<br />
dialogue.<br />
Strengths<br />
Weaknesses<br />
The coherence of the NGO programmes with their<br />
strategic framework including the development of<br />
their own specific features<br />
The results-oriented character of their actions. Their<br />
strategy to achieve their objectives and make a good<br />
assessment of their results<br />
The delivery of added value for their partners in the<br />
South and the valorisation of their partners in the<br />
wider context<br />
Their view of synergy in the South and their cooperation<br />
with various actors, but less with the Belgian<br />
actors<br />
Their solvency and liquidity<br />
Their broad supporter base and decentralised operation<br />
in <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
The diversity of the sector that is tackling new<br />
challenges<br />
At the level of the NGOs themselves<br />
At the level of the entire sector<br />
The complementarity between their North and South<br />
operation<br />
The weak application of the logical framework, in particular<br />
with regard to the indicators and the application<br />
of powerful monitoring and evaluation<br />
The development of a vision on their new roles and<br />
partner relations<br />
The formal relations with the partners<br />
The description of their cooperation modalities and<br />
their sources of financing<br />
In the case of some NGOs, a major dependency on<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> financing<br />
The average operation of their managing bodies<br />
The obstacles amid the diversity to making progress<br />
on internal division of labour, upscaling and<br />
harmonisation<br />
45
9. Effectiveness of multilateral<br />
cooperation<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> has decided to conduct a fundamental<br />
switch in the funding of the multilateral partner organisations.<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> is opting for maximum application<br />
of so-called ‘core financing’ – the contribution<br />
to an organisation’s general resources – and wants<br />
at the same time to scale down the ‘earmarked<br />
contributions’ – these being contributions that<br />
<strong>Belgium</strong> assigns to specific projects within an organisation.<br />
In addition, the financing of the multilateral<br />
organisations will now be conducted on the basis of<br />
multi-year programmes – meaning that the Belgian<br />
aid becomes easier to predict. This new policy fully<br />
meets the call for more effectiveness in the operation<br />
of the multilateral development organisations.<br />
The UN Secretary General, the officials in charge at<br />
the Funds and Programmes and the Member States<br />
of the UN have repeatedly pointed to the need for a<br />
reassessment of the core contributions. The donors’<br />
current financing practices are partly to blame for<br />
the existing fragmentation, overlapping and lack of<br />
coherence in the multilateral system. The overly high<br />
level of ‘earmarked’ contributions makes it hard for<br />
an organisation to devise its own long-term policy.<br />
It can only carry out the various projects and programmes<br />
at the request of a whole string of donors.<br />
A limited number of specific financing channels will<br />
not participate in this shift from ‘earmarked’ to<br />
‘core’ contributions, namely the contributions from<br />
the Belgian Survival Fund, for the basic allocations<br />
for peace-building (preventive diplomacy and conflict<br />
prevention) and for part of the humanitarian<br />
financing.<br />
Belgian Development Cooperation will, furthermore,<br />
be able to fund specific programmes with the multilateral<br />
organisations in the framework of the bilateral<br />
cooperation with the 18 partner countries. Within the<br />
bilateral envelopes available for this purpose, though,<br />
a certain percentage can be used for delegated<br />
cooperation with other actors, such as multilateral<br />
organisations. This must, of course, happen by<br />
agreement with the bilateral policy in that partner<br />
country. <strong>Belgium</strong> has, in the past, financed specific<br />
interventions with its multilateral partners, because<br />
