The European Year for Development

Designated as the European Year for Development, 2015 is shaping up to be a decisive year for EU development cooperation and humanitarian aid. Each year since 1983, the European Union chooses a special theme aimed at raising the awareness of European citizens and national governments of a particular issue. Events, activities and media campaigns related to the chosen topic are then held throughout the year — with some European years leading to breakthrough policy initiatives. Marking the first time an external policy is at the center of the EU’s attention, the European Year for Development reflects how international solidarity continues to lie close to the heart of EU officials and citizens. Indeed, a recent Eurobarometer survey revealed that 85 percent of Europeans remain supportive of foreign aid in spite of a stubborn financial crisis. With each month of the European Year for Development set to focus on a specific subtopic, Devex decided to take a closer look at the 12 development themes that are slated to be at the heart of European debate and decision-making in 2015. January: Europe in the world With major global agreements on a development agenda to replace the Millennium Development Goals, financing for development and climate change set to take place, 2015 presents a prime opportunity for the new European Commission, led by Jean-Claude Juncker, to prove the bloc’s strengths and relevance in international cooperation. To do so, the 28-member bloc will have to give itself the means to fulfil its ambitions. After weeks of deadlock, the European Union’s three main branches of power reached an agreement on a draft 2015 budget in late December — a crucial step to avoid a major budget crisis that threatened to undermine EU aid disbursements in 2015. However, recurring and snowballing debts from past years could still jeopardize the EU’s humanitarian and development programs. The European Parliament has tasked the European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — to come up with a plan to sustainably reduce the backlog of bills without having to drastically reduce the aid budget. Such a decision will be essential to maintain the international credibility of the 28-member bloc, whose reputation as a global development actor has already been tarnished by its failure to meet its commitment to spend 0.7 percent of gross national income on foreign aid. February: Education Over the past decade, EU efforts have enabled 14 million children to gain access to education. But as 58 million children continue to be left out of school, achieving universal primary education by the end of 2015 remains a daunting task. Already the largest donor to the Global Partnership for Education, the EU’s commitment to education is set to continue in 2015 — a welcome move given declining global aid flows for education. In June 2014, the EU pledged an additional 375 million euros ($443.9 million) to support the provision of basic education in more than 50 countries over the next seven years, bringing total EU funding for education up to 4.5 billion euros by 2020. March: Women and girls During the past 10 years, the EU has been increasingly active in promoting gender equality in its development cooperation and humanitarian aid. Illustrative examples include the 2005 EU Consensus on Development, which identified gender equality as one of the five essential principles of development cooperation, and the EU Gender Action Plan for 2010-2015. However, many in the global development community point to the persistent gap between EU policy and practice. Actual implementation of gender mainstreaming policies remains slow and patchy, and gender equality continues to be viewed as a stand-alone objective largely disconnected from other development activities. As the Gender Action Plan is set to expire at the end of the year, the arrival of the new EU leadership provides a unique opportunity to accelerate support for gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights. April: Health Health is a long-standing focal sector of the EU’s development agenda. Over the past seven years, some 3.2 billion euros have been spent in bilateral aid to help partner countries broaden access to basic health services and improve national health policies. The Agenda for Change — the EU’s guiding policy for aid programming — stipulates that at least 20 percent of the 2014-2020 EU development budget will be allocated to human development, including health. In the wake of the latest Ebola outbreak in West Africa, health systems strengthening has reemerged as a top priority for the 28-member bloc. Currently advocating for a more comprehensive approach to health, the EU has recently promised a 61 million euro financial assistance package to link health, sanitation and environmental development programs in West Africa, the bulk of which is set to go to Guinea. May: Peace and security As the scale and complexity of the crises in Iraq, Syria, Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Ebola-hit countries continue to grow, the EU’s new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini will spend much of 2015 coping with this multitude of fragile situations. Acknowledging the complexity and fast-changing nature of current crises, Mogherini was quick to state her intention to ensure better integration of the EU’s external action and development policies through better coordination with Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica and Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides. Skepticism of the EU’s ability to adopt a more comprehensive approach that links emergency assistance, long-term development and international stability persist, but many close observers view Mogherini’s announcement as a step in the right direction. June: Sustainable green growth, decent jobs and businesses In the past couple of years, the EU has increasingly signaled its changed attitude and relationship toward private sector involvement in its development and humanitarian aid efforts — a trend that many expect the Juncker commission to sharpen. In a recent policy paper, the commission outlined 12 concrete actions it plans to take to support the private sector in fostering inclusive growth and advancing the economic, social and environmental welfare of the poorest. However, with fundamental questions remaining about how the strategy will be play out in practice, the commission has yet to explain how EU support for the private sector will be regulated, implemented and synchronized with traditional aid efforts. July: Children and youth As 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, hopes are high that the new commission will address the 28-member bloc’s previous shortcomings in this area, notably through the adoption of a holistic human rights framework and specific policies on children’s rights. Indeed, recent years have seen Brussels fail to live up to its commitments to children. As an example, many of the proposed actions contained in the Human Rights Strategic Framework and accompanying action plan — such as the campaign aimed at eliminating violence against children — were never implemented. August: Humanitarian aid The European Union as a whole is the world's biggest humanitarian aid donor. Together, member states and European institutions contribute more than half of official global humanitarian aid. Determined to uphold the EU’s humanitarian stature, EU humanitarian aid chief Stylianides promised during his confirmation hearing to continue providing assistance to those in need, all the while ensuring improved coherence of EU policies and neutrality of humanitarian interventions from foreign policy considerations. Designated as the EU’s new Ebola czar, Stylianides’ main priority for the year will also be to guarantee that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa doesn’t slip off the bloc’s agenda. Other protracted or forgotten crises — such as in Syria, Iraq, Palestinian territories, Mali, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Colombia — are also among the Cypriot’s main priorities for EU humanitarian assistance. September: Demography and migration As the number of migrants and refugees fleeing turmoil in Africa and the Middle East continues to rise, migration is one of the most pressing issues facing the EU. Well-coordinated migration policies are necessary to prevent deadly incidents like the Lampedusa boat tragedy of October 2013, but also to help preserve the EU’s economic development. To date, however, Europe's collective response to its growing migration crisis has been largely ad hoc. Although a so-called Task Force Mediterranean has been set up to better address migratory and asylum flows, conditions around the EU Mediterranean border continue to worsen. Proposals for more legal paths for migrants have also failed to gain much traction, underlining the urgent need to jump-start political dialogue and cooperation between Brussels and recipient countries in the coming year. October: Food security In recent years, the EU has become a prominent champion of food security, committing as much as 3.5 billion euros in 2013 to help partner countries reduce the number of stunted children worldwide by 7 million over the next decade. Now, with the implementation of the 2014 action plan on nutrition, the Juncker commission is expected to focus its nutrition and food security efforts in least-developed countries. But in spite of political commitments at the highest level, food security is a key policy area in which the EU's commitment to policy coherence will be put to the test, as the bloc’s efforts in the sector are still hampered by its internal policies on agriculture, biofuels, finance and trade. November: Sustainable development and climate action The coming year is seminal for the world’s future, with states from across the globe expected to adopt a sustainable development framework to replace the MDGs, as well as a legally binding global treaty on climate change. With sustainable development and the fight against climate change part of the Lisbon Treaty’s overarching objectives, the EU is likely to play an important role in both negotiation processes. In the past decade, the Barroso commission had been successful in fostering a strong sense of urgency and commitment among member states on the post-2015 period and the issue of climate action. Now, the Juncker leadership will have to demonstrate its ability to play a catalytic role in building international consensus and bridging the gap between developing and developed countries. This is amid concerns that Juncker’s decision to merge the climate action and energy portfolios under a single commissioner undermines the EU’s credibility as a global leader on climate action. December: Human rights and governance Since its emergence as an international donor, the EU has progressively recognized the importance of human rights and good governance to achieve development outcomes. But it wasn’t before 2011, when the Agenda for Change was adopted, that human rights and democratic governance gained a central position in the EU’s development cooperation agenda. With the promotion of the rule of law and respect for human rights among the objectives of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, the EU is expected to continue providing substantial funding to the area of governance over the next year. Check out more insights and analysis provided to hundreds of Executive Members worldwide, and subscribe to the Development Insider to receive the latest news, trends and policies that influence your organization.