Devex explores EuropeAid's funding priorities in Latin America and Eastern Europe

Over the past weeks, Devex has embarked on an exclusive exploration of EuropeAid funding priorities, analyzing operational documents released between January 2016 and April 2017, to show where billions of euros worth of aid is being directed, for what projects, and how. We started with Africa, the region allocated the most money during this period, at 2.7 billion euros ($3.03 billion). More than half of this has been channeled through the European Union Trust Fund for Africa, with migration as a key priority across the funding streams. We also found that most of the projects are being indirectly managed, typically by national aid agencies. Read more here. In Asia, we saw that that 1.4 billion euros ($1.57 billion) worth of aid was being spent almost entirely through the Development Cooperation Instrument, or DCI, with a particular focus on energy. We also took a special look at Afghanistan, the single biggest recipient of EuropeAid funding during this time period. Read more here. In this last part of the series, we take a look at some of the regions receiving smaller but still significant amounts of support: Latin America and Eastern Europe. We also explore the aid agency’s “worldwide” development activities — projects that aren’t tied to a specific region. To read more about our methodology, and for a global overview of what our analysis showed, click here. Over the past 15 months, EuropeAid has earmarked 623.4 million euros ($699.3 million) for its worldwide programs; 430.7 million euros ($483.1 million) for development activities in Latin America; and 50 million euros ($56 million) for Eastern Europe under the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation, or INSC. These budget figures are indicative — they may change as EuropeAid and its partners move towards procurement — but they nonetheless give a good idea of the organization’s priorities over the time period covered. Explore them in-depth in our interactive visualization. EuropeAid’s ‘worldwide’ development programs Most of the time, EuropeAid’s contributions support specific countries or regions — but sometimes, they also support activities that are global in scope. These include programs to address global development challenges such as child marriage, global security, and the safe use of nuclear energy. They may also include contributions to external initiatives, such as the Global Fund, and funding to maintain the intragovernmental, administrative bodies that support the EU’s cooperative efforts — such as 28.5 million euros ($31.9 million) to support the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States. In total, EuropeAid allocated 623.4 million euros ($699.3 million) to worldwide activities between January 2016 and April 2017, according to the documents included in our data. These programs are funded through a wide variety of funding instruments: 42 percent — or 260 million euros ($291 million) — is going through the European Development Fund, or EDF; 38 percent — or 237 million euros ($265 million) — through the DCI; and the remainder through several other instruments. Worldwide funding channeled through the DCI will go to a broad variety of development sectors, such as economic development via the Aid for Trade program with least-developed countries, as well as social development to promote the global inclusion of persons with disabilities and indigenous populations in development efforts. Global EDF funding has a large focus on health, but this is because it includes a 215 million euro ($ 241 million) contribution to the Global Fund for health programming. Other smaller instruments focus on specific sectors: The Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace has programming in the areas of conflict resolution and governance, while the INSC has programming only in the energy sector. Of the worldwide programming in our data, about 65 percent, or 406.8 million euros ($456.3 million), will be indirectly managed — meaning that the procurement process for the funds will be managed by a third party organization rather than EuropeAid itself. However, this figure includes the 215 million euro ($241 million) contribution to the Global Fund. Removing this, the split between directly and indirectly managed funding is nearly even. Within the remaining indirectly managed funds, key management agencies include the United Nations Office for Project Services, the U.N. Population Fund and Expertise France. EuropeAid in Latin America and the Caribbean In 2015, almost 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) were put aside to overcome regional challenges in Latin America — mainly focusing on sustainable and equitable growth or inclusive economic and environmental activities — as part of the EU’s Multiannual Indicative Programme for Latin America 2014 -2020. For the period we evaluated, nearly all EuropeAid funding to South America, Central America, and the Caribbean flows through two funding instruments: 158.76 million euros ($178.09 million) through the DCI, and 219.65 million euros ($246.39 million) through the EDF. The DCI tends to back projects related to governance and economic development programs — such as the Project Against Corruption and for Transparency in Honduras — while the EDF focuses more on agriculture, as with this 13 million euro ($14.5 million) program in Suriname. Funding from the DCI is well distributed across the three sub-regions and their countries, with two medium-sized projects of note: A 20 million euro ($22 million) border management project in Nicaragua to be managed by the Inter-American Development Bank, and a 46 million euro ($51.6 million) higher education project in Paraguay, almost all of which is a transfer of funds that will be provided as direct untargeted budget support to the National Treasury of Paraguay. EDF funding was a bit more concentrated, with several programs totaling up to 60 million euros ($67 million) in Haiti. Among these, a 29 million euro ($32.5 million) grant for the improvement of food and nutritional security conditions stands out. A maximum of 7 grants worth up to 5 million euros ($5.6 million) each will be awarded, and the call for proposals is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter of 2017. About two-thirds of the EuropeAid funding outlined in data will be directly managed by the European Commission itself. For the remainder, a variety of other organizations will have ultimate responsibility for distributing the funding — including the Inter-American Development Bank, the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, several European national aid agencies, and local government entities. It is worth noting that all governance-related programming in the region is directly managed by the European Commission. In this analysis, we do not touch on the recent EU Trust Fund for Colombia. The fund was created at the end of 2016 in order to support the peace process, and currently has 95 million euros ($106.5 million) of funding, mostly focused on rural development. The first Technical Assistance to support this trust fund came out in February 2017, with a call for projects in May, and more contributions are expected to be pledged in the future. EuropeAid in Eastern Europe The bulk of the EU’s financial and technical assistance to the parts of Eastern Europe beyond its borders is managed by the Directorate General of the Neighbourhood Policy And Enlargement Negotiations, which is separate from EuropeAid. As a result, comparatively little funding was allocated to activities in Eastern Europe among the data we have gathered from EuropeAid — a total of 50 million euros ($56 million), budgeted entirely through the INSC. As its name suggests, the INSC is intended to implement high standards of safety in the mining, use and disposal of radioactive materials. It also deals with the “uranium legacy” in parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It has a total allocation of 225.3 million euros ($252.7 million) for the period 2014-2020. Of the 50 million euros ($56 million) in our data, 40 million euros ($44.8 million) will go to the Chernobyl Shelter Fund, managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This contribution is part of a larger commitment made in 2015, and will contribute to the restoration of the Chernobyl site to an environmentally safe state. The remaining 10 million euros ($11 million) will be split between three projects in Ukraine and Belarus: One to strengthen the capabilities of the Belarusian nuclear safety regulator; one to support the Ukrainian government’s nuclear safety plans; and one to implement safety measures at a uranium processing plant in Ukraine. Those first two projects will be directly managed by the European Commission, while the third one will be managed by the International Science and Technology Center. To analyze the data yourself, check out our interactive visualization of EuropeAid, as well as the many types of EuropeAid funding data available on the Devex website: Early information from the European Commission and the details of each EuropeAid planned activity in the Funding Activity Feed; planned funding in our Programs data; funding opportunities in our Tenders and Grants data; and awards and shortlists in our Contract Awards data. If you’re new to EuropeAid, read our introductory guide to make the best use of the data. Raquel Alcega, Devex’s development data team lead, also contributed reporting to this article. Do you have questions about our methodology or specific opportunity? Reach out to our experts at analysts@devex.com for more information. To read more in our EuropeAid Funding Insights series, click here.