the chosen partner was seen as being a well placed<br />
– if not the best placed – actor to conduct activities<br />
relevant to development in that given area. Examples<br />
of this are the UNDP in terms of strengthening parliaments,<br />
UNIFEM in terms of gender-based budgeting,<br />
UNICEF in terms of child protection, etc.<br />
The stronger emphasis on core financing does mean<br />
that the possibility of supporting Belgian policy<br />
focuses disappears, and the visibility must be supplemented<br />
in other ways. The partner organisations are<br />
being sent a letter in January 2009 by the Minister,<br />
asking them to announce this change of policy. This<br />
change will also bring about changes in the way<br />
in which <strong>DGDC</strong> monitors the organisation. <strong>DGDC</strong><br />
will take a more proactive part in the management<br />
bodies.<br />
46
© Unicef / G. Pirozzi<br />
Effectiveness in multilateral<br />
cooperation: ‘One UN’ – pilot projects<br />
Since early 2007, the United Nations has had pilot<br />
projects running in 8 countries in order to get its<br />
many development organisations on the ground to<br />
start operating as a single entity, the so-called ‘One<br />
UN’ concept.<br />
The pilot projects are a direct consequence of the<br />
2006 <strong>report</strong> ‘Delivering as One’. This came into being<br />
at the instigation of the then Secretary-General Kofi<br />
Annan, for the sake of creating more coherence and<br />
effectiveness in the operational activities of the<br />
United Nations. The UN organisations are gathered<br />
in the field in line with the ‘Four Ones’ principle: one<br />
leader, one programme, one budget and one office.<br />
After the first year, the ‘One UN’ pilot projects<br />
already seem to be delivering some concrete results.<br />
Much stronger national ownership of the development<br />
process seems to have arisen, together with<br />
improved alignment on the national priorities. There<br />
are clear signs of more coherence and less fragmentation<br />
and duplication. There are likewise <strong>report</strong>s of<br />
lower transaction and administrative costs for the<br />
conduct of the aid. On the other hand, the establishment<br />
of the new working method did demand very<br />
intensive and occasionally costly efforts by the organisations<br />
concerned themselves. In this way, the<br />
UN hopes to make the development programmes<br />
faster and more effective, and thus to accelerate<br />
progress towards the achievement of the Millennium<br />
Development Goals.<br />
47
1<br />
Internationale<br />
beleidscontext:<br />
ontwikkelingsagenda<br />
onder druk<br />
Tegelijk zorgde dit project voor een sneeuwbaleffect<br />
bij andere boeren die hier niet bij betrokken<br />
waren.<br />
48
3<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> awareness-raising<br />
activities<br />
© Béatrice Petit<br />
49
•<br />
1<br />
Internationale<br />
beleidscontext:<br />
Sensibiliseringsactiviteiten<br />
ontwikkelingsagenda<br />
onder van druk DGOS<br />
De impact van de klimaatverandering<br />
is dramatisch<br />
Belgian Development Cooperation attended<br />
the Open Business Day run by the<br />
Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs<br />
on Sunday 5 October <strong>2008</strong>. With an extensive<br />
exhibition, <strong>DGDC</strong> gave an overview of<br />
its activities to some 2,000 visitors.<br />
Tegen 2080:<br />
<br />
ondervoed.<br />
<br />
weinig of te veel water.<br />
<br />
laaggelegen gebieden moeten vluchten.<br />
<br />
hebben risico op malaria.<br />
Bron: UNDP<br />
L’impact du changement<br />
climatique est dramatique<br />
D’ici 2080:<br />
<br />
seront sous-alimentées.<br />
<br />
pénurie ou d’excès d’eau.<br />
<br />
les zones côtières et les régions de basse<br />
altitude.<br />
<br />
taires courront le risque de contracter la<br />
malaria.<br />
Source : UNDP<br />
The impact of climate<br />
change is dramatic<br />
The situation in 2080:<br />
<br />
nourished.<br />
<br />
flooding or drought.<br />
<br />
flee coastal zones and low-lying areas.<br />
<br />
risk of contracting malaria. Bron: UNDP<br />
