On Tuesday 19 July 2016, Luxembourg’s Minister of Coopération et de l’Action humanitaire (Cooperation and Humanitarian Action), Romain Schneider, presented the 2015 annual report to the Commission des Affaires étrangères et européennes, de la Défense, de la Coopération et de l'Immigration de la Chambre des députés (Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence, Cooperation and Immigration of the Chamber of Deputies).
The annual report is developed by the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and provides details on the use of appropriations for the Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the Fonds de la coopération au développement (Luxembourgish development cooperation Fund).
In 2015, Luxembourg confirmed its position internationally among the five donors that meet the commitment made in 1970 within the United Nations General Assembly for countries to devote at least 0.7% of their gross national product (GNP) to development. The decline of the ODA / GNP ratio to below 1% is explained by a strong revaluation of GNP during the year (+ 13%) and does not imply a decline in financial volume. In 2015, public aid to development in Luxembourg totaled to €324,941,071.
Luxembourg faced a number of challenges of a different kind in 2015, namely the European Year for Development and the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of the year. The primary objective of the Luxembourgish cooperation during the European Year for Development was to educate new audiences on development actions and the responsibility and interest of everyone. Countless events were organised by the Direction de la coopération, and in close collaboration with the civil society and institutional actors. These activities were tailored to different audiences (general public, youth, professional circles).
The annual report presents the details of cooperation in the nine countries with which Luxembourg partners (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cape Verde, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Laos, Vietnam). However, in order to focus on the least developed countries, Luxembourg cooperation is phasing out Vietnam and El Salvador in 2016, as both are now middle-income countries.
Luxembourg has the leading role of donors in the area of vocational training in Cape Verde, Senegal and Burkina Faso. In Nicaragua, Luxembourg has the leading role in the tourism sector and Kosovo in the health sector. Moreover, Niger, Denmark and Luxembourg have formalised a delegated cooperation agreement for when Luxembourg takes over the activities of the Danish cooperation in the water sector in the regions of Diffa and Zinder.
The Direction de la coopération continues its systematic approach in evaluating NGOs and indicative cooperation programs (ICPs) in Luxembourg with their partner countries.
The Luxembourgish cooperation in figures:
- The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs manages and implements 83.76% of Luxembourg's ODA;
- 73.64% of Luxembourg's ODA is dedicated to bilateral cooperation and 26.36% to multilateral cooperation;
- 13.08% went to the three phases of humanitarian assistance: emergency, transition and prevention;
- All 91 accredited NGOs manage 19.35% of Luxembourg's ODA
