Ireland continues to excel in delivering effective aid - OECD

Irish Aid targets poor people and gets to where it is needed most - OECD

Ireland continues to be a world leader in effectively tackling hunger and poverty and assisting the world’s poorest communities to survive and thrive. All Irish citizens can be immensely proud of this work and the difference it makes in the lives of the millions of people around the globe.

Ireland has played an important part in the progress seen around the world – extreme poverty has been cut in half since 1990 and 17,000 fewer children die each day. However, one in nine people worldwide remain hungry. Ireland is spending 20% of our development budget on fighting hunger and working hard to galvanise international action to end hunger. These actions have been commended by the OECD.

Ireland’s aid is fully untied and Ireland is committed to keeping it that way – OECD

The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Peer Review is the most serious, wide-ranging and in-depth review of each country’s aid programme done by peers in other Government aid programmes. 

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is a forum where the governments of 30 democracies work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation. Every four to five years, the OECD Development Assistance Committee reviews and assesses each member’s development cooperation system.

We spend around 80% of the aid budget on Sub-Saharan Africa; where it is needed most.

The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD promotes development cooperation and other policies so as to contribute to sustainable development-including pro-poor economic growth, poverty reduction and improvement of living standards in developing countries.

OECD Main Findings:

• Ireland continues to excel in delivering effective aid.

• Ireland punches above its weight on global development issues.

• Ireland’s overall vision for development cooperation is centred on fighting hunger and poverty.

• Irish Aid targets poor people and gets to where it is needed most.

• Ireland's Official Development Assistance allocations provide an excellent reflection of its policy priorities to fight hunger and poverty for vulnerable people, as well as its commitment to the MDGs and the least developed countries.

• By also focusing on inclusive economic growth as part of its development policy, Ireland hopes to strengthen capacity for trade and investment in partner countries.

• Ireland is adapting its development cooperation to a changing world – it is reinforcing the link between its development, foreign, and commercial goals, which includes promoting two way trade with Africa.

• Ireland delivers effectively on its commitment to international development and to promoting global public goods such as peace, human rights and food security.

• Irish Aid is meeting its target of spending 20% of our budget on fighting hunger.

• The focus on hunger is a legacy of the famine in Ireland in the 1840s.

• Partners value Ireland as an honest broker, and a trusted and long-term partner.

• Ireland’s aid is fully untied and Ireland is committed to keeping it that way.

• Priorities are shaped by what the Irish public supports, as well as being informed by Irish Aid’s country level experience.

• Ireland’s ODA in 2013 was 0.45% of GNI – well above the Development Assistance Committee average of 0.3%.

• Ireland remains committed to achieving the level of 0.7% as soon as economic circumstances permit.

• 52% of total ODA goes to Least Developed Countries – the largest share of any DAC member.

• In the climate of financial crisis, wide ownership and support of the aid programme across the political spectrum helped safeguard the budget from even more significant cuts.

• Ireland’s partners value our capacity to be innovative and to pilot programmes to test out new ideas.

Partners value Ireland as an honest broker, and a trusted and long-term partner - OECD

This OECD report and the recent appointment of Ireland as co-facilitators for the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals negotiations show that Ireland is valued globally as a trusted, honest broker and as a long-term partner.