Millenniumdoelstelling 7 : Waarborgen van een duurzaam milieu<br />
Objectif du Millénaire 7: Assurer un environnement durable<br />
Millennium development goal 7 : Ensure environmental sustainability<br />
www.diplomatie.be<br />
By means of mobile exhibitions,<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> keeps the<br />
public informed about the<br />
North-South issue. These<br />
exhibitions are available for<br />
free to Belgian schools,<br />
municipalities, social/<br />
cultural organisations,<br />
associations and so on.<br />
Minister Charles Michel visits the Belgian Development Cooperation<br />
stand at the European Development Days <strong>2008</strong> in Strasbourg (15 to<br />
17 November <strong>2008</strong>).<br />
50
Dimension 3, the magazine of the Belgian Development<br />
Cooperation, had a makeover in September <strong>2008</strong>, with its<br />
content being reoriented, on the basis of the results of a wide<br />
readership survey. In <strong>2008</strong>, five issues of Dimension 3 were<br />
published.<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> once again subsidised<br />
some audiovisual productions in<br />
<strong>2008</strong>, including ‘Les Damnés de<br />
la Mer’, a documentary by the<br />
Belgian Moroccan Jawad Rhalib.<br />
Awareness-raising activity in the Brussels<br />
stations on the occasion of World Water<br />
Day on 22 March <strong>2008</strong>. Some 20,000<br />
informative cards were handed out.<br />
51
www.diplomatie.be<br />
Bodemvriendelijke landbouw herstelt<br />
g e d e g r a d e e r d l a n d i n d e U l u g u r u -<br />
b e r g e n ( T a n z a n i a )<br />
D o o r m a s s a l e o n t b o s s i n g e n i n t e n s i e v e l a n d b o u w o p d e<br />
h e l l i n g e n s t r o o m t d e v r u c h t b a r e b o d e m w e g . H i e r d o o r<br />
b r e n g t d e l a n d b o u w w e i n i g o p e n v e r v u i l t h e t w a t e r i n<br />
d e v a l l e i . D u u r z a m e b o d e m v r i e n d e l i j k e l a n d b o u w b i e d t<br />
e e n o p l o s s i n g : m i n i m a l e l a n d b e w e r k i - n g , m a x i m a l e b o<br />
d e m b e d e k k i n g ( o n d e r m e e r m e t b o m e n ) , r o t e r e n v a n<br />
g e w a s s e n . O o k t r a d i t i o n e l e k e n n i s w - o r d t b e n u t : c o m<br />
p o s t e r e n o p h e t v e l d , t e r r a s b o u w .<br />
L ’ a g r i c u l t u r e r e s p e c t u e u s e d u s o l<br />
restaure les terres dégradées dans les<br />
m o n t a g n e s U l u g u r u ( T a n z a n i e )<br />
L a d é f o r e s t a t i o n m a s s i v e e t l ’ a g r i c u l t u r e i n t e n s i v e s u r<br />
l e s c o t e a u x p r o v o q u e n t l e d é p l a c e m e -n t d e s t e r r e s f e r<br />
t i l e s , r é d u i s a n t a i n s i l a p r o d u c t i o n a g r i c o l e e t p o l l u a n t<br />
l’eau de la vallée. L’agriculture durable respectueuse du<br />
s o l o f f r e u n e s o l u t i o n : t r a v a i l - m i n i m a l d u s o l , c o u<br />
v e r t u r e m a x i m a l e d u s o l ( e n t r e a u t r e s p a r d e s a r b r e s ) ,<br />
c u l t u r e s a l t e r n é e s . L e s a v o i r t r a d i t i o n n e l e s t é g a l e m e n t<br />
m i s à p r o fi t : c o m p o s t a g e d e s c h a m p s , c o n s t r u c t i o n d e<br />
t e r r a s s e s .<br />
Soil-friendly agriculture revives<br />
d e t e r i o r a t e d l a n d i n t h e U l u g u r u<br />
m o u n t a i n s ( T a n z a n i a )<br />
A s a r e s u l t o f m a s s i v e d e f o r e s t a t i o n a s w e l l a s i n t e n s i v e<br />
a g r i c u l t u r e o n t h e h i l l s , f e r t i l e l a n d i s w a s h e d a w a y .<br />
H e n c e , a g r i c u l t u r e i s l o w - p r o d u c t i v e a n d t h e w a t e r i n<br />
t h e v a l l e y i s c o n t a m i n a t e d . S u s t a i n a b l e s o i l - f r i e n d l y<br />
a g r i c u l t u r e o f f e r s a s o l u t i o n : a -m i n i m u m o f s o i l d i s<br />
t u r b a n c e , a m a x i m u m o f s o i l c o v e r ( e . g . w i t h t r e e s ) ,<br />
culture rotation systems. Traditional knowledge is also<br />
b e i n g u s e d : i n - fi e l d c o m p o s t i n g , t e r r a c e c u l t i v a t i o n .<br />
