Luxembourg: ‘3rd most generous donor’

Luxembourg has a “high quality” development assistance program. That’s according to Brian Atwood, chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

An OECD-DAC peer review of Luxembourg’s development policies and programs highlights the country’s commitment to maintaining its official development assistance at about 1 percent of gross national income through 2014. In 2011, the country’s ODA reached $413 million or 0.97 percent of GNI. Among OECD-DAC members, Luxembourg is the “third most generous donor as a portion of its economy,” next to Sweden and Norway.

The review also lauds the country’s humanitarian assistance and poverty reduction efforts, and its work in developing countries, five of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. Its programs in Vietnam and El Salvador are likely to end soon, the review notes, recommending that Luxembourg should ensure a “predictable and transparent” exit.

Among other recommendations to boost the “positive impact” of the country’s aid programs are:

• Ensure the work of multilateral and nongovernmental organizations it funds is complementary. Luxembourg presently funnels one-third of ODA to the former and 20 percent to NGOs.

• Expand development efforts to include advocacy for policy coherence.

• Better cooperation between the country’s Development Cooperation Directorate and the Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation — the entities in charge of policy and budget implementation, respectively.

• “Strike a balance” between each program’s scope and administration, and staff resources for greater efficiency.

Aid programs of each OECD-DAC member country undergo peer reviews every few years to find areas that need improvement and good practices worthy to be shared and emulated. The review of Luxembourg’s 2011 programs was led by examiners from Greece and Spain. The next peer review is in 2017.

Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.