How much aid goes to East Africa?

East Africa is known for its vibrant landscapes, including Mount Kilimanjaro, Lake Victoria, and Mount Kenya. It’s a part of Africa that houses the most expansive plateaus and the Kenyan and Ethiopian highlands. The region is also characterized by cultural richness, with over 160 different ethnicities populating it. Despite this, East Africa is plagued with inequality. Wealth is concentrated within a handful of the population in the region, while the poorer individuals are barely getting by. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the region lost an estimated $15.7 billion in GDP. Governments within the region have been forced to prioritize repaying external debts rather than investing in health to assist the citizens. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development classifies these countries as part of the Eastern Africa region: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In this analysis, we’ll use the creditor reporting system dataset from OECD to see how much bilateral official development assistance, or ODA, the countries in this region received in 2022. On top of this, we’ll also be using the country development finance data from the International Aid Transparency Initiative which gives us data on multilateral spending toward the region. What does the data tell us? Overall, the region received $15.1 billion in bilateral ODA funding in 2022, a decrease from 2021 which saw it receive $16.6 billion. Ethiopia received the most ODA with $2.8 billion, followed by South Sudan with $1.5 billion. Kenya comes next, also with $1.5 billion, then Mozambique with $1.3 billion, and Uganda with $1.2 billion. The top donor to the region is the United States, contributing a total of $7.3 billion. The U.S. gave the most to Ethiopia with $1.4 billion, South Sudan with $952.3 million, and Uganda with $644 million. The next top donor is Germany, giving $1.4 billion overall. It gave the most to Ethiopia with $252.5 million. It gave $213.7 million to projects for multiple countries, which the OECD labels as “Eastern Africa, unspecified.” Then Somalia followed with $133.4 million. France followed Germany with $862.2 million, giving the most to Tanzania with $143.5 million, Kenya with $116.9 million, and then Ethiopia with $103.2 million. Japan followed France with $807.1 million and then the United Kingdom with $749 million. According to the data, among sectors, emergency assistance received the most funding with $4.1 billion. Ethiopia received the most of this sector’s funding with $1.2 billion, and the United States gave the most with $2.8 billion. The population policies/programs and reproductive health sector came next with $2.4 billion. The United States contributed the most to this sector with $2 billion, followed by the United Kingdom with $105.6 million. Mozambique received the most of the money given to this sector with $396.9 million, followed by Tanzania with $347.8 million. Projects that strictly concern the health sector came next with $1.9 billion, with the United States again as the top donor with $1 billion, followed by France with $151.7 million, and Canada with $132.5 million. Uganda received the most for this sector with $240.4 million and Ethiopia followed with $215.5 million. The government and civil society sector followed with $1.1 billion, with Somalia receiving the most aid for this sector with almost $146 million, and then Sudan with $129.9 million. The education sector came next, receiving $889.3 million, and then the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector with $813.5 million. Who were the top implementers? Based on the data from IATI, donors, both public and private, gave a total of $39.2 billion in aid. This number differs from what OECD reported as it includes private development finance. IATI classifies their data by reporting organization and receiving organization. In terms of reporting organization, the World Bank reported the most aid to East Africa with $7.34 billion. Then the U.S. Agency for International Development followed with $7.31 billion. When it comes to recipient organizations, there’s a healthy mix of international organizations and government institutions. The World Food Programme got the most with $6.8 billion. There is a significant amount of data from IATI that does not indicate any recipient organization and there are some items which have been redacted. This means that around $4.9 billion is unaccounted for. UNICEF followed with $2.4 billion and then the United Nations Development Programme with $678.5 million. According to IATI data, Ethiopia received the most aid with $7.9 billion, which is followed by Somalia with $3.9 billion, and then Tanzania with $3.6 million. Sector-wise, emergency response received the most aid with $9.8 billion, then health followed with $6.2 billion, and population policies/programs & reproductive health with $4.1 billion. Not all projects are reported specifically. There are around $3.6 billion worth of projects without a specified sector. Government and civil society came next with $2.2 billion, and then the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector with $1.9 billion. Try out Devex Pro Funding today with a free five-day trial and explore funding opportunities from over 850 sources in addition to our analysis and news content.