I n t e r u n i v e r s i t y c o - o p e r a t i o n o f K U L e u v e n ( V L I R - U O S )<br />
B u d g e t : 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 E U R – 1 9 2 9 0 7 0 7<br />
MOD 1 : Honger uitroeien MOD 7 : Duurzaam milieu<br />
OMD 1 : Eradiquer la faim OMD7 : Environnement durable<br />
MDG 1 : Eradicate hunger MDG7 : Sustainable environment<br />
ER IS MAAR EEN AARDE<br />
VOOR 6,6 MILJARD MENSEN<br />
De opwarming van de<br />
aarde is het gevolg van<br />
de enorme uitstoot van<br />
broeikasgassen door vooral<br />
de rijke landen. Toch<br />
betalen de arme landen de<br />
grootste prijs : ondervoeding,<br />
armoede, ziekte, migratie en<br />
milieuschade.<br />
Daarom wil de Belgische<br />
ontwikkelingssamenwerking<br />
deze landen bijstaan om zich<br />
te beschermen tegen het<br />
veranderende klimaat. Voor het<br />
welzijn van de hele aarde.<br />
‘ ‘<br />
SAMEN DE AARDE<br />
LEEFBAAR HOUDEN !<br />
© NASA<br />
22 april: Dag van de Aarde<br />
UNE SEULE TERRE<br />
POUR 6,6 MILLIARDS D’ÊTRES HUMAINS<br />
Le réchauffement de la Terre<br />
est le résultat des énormes<br />
quantités de gaz à effet de<br />
serre que rejettent surtout<br />
les pays riches.<br />
Cependant, ce sont les<br />
pays pauvres qui en<br />
paient le prix fort :<br />
malnutrition,<br />
pauvreté, maladies,<br />
migrations,<br />
dégradation de<br />
l’environnement.<br />
C’est pourquoi la<br />
Coopération belge au<br />
développement s’engage<br />
à aider ces pays à se<br />
protéger des changements<br />
climatiques, pour le<br />
bien-être de toute la Terre.<br />
© NASA<br />
22 avril : Journée de la Terre<br />
TOUS ENSEMBLE<br />
POUR UNE TERRE VIABLE !<br />
FOD BUITENLANDSE ZAKEN, BUITENLANDSE HANDEL EN ONTWIKKELINGSSAMENWERKING • www.dgos.be<br />
SPF AFFAIRES ETRANGERES, COMMERCE EXTERIEUR ET COOPERATION AU DEVELOPPEMENT • www.dgcd.be<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong> issued various brochures in <strong>2008</strong>, including<br />
on the themes of ‘Environmental care<br />
and development cooperation’ and ‘Food aid<br />
and food security’.<br />
An advertisement in the framework of Earth Day on 22 April<br />
<strong>2008</strong> in ‘Het Nieuwsblad’, ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’, ‘Le Soir’,<br />
‘La Dernière Heure’ and ‘Metro’. These newspapers allow us<br />
to reach a readership of 1.5 million people.<br />
The General Information Cycle, the training programme for anyone who wants to get actively involved in<br />
development cooperation, took a fresh turn in <strong>2008</strong>. From now on, the Information Cycles are even more<br />
interactive, and more closely focused on concrete commitment.<br />
© Jan Crab<br />
52
43<br />
Annexes<br />
© Béatrice Petit<br />
1. Belgian Official Development Assistance (ODA) 2004-<strong>2008</strong><br />
2. Multi-year bilateral obligations and budget aid<br />
3. Multi-year NGO programmes approved in <strong>2008</strong><br />
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ontwikkelingsagenda<br />
onder ANNEXES druk<br />
1. Belgian Official Development<br />
Assistance (ODA) 2004-<strong>2008</strong><br />
Technical cooperation and<br />
scholarships<br />
Financial cooperation and<br />
budget support<br />
Special emergency aid for<br />
Central Africa (launched in<br />
2006)<br />
2004 2005 2006 2007 <strong>2008</strong><br />
Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (<strong>DGDC</strong>)<br />
Governmental cooperation<br />
84,038,873 116,882,862 122,055,980 131,827,879 164,074,553<br />
20,820,769 17,678,158 29,053,860 31,351,646 47,751,840<br />
0 0 10,000,000 5,000,000 20,500,000<br />
Operation costs BTC 9,472,500 23,029,208 19,053,589 20,306,000 21,032,890<br />
Contribution to debt<br />
cancellations<br />
13,634,000 20,208,491 0 0 0<br />
State-to-state loans 22,706,038 20,226,866 26,767,703 25,559,245 16,045,620<br />
Subtotal<br />
Governmental<br />
cooperation<br />
150,672,179 198,025,585 206,931,131 214,044,770 269,404,903<br />
Non-Governmental cooperation<br />
Cooperation via NGOs 90,564,124 93,284,701 96,284,169 99,150,043 99,612,783<br />
VVOB 7,875,062 8,028,469 8,400,000 8,596,316 8,452,767<br />
