Aid's biggest contracts for 2018

CANBERRA — More than 22,000 contracts were published on Devex in 2018, giving insight into the global partnerships carrying out some of the world’s biggest development initiatives, as well as the development priorities of donors. The big money is in infrastructure With the massive amounts of money required to support infrastructure projects throughout the world, it is unsurprising that the contracts last year were dominated by transport, energy, and civil engineering initiatives. The European Investment Bank was responsible for funding the two largest contracts — work on lanes of the RR27 road between Nabeul and the city of Korba valued at €13.5 billion ($15.3 billion) and the €1.6 billion modernization of power supply systems project supporting Argentina. The latter was awarded to Siemens Argentina. The African Development Bank last year awarded a 5.22 billion West African CFA franc ($900 million) contract to Promotrade Senegal and BRAVTR to support the construction of a data center in Senegal, while the U.S. Agency for International Development contracted a range of service providers in the delivery of the Power Africa Expansion project — including Deloitte, RTI International, Nexant, and Green Powered Technology. A total of 1,761 awarded contracts were associated with infrastructure, 881 with energy, and 1,416 with construction. Health While infrastructure was where the big development contracts were, health also appeared among the top contracts. The audit of maternal and infant death in Chad is a $1.2 billion initiative funded by the World Bank Group. Awarded to OMS/EDM, the project aims to strengthen health services within the country — and improve child mortality statistics. USAID has also been a big player in funding health initiatives, awarding contracts to six business partners supporting the planning and implementation of integrated health systems. Abt Associates, Palladium, Management Sciences for Health, and the University Research Company were among the partners for the $500 million program. Palladium was additionally awarded a $225 million USAID education contract to support reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health in Nigeria. USAID tops the donors’ list with health contracts totaling $6 billion followed by the World Bank Group at $1.4 billion and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at $709 million. More than $6 billion will support multiregion and global programs, but Africa and Asia are also a big recipient for health-related contracts in 2018. A total of 2,585 contracts were health-related in 2018. Climate On the back of COP24 and a global commitment to maintaining and implementing the Paris agreement, we can also look at the contracts awarded in 2018 with a climate focus. There were 261 published last year. The Netherlands Development Finance Company was the donor of the single largest contract — a $46 million program to finance climate-friendly investments globally. Awarded to Interact Climate Change Facility, the funding will be used to finance climate-friendly investments by the private sector. But the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation is the largest overall donor with contracts published last year supporting climate programs totaling $171 million. Programs include $26 million support for emissions reduction and $21 million services for climate leadership and reduction in carbon emissions — both supporting Eastern and Western Europe — as well as a $20 million program to scale up investment in tackling air pollution globally. Geographically, climate contracts awarded tend to be multiregion or global initiatives — but $34 million worth of contracts were awarded support climate programs in Brazil. Education With education being a key area of development to create strong foundations for future economic stability, it is important to also look at what happened in this sector. A total of 1,361 contracts last year supported education initiatives globally. Of contracts published, $503 million worth supported initiatives in Jamaica. The Jamaican Social Investment Fund was the donor for all Jamaican based education programs. These included the $84 million Mineral Heights Primary School expansion and the supply of equipment to the earthquake unit at the University of West Indies worth $83 million. JSIF was the single largest funder of education contracts for the year. JSIF was followed by the Asian Development Bank at $385 million, the Gates Foundation at $247 million, the U.K. Department for International Development at $238 million, and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at $144 million, as the major funders of education contracts. But the single largest contract in education was funded by DFID to support the provision of access to safe, inclusive and quality learning opportunities to children in Syria. The contract was worth £80 million ($101 million) with the awardee not listed for security reasons. Gender The gendered focus in development also translates to tender opportunities. And a total of 788 contracts published in 2018 supported gender. The Brazilian Human Rights Foundation was the biggest funder of gender programs that included the justice for black women in temporary custody in the state of Rio de Janeiro program and social intervention and capacity training in prisons program — both valued at 150 million Brazilian real ($39 million). Gender programs in Brazil supported the delivery of $80 million worth of published contracts last year. Other leading funders were the Gates Foundation at $67 million, DFID at $38 million, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation at $34 million, and the OAK Foundation at $32 million. Agriculture With food security a growing concern and funding for agricultural research limited, it is important for this area of development to know who is funding programs and where. In 2018, agricultural initiatives were supported through 826 published contracts. The largest contract was worth $698 million to outsource the delivery of procurement services by the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Morocco, with the overall country program stimulating the growth of agriculture and fisheries — among other sectors. A $58 million contract funded by the World Bank Group supported the construction of steel silos for rice at Madhupur, Bangladesh. And $50 million was awarded by the Rockefeller Foundation to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa to improve the productivity and profitability of small-scale farming in Africa. Among other funders of agricultural contracts in 2018 were the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation at $15 million, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation at $8 million, and the Ford Foundation at $1.4 million. Disability Disability is currently a focus for Devex, with the Development Enabled series, and was a focus throughout last year following the Global Disability Summit. Disability was also the focus for 110 contracts last year. The $37 million initiative for disability inclusive development, awarded by DFID to Sightsavers, was the single largest contract for the year. It was followed by a 55.3 Norwegian krone ($6.6 million) program funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation to build child-friendly and inclusive learning environments for marginalized boys and girls — including children and youth with disabilities. And $5 million funded by the Netherlands Development Finance Company aims to finance low-income micro-entrepreneurs, women, youth, people with disabilities and refugees in Lebanon. In total, 23 funders awarded contracts supporting disability last year — a mix of governments, NGOs, and philanthropic organizations. The OAK Foundation, Nippon Foundation, Comic Relief, and Levi Strauss Foundation were among the donors that organizations working in the sector should know. Preparing for the year ahead Development and humanitarian needs are continuing to grow — but the funding does not always grow at the same rate. Getting a grasp of the contracts awarded is an important consideration in planning for new funding opportunities in 2019. These contracts provide knowledge into where the money is and where the demand for assistance is. And by engaging with potential funders before tenders are published, your organization can influence the objectives and deliverables in your favor. Find more insights from contracts published in 2018 through our new tableau interactive.