About: ODA

COVID vaccines account for bulk of aid increase
While foreign aid from countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reached historic highs in 2021, data analysis shows this was primarily fuelled by donating COVID-19 vaccines, many of which were out of date or unusable.
Fears grow that Ukraine aid could come at expense of other crises
There is growing concern that aid spending by European states to cope with the humanitarian crisis resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will come at the expense of other existing crises across the world.
Talks collapse on classifying vaccine donations as development aid
Talks between wealthy nations on how to report donated COVID vaccines have collapsed after they failed to agree on a common rules regime.
Rich countries fail to agree aid price for COVID-19 vaccine donations
Wealthy states were stuck at an impasse after failing at a meeting on Tuesday (December 21) to agree on new rules that would allow them to report the donation of surplus COVID-19 vaccines as aid.
Plan by wealthy nations to treat COVID vaccines as aid prompts backlash
The question of how COVID vaccines donated by wealthy countries are classified and priced could artificially raise the European Union’s development aid figures by billions of euros, EURACTIV understands.
EU aid spending surges amid COVID pandemic
Development aid from the EU increased by more than 25% last year as funding for programmes to combat COVID-19 and support poorer countries surged, according to data published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday (13 April).
Report: EU donors needs to ‘green’ external action on farming
The lack of a comprehensive green transition strategy in the EU's external action on agriculture reduces the chances of achieving global nutrition security, a new NGO report has found.
Foreign aid to be big loser from EU budget under Michel plan
EU external and development spending is in line to be the biggest loser from next week’s crunch EU budget summit in Brussels. The blueprint outlined on Friday (10 July) by European Council President Charles Michel includes a reduction of €4.7 billion for the Neighbourhood Development and International Cooperation Instrument in the EU's next seven-year budget.
EU development aid fell in 2017, reveals new report
EU aid spending fell for the first time in 5 years in 2017, according to the CONCORD AidWatch Report 2018 published on Wednesday (17 October).
EU to hike migration spending in development aid overhaul
The European Commission will set out its plans to dramatically increase spending on migration control on Thursday (14 June), as part of its overhaul of EU development spending between 2021 and 2027.
Whose aid is it anyway?
To the generation brought up on the LiveAid and Live8 concerts, development aid is a moral obligation as well as a policy tool.
EU aid spending slumps as refugee crisis recedes
Development aid to countries in the Global South stagnated in 2017, according to new figures published by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) on Monday (9 April). It also showed a declining share of aid spent on refugees.
MEPs denounce ‘attempts to militarise EU’s development policy’
The European Parliament’s Development Committee endorsed on Monday (3 July) an opinion to amend the regulation for establishing one of EU's key external aid instruments.
Report warns against public-private aid ‘blending’ over transparency failures
A key plank of future aid funding to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has come under fire in a report which warns against all ‘blending’ partnerships until a raft of alleged failures are fixed.
UK election: What it means for aid and development
Britain will go to the polls on 8 June with aid and development spending under unprecedented scrutiny.
‘New Consensus’ on Development adopted – and immediately condemned
The ‘New Consensus on Development’ was adopted by EU foreign affairs ministers today (19 May) – and immediately condemned by NGOs working in the field.
ACP youth leader: The ‘EU bubble’ is not very multicultural
The founder of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Young Professionals Network warns that unreformed Economic Partnership Agreements with the world's poorest states could see progress go backwards and a "new kind of economic dependency" emerge.
ACP states push back at New Consensus on Development over ‘democracy’ deficit
Voices from the African, Caribbean and Pacific nation states pushed back on Monday (15 May) at the focus on ‘democracy’ in the European New Consensus on Development, in a debate which opens old wounds between donor countries, and developing nations.
EU to send one of ‘biggest ever’ election monitoring teams to Kenya
EXCLUSIVE/ The EU is sending one of its “biggest missions ever” to monitor the upcoming election in Kenya, amid fears of a repeat of the ethnic clashes during the 2007 election, which left up to 1,500 people dead, and some 600,000 displaced.
UK foreign aid diluted by ‘pursuing national interest’, says think tank
Poverty reduction in the world’s poorest countries risks being diluted by the UK government’s increasing tendency to devote a bigger slice of Britain’s aid budget to pursuing the national interest, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.
MPs accuse UK government of having ‘no clear’ SDG implementation plan
The UK government has failed to set out a clear plan to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or encourage businesses to do likewise, according to new research from a cross-party watchdog. EURACTIV's partner edie.net reports.
UK overseas aid budget fraud levels do not seem credible, watchdog says
The UK government’s claims of low levels of fraud in Britain’s overseas aid budget do not seem credible given mounting evidence of missing money, the House of Commons financial watchdog has said.
UK’s May promises to keep 0.7% aid spend target if she wins election
British Prime Minister Theresa May promised Friday (21 April) to keep the UK’s aid spending at 0.7% of GDP if – as appears likely – her ruling Conservative party win the upcoming snap election.