APEFE 7,905,188 7,725,953 7,234,846 8,524,332 8,094,522<br />
VLIR - Flemish<br />
Interuniversity Council<br />
CIUF/CUD - Interuniversity<br />
centre of CFWB<br />
24,160,539 26,805,442 28,327,157 26,607,871 28,729,722<br />
22,858,533 21,070,392 24,927,496 23,910,341 23,782,966<br />
Scientific institutions 11,249,727 11,795,108 12,977,337 13,476,508 14,150,776<br />
Other non-governmental 9,303,627 18,662,082 9,049,536 7,456,760 10,425,793<br />
Subtotal<br />
Non-governmental<br />
cooperation<br />
173,916,799 187,372,146 187,200,541 187,722,171 193,249,328<br />
54
Multilateral cooperation<br />
Voluntary multilateral<br />
contributions<br />
7,052,650 7,407,129 7,440,313 6,678,391 8,296,267<br />
to the United Nations 6,753,929 7,120,875 7,171,625 6,422,346 8,018,560<br />
Obligatory contributions 92,490,130 79,412,997 96,389,812 90,791,450 95,567,930<br />
to the United Nations 65,411,069 62,229,604 72,770,395 62,478,816 67,159,693<br />
European Development<br />
Fund and Bank<br />
91,771,261 103,496,574 104,669,938 104,860,013 132,560,006<br />
World Bank Group 82,322,583 152,333,333 78,325,000 76,000,000 175,320,000<br />
Regional Development<br />
Banks<br />
19,710,918 18,379,920 29,938,415 27,266,541 30,860,353<br />
Environmental treaties 9,926,777 10,067,313 9,738,378 12,668,806 12,679,354<br />
Multilateral debt<br />
cancellation<br />
Subtotal Multilateral<br />
cooperation<br />
0 0 8,161,708 12,832,368 18,674,711<br />
303,274,319 371,097,265 334,663,565 331,097,570 473,958,621<br />
Belgian Survival Fund<br />
Governmental/management/awareness<br />
raising<br />
2,290,174 2,166,659 6.568.713 4,620,058 13,313,634<br />
Via NGOs 8,728,110 9,142,301 12.584.625 13,363,246 13,843,855<br />
Via multilateral institutions 8,981,241 8,690,648 8.346.622 12,014,882 6,484,181<br />
Subtotal Belgian<br />
Survival Fund<br />
19,999,526 19,999,608 27,499,960 29,998,186 33,641,671<br />
Community building 9,488,497 4,615,834 14,948,666 15,242,863 19,262,250<br />
Humanitarian food aid 14,858,849 17,355,827 15,359,000 14,525,000 25,882,000<br />
Local NGOs in the South 715,896 3,985,539 6,890,296 5,007,409 5,999,580<br />
Africalia 1,680,000 1,628,651 1,935,000 2,310,000 2,015,000<br />
Support to the private<br />
sector (BIO,,,,)<br />
30,592,014 27,895,000 19,871,551 28,138,365 44,626,496<br />
Interest subsidies 6,468,051 8,192,718 11,409,718 11,009,296 13,053,489<br />
Awareness raising en<br />
education in <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
Administration,<br />
evaluation, other<br />
5,523,781 5,575,389 6,275,862 6,944,171 6,022,631<br />
3,444,369 1,399,181 1,689,470 1,958,388 1,213,826<br />
Total <strong>DGDC</strong> 720,634,281 847,142,744 834.674.759 847,998,189 1,088,329,793<br />
55
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onder druk<br />
2. Multi-year bilateral obligation<br />
and budget aid<br />
New multi-year bilateral agreements entered into in <strong>2008</strong><br />
Country Project/programme Amount<br />
(in euro)<br />
Benin Agricultural support - Mono and Couffo departments 5,500,000<br />
Expertise fund 1,250,000<br />
Institutional support to the Ministry of Agriculture 3,500,000<br />
Institutional support to the healthcare sector 4,300,000<br />
Burundi Institutional and operational support to the justice system 5,800,000<br />
Institutional support to the Ministry of Public Health 900,000<br />
Support for the reform of paramedic training 2,000,000<br />
Institutional support to ISABU - Agricultural Research Institute 3,000,000<br />
Institutional support to the Ministry of National Education and<br />
800,000<br />
Scientific Research<br />
Support for vocational training 5,000,000<br />
Local social and economic development - rural roads 10,000,000<br />
Cambodia Basic healthcare - consolidation phase 3,000,000<br />
Morocco North Morocco education programme 3,000,000<br />
Micro-credits 2,000,000<br />
Waste processing 14,500,000<br />
Mozambique Rehabilitation of basic infrastructure 3,400,000<br />
Palestine Construction & rehabilitation of schools 10,000,000<br />
Reinforcement of healthcare 5,000,000<br />
Rwanda Institutional support for sanitary development - Kigali 15,000,000<br />
Support for small animal husbandry 5,000,000<br />
