Germany plans sweeping changes to aid

BERLIN — Germany is planning sweeping changes to its development spending, cutting its support to 25 countries — including ending eight bilateral country programs — and rerouting most money for health and early education through multilateral agencies. “A real results-based approach to German development cooperation is highly necessary.” --— Raimund Zühr, project manager, SEEK Development The changes, which follow months of internal consultation, are part of a broader reorientation of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, also known as BMZ, toward a more results-focused approach. While many details of the strategy, which is called BMZ 2030, have not been publicly distributed, a BMZ spokesperson confirmed the funding changes to Devex. Opposition parties on the left criticize the proposal, warning that many of the affected countries — which have not been made public — are low-income and will suffer heavily from the loss. Civil society organizations are also concerned that as Germany eliminates bilateral programs, development-focused embassy officials who help organizations navigate domestic political situations will also see their positions cut. But some observers said that while individual elements of the plan were certain to draw criticism, the proposal was a significant step from a ministry that has traditionally lacked specific goals and a way of measuring whether they are being achieved. “BMZ strategies have not always been really strategies, but more of a watch list of the things that Germany does,” said Raimund Zühr, project manager at SEEK Development, a Berlin-based consulting group. “For the first time, it seems to be a real willingness, at the BMZ political leadership level, to prioritize and also take into consideration the consequences.” Streamlining BMZ 2030 does not propose cutting Germany’s official development assistance — which is currently the second-highest globally, at $25 billion in 2018 — but instead streamlining how and where that money is spent in a bid for greater effectiveness. BMZ currently channels bilateral aid to 50 countries through national programs. An additional 35 countries receive support through regional or thematic efforts. Under the new strategy, the overall number of countries receiving support will be cut to 60. “Reducing the total number of countries on the list will enable us to deploy our development cooperation funding in a more targeted and efficient way, thereby increasing its effectiveness,” the BMZ spokesperson told Devex. The criteria for determining which countries would continue to receive support consist of a mix of factors, such as need, governance standards, and strategic issues, including political interest, historic links to Germany, and reform efforts taking place within the country. After being briefed on the strategy by Development Minister Gerd Müller, the development spokesperson for The Left party’s parliamentary group, Helin Evrim Sommer, said that several low-income countries are among those slated to lose critical bilateral support. She issued a statement calling the strategy a “sham package” that saw Germany shrinking from its obligations to help the world’s poorest. Political parties also raised concerns about the decision to shift most of the country’s spending on health and basic education to multilateral agencies. While acknowledging the importance of multilateral cooperation, Ottmar von Holtz, a Green party parliamentarian who sits on the economic cooperation and development committee, told Devex that “the two approaches should not be played off against one another.” He cautioned that Germany might be forfeiting all oversight of the global health agenda to institutions that are tailored to respond to singular problems. That may hinder solutions for more complex challenges, such as strengthening health systems or delivering universal basic health coverage. “We strongly advise the German government to develop sustainable exit strategies with the respective partners and to make use of their seat in the boards to advocate for the needs of the partner countries,” von Holtz said. The BMZ spokesperson said the shift would not “change the significance of these topics for development cooperation,” though Zühr said they have not been at the center of Germany’s recent development efforts in any case. By handing responsibility for these areas over to multilateral institutions, BMZ and its partners could free up capacity to focus on ministerial priorities, such as vocational training and nutrition, Zühr said. The spokesperson also called for the private sector and civil society groups to continue to promote health and primary education, though civil society organizations pushed back against this expectation. “We are not there to step in if the government is leaving a country,” said Heike Spielmans, managing director of VENRO, an umbrella organization for German aid groups. “Our role is not to supplement government programs.” While BMZ has said the new strategy will not directly impact CSOs, Spielmans said there are still concerns about indirect consequences, particularly in countries where the government will draw down its development programs. “There is still a need for strong political support from the ministry for our work,” she said. “There has to be somebody at the embassy who takes care of the concerns of NGOs and civil society, mainly on the political level.” More to come Many details about the strategy are still outstanding, including the timeline for its implementation, although Zühr said he expected it will have implications for next year’s budget, which is now in the early stages of formulation. The Finance Ministry released initial budget caps last week, pegging BMZ’s 2021 budget at €10.88 billion ($11.99 billion) — the same amount BMZ received this year, though there is still an opportunity for the numbers to shift during upcoming parliamentary negotiations. Observers will be watching closely to see if spending on the health and basic education sectors take a hit, or if every euro taken from bilateral efforts in those sectors shows up in multilateral commitments. Now that BMZ has committed to focusing its work to improve its effectiveness, Zühr is also waiting for the ministry to tie specific goals and indicators to the new strategy so there will be a way to measure if it is successful. “A real results-based approach to German development cooperation is highly necessary,” he said. “It’s great that there’s now support for it, but everyone is waiting to see whether it will actually happen or not.”