This morning, the Commission adopted the Annual Report 2010 on the EU’s development and external assistance policies online. Just another report you may think, but trust me, there is lots to learn in it.
Did you know for instance that, in 2009, the EU provided more than half of global Development assistance (ODA) to more than 150 countries, amounting to €48.2 billion?
But as well as simply reporting the numbers, equally important is how this aid is delivered and how well we respond to the needs. How did we face the triple financial, economic and food crises? Well, for example, we launched a €1 billion food facility to tackle food insecurity in the countries most at need, while the Vulnerability-Flex mechanism supported ACP countries in making up budget shortfalls. Funding of €2.4 billion annually for 2010-2012 was also made available to assist developing countries in adapting to climate change.
And these efforts are producing results. Let me give you just a few examples:
Over the last decade, Namibia has made impressive progress in the water sector. We supported the country by providing €11 million of budget support to Namibia’s rural water sector, which helped to increase rural access to drinking water by 10% from 2006 to 2008.
Thanks to our support, education is improving in Ecuador: the ministry of education provided 11 380 additional places for children, contracted 17 000 new teachers and plans to construct 200 schools in the coming three years. More than 145 000 beneficiaries have been taught to read and write.
We also supported Zambia’s public health care facilities with concrete results: the percentage of people with HIV/AIDS who have received antiretroviral drugs grew up from 32.9% in 2006 to 66.8% in 2008.
It’s a time to look back and reflect on the real progress that has been made, but it’s also a time to look ahead and see what can be done better. This is what I’m working on at the moment, to propose a revised European Consensus for Development, because we can’t take things for granted… We have to adapt our policy and vision to the new realities of the world.
In the meantime, enjoy reading the report!
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Il est important de changer de méthode;car continuer sur cette démarche ,cela suppose qu’il existe au moins une entrave à ne pas accélérer le rythme et qui explique la poursuite des efforts d’aide à l’Afrique, à la même cadence. Or, l’Afrique est en situation de détresse. Une proposition de la commission ,Mr Piebalgs,est d’établir un pont direct avec tous les pays africains(car tout ce monde souffre) par une sorte de banque alimentaire liée directement à l’Union européenne(dont beaucoup de commissaires sont intéressés et concernés) ;la construction de ces banques est une chose publique indispensable mais cette proposition (par la suite)reste insuffisante car il faut orienter l’aide à l’Afrique vers sa libération de toutes les entraves qui bloquent sa marche vers un développement durable,juste,à court terme… Merci,Mr.Piebalgs ,et de publier cette suggestion et de votre réponse ,si cela vous est possible.RE13HGMT28
Je suis d’accord avec vous
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