Reconstruction of Bushenge hospital 1,800,000<br />
Social/economic and cultural development in Northern Province 4,000,000<br />
Provision of drinking water and sanitation 12,320,000<br />
Senegal Healthcare insurance system 2,500,000<br />
Capacity-building - decentralised financial systems 4,400,000<br />
Tanzania Sustainable improvement of banana cropping 1,500,000<br />
Income-generating activities - Kigoma and coast region 2,162,000<br />
Vietnam Provision of water and sanitation 7,500,000<br />
Institutional reinforcement at provincial and district level 2,500,000<br />
Various partner Replenishment / extension of existing projects and funds 6,130,000<br />
countries<br />
Total 147,762,000<br />
56
Overview of new multi-year commitments for budget aid <strong>2008</strong><br />
Country Programme Amount (in euro)<br />
Uganda<br />
Decentralisation process - local government sector investment<br />
4,000,000<br />
plans<br />
Health sector 10,000,000<br />
Peru Health sector (health insurance) 3,000,000<br />
Burundi Education sector 5,000,000<br />
Support for economic reforms (via World Bank Trust Fund) 4,000,000<br />
Total 26,000,000<br />
This table includes only the amounts transferred to the partner country, not the associated expertise costs<br />
57
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ontwikkelingsagenda<br />
onder druk<br />
3. Multi-year NGO programmes<br />
approved in <strong>2008</strong><br />
Multi-year NGO programmes approved in <strong>2008</strong><br />
Prog. <strong>2008</strong>-2010<br />
NGO Title Subsidy (in euro)<br />
11 11 11<br />
From the international perspective, achieving better<br />
North-South relations by joining forces in Flanders<br />
16,568,039<br />
ACTEC A job for everyone 7,109,885<br />
AQUADEV<br />
VBRC-OS Rotary<br />
ATOL<br />
Programme for the reinforcement of African microfinance<br />
organisations<br />
Vacci-plus in DR Congo - City of Kinshasa Province -<br />
health sector<br />
Methodological support for development initiatives in<br />
the South<br />
2,199,936<br />
1,258,448<br />
917,860<br />
Autre Terre Doing business differently in North and South 1,630,641<br />
Artsen zonder<br />
vakantie<br />
Reinforcement of the health systems, with the emphasis<br />
on hospitals<br />
1,653,600<br />
Bevrijde Wereld Food for the future 4,205,596<br />
Broederlijk Delen Solidarity for sustainable development 22,232,465<br />
CARAES<br />
CDI-Bwamanda<br />
CEMUBAC<br />
Orthopaedagogical Care and Mental Health Care for the<br />
Great Lakes Region<br />
Contribution to socio-economic development in the<br />
Northern Equatorial Province (DR Congo), the Yaka<br />
Region (DR Congo) and South Borgou (Benin)<br />
Developing welfare for populations through improvements<br />
to health and the struggle against hunger with<br />
due regard to the MDGs<br />
3,037,978<br />
3,086,883<br />
1,969,508<br />
58
NGO Title Subsidy (in euro)<br />
CETRI<br />
CNCD-11.11.11<br />
DMOS<br />
COTA<br />
Understanding the world better in order to change it -<br />
points of view from the South<br />
Coordinating the actors in international co-operation<br />
to promote the Millennium Goals and the right to<br />
development<br />
Integral training directed at upwards mobility and active<br />
citizenship for young people in South and North<br />
Information, awareness-raising and quality support for<br />
the actors in cooperation<br />
577,372<br />
1,912,430<br />
16,363,835<br />
1,048,269<br />
Rode Kruis België Present, always, everywhere 6,499,815<br />
Damiaanactie<br />
Improving basic health in developing countries by combating<br />
leprosy & TB<br />
13,720,686<br />
DISOP Employability and citizenship 11,562,652<br />
Djapo From basic school to world school 1,838,030<br />
Echos<br />
Communication<br />
Entraide et<br />
fraternité<br />
Solidarité Socialiste<br />
FOS<br />
Handicap<br />
International<br />
Promoting new development cooperation practices to<br />
accompany the emergence of a new human-centred<br />
development cooperation paradigm<br />
Promoting peasant agriculture through citizen<br />
approaches<br />
Reinforcing social actors in the South and the North<br />
