Luxembourg: ‘3rd most generous donor’

Flag of Luxembourg. The country is among the top DAC donors for 2011, according to a recently published review by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Photo by: James Cridland/ CC BY

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:

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.

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