committed in networks for the promotion of democracy<br />
and economic and social rights<br />
Organisations in North and South - Solidarity for the<br />
right to health and right to decent work<br />
Upright living: for a society that prevents avoidable disability,<br />
for a society for all where disabled people enjoy<br />
their rights<br />
1,156,874<br />
3,536,276<br />
9,123,039<br />
10,937,501<br />
13,295,362<br />
Les Iles de Paix More enlightened and active public opinion 1,145,477<br />
59
NGO Title Subsidy (in euro)<br />
IPIS<br />
Information and advice service on topics affecting nongovernmental<br />
development actors<br />
436,582<br />
ITECO Education as a vector for North/South social change 1,177,642<br />
Louvain<br />
développement<br />
Max Havelaar<br />
The welfare and dignity sought by disadvantaged populations<br />
in deprived countries are improved: LD contributes<br />
to the international relations policy of the UCL as a<br />
dynamic actor serving society<br />
More sustainable development in the South thanks to<br />
more sales of Fairtrade-labelled products in the North<br />
8,560,418<br />
1,358,844<br />
MEMISA Reinforcement of the health system at various levels 9,663,471<br />
Miel Maya Honing Bee-keeping, sustainable development and fair trade 660,984<br />
Artsen Zonder<br />
Grenzen<br />
Improving access to healthcare for persons with AIDS<br />
and/or TB<br />
12,258,964<br />
Le Monde selon les<br />
Femmes<br />
Oxfam magasins du<br />
monde<br />
Gender as a development condition 1,314,827<br />
The Made in Dignity campaign with younger people 1,328,783<br />
Oxfam Solidariteit<br />
Oxfam<br />
WereldWinkels<br />
Petits Pas<br />
Changing the balance of power to ensure respect for<br />
social and economic rights<br />
Fairtrade: an honest alternative for the North and the<br />
South alike<br />
Reinforcement of the capacities in the North and the<br />
South for environmentally responsible and endogenous<br />
development<br />
10,795,967<br />
2,493,827<br />
477,945<br />
60
NGO Title Subsidy (in euro)<br />
PROTOS Water: a lever in development 8,701,896<br />
Rode Kruis<br />
Vlaanderen<br />
Improving the situation of the most vulnerable 5,674,699<br />
SCI North/South Action/Training 495,393<br />
Steunfonds Derde<br />
Wereld<br />
Empowerment for the right to health 2,733,885<br />
SLCD<br />
Protestantse<br />
Solidariteit<br />
Combating poverty in rural communities targeted by an<br />
integrated socio-economic development programme<br />
Support for the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and leprosy in<br />
central and western Africa<br />
3,199,999<br />
3,422,476<br />
SOS Faim Supporting rural people in their fight against poverty 10,980,845<br />
TRIAS<br />
UCOS<br />
Linking-up: local economic development in a globalising<br />
world<br />
Active world citizenship for more international solidarity<br />
and sustainable development in North and South<br />
17,163,553<br />
426,765<br />
VIC From integration to self-determination 3,878,401<br />
Vredeseilanden<br />
Dierenartsen<br />
Zonder Grenzen<br />
Wereldsolidariteit<br />
A viable living for family farmers through participation in<br />
the markets<br />
Optimising the contribution of livestock-raising in the<br />
economy and social life of farming/breeding families<br />
Getting together with the social movements to promote<br />
dignified work and social protection to combat poverty<br />
and social exclusion<br />
17,772,898<br />
4,355,527<br />
12,073,830<br />
Total 299,996,880<br />
61
1<br />
Organigram<br />
Organization Internationale<br />
chart<br />
van The de FPS FOD Foreign beleidscontext:<br />
<strong>Buitenlandse</strong> Affairs <strong>Zaken</strong>,<br />
<strong>Buitenlandse</strong> Foreign ontwikkelingsagenda<br />
Trade Handel en<br />
Ontwikkelingssamenwerking<br />
and Development Cooperation<br />
onder druk<br />
S0.4<br />
Special Evaluator<br />
S0.1<br />
Crisis Centre<br />
S0.2<br />
Missions<br />
Inspectorate<br />
S0.3<br />
Regions and<br />
Communities Interface<br />
S0.5<br />
Conflict<br />
Prevention and<br />
Peacebuilding<br />
S0.6<br />
Modernisation<br />
and Management<br />
Support<br />
S0.7<br />
Security<br />
P&C<br />
Press and<br />
Communication<br />
P&S<br />
Protocol<br />
and Security<br />
62
Minister<br />
Policy Unit<br />
Chairman<br />
Executive<br />
Committee<br />
DG<br />
Bilateral Affairs<br />
(B)<br />
B&B<br />
Budget and<br />
Management<br />
Control<br />
DG<br />
Consular Affairs<br />
(C)<br />
P&O<br />
Personnel and<br />
Organisation<br />
DG<br />
Development<br />
Cooperation<br />
(D)<br />
ICT<br />
Information and<br />
Communication<br />
Technology<br />
DG<br />
European Affairs and<br />
Coordination<br />
(E)<br />
DG<br />
Legal Affairs<br />
(J)<br />
DG Multilateral Affairs<br />
and Globalisation<br />
(M)<br />
63
1<br />
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Organization chart <strong>DGDC</strong><br />
beleidscontext:<br />
Directorate-General for Development<br />
Cooperation ontwikkelingsagenda<br />
onder druk<br />
Director General D<br />
D0.0<br />
General Affairs &<br />
Secretariat<br />
D0.1<br />
Policy Support<br />
D0.2<br />
Quality Control &<br />
Evaluation<br />
D0.3<br />
Budget and ODA<br />
D1<br />
Governmental<br />
Programmes<br />
D2<br />
Special<br />
Programmes<br />
D3<br />
Non-governmental<br />
Programmes<br />
D4<br />
Multilateral<br />
and European<br />
Programmes<br />
D5<br />
Awarenessraising<br />
Programmes<br />
D1.1<br />
North Africa<br />
and Middle<br />
East<br />
D2.1<br />
Emergency<br />
Aid,<br />
Rehabilitation<br />
and Food Aid<br />
D3.1<br />
NGOs<br />
D4.1<br />
United<br />
Nations and<br />
Bretton<br />
Woods<br />
Institutions<br />
D5.1<br />
Third-Party<br />
Awarenessraising<br />
D1.2<br />
Central Africa<br />
D2.2<br />
Survival Fund<br />
D3.2<br />
Universities<br />
and Scientific<br />
Institutions<br />
D4.2<br />
European<br />
Union<br />
D5.2<br />
Awarenessraising<br />
by<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong><br />
D1.3<br />
West Africa<br />
D3.3<br />
Other<br />
Partners<br />
D4.3<br />
Sectoral<br />
Funds and<br />
Programmes<br />
D1.4<br />
Southern<br />
Africa,<br />
East Africa<br />
D3.4<br />
Budget<br />
Programming<br />
and Financial<br />
Control for<br />
Non-governmental<br />
Programmes<br />
D1.5<br />
Latin America<br />
and Asia<br />
D1.6<br />
Regional<br />
Cooperation<br />
64
Abbreviations<br />
BIO<br />
BSF<br />
BTC<br />
DG<br />
<strong>DGDC</strong><br />
DRC<br />
EU<br />
FAO<br />
GNI<br />
HIV/AIDS<br />
IMF<br />
ICP<br />
MDG<br />
NGO<br />
ODA<br />
OECD<br />
UN<br />
UNDP<br />
UNRWA<br />
VVOB<br />
WFP<br />
Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries<br />
Belgian Survival Fund<br />
Belgian Technical Cooperation<br />
Director-General<br />
Directorate-General for Development Cooperation<br />
Democratic Republic of Congo<br />
European Union<br />
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations<br />
Gross National Income<br />
Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome<br />
International Monetary Fund<br />
Indicative Cooperation Programme<br />
Millennium Development Goal<br />
Non-Governmental Organisation<br />
Belgian Official Development Assistance<br />
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development<br />
United Nations<br />
United Nations Development Programme<br />
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East<br />
Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Support<br />
World Food Programme<br />
65
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www.dgdc.be<br />
Contributions and coordination: Directorate-General for Development Cooperation<br />
Final editing: Jan De Mets<br />
Translation: Bellis Translations<br />
Design: www.cibecommunicatie.be<br />
Production: Communications Department FPS Foreign Affairs<br />
Contact: +32 2 501 81 11 – www.diplomatie.be/en/contact<br />
Responsible editor: Dirk Achten, rue des Petits Carmes 15, B-1000 Brussels, <strong>Belgium</strong><br />
The information contained in this <strong>report</strong> is for information only. The Federal Public Service is in<br />
no way legally bound by it.<br />
Legal registration: 0218/2009/11<br />
April 2009
Federal Public Service<br />
Foreign Affairs,<br />
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