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Contributions from
the Column
Monitor
Hong Kong: near failure
Strengthened individual, weakened state
Budget crisis averted
Fewer landmine victims
Health services:
passing by the poor
NGOs claim Iraq
is selling oil reserves
More people infected with HIV
French NGOs take stock
of government action
Millennium Goal still a long way off
01/2006
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[ Donor country ]
French NGOs take stock
of government action
France has significantly increased its official development assistance (ODA) since 2002, from $ 5.4 billion to 8.4 billion today. In absolute terms, the nation has moved to the third place among donor countries, behind the USA and Japan and ahead of Britain and Germany. For 2004, the ODA share of gross domestic product amounted to 0.41% (Germany: 0.28%); four years ago it was 0.32%.
But upon closer inspection, the increase proves to be all for show, as Coordination Sud, an umbrella organisation of French development NGOs, points out in a recent report on French development assistance. According to this paper, the ODA increase over the past few years is mainly based on debt relief. This policy, however, does not free up any additional funds because most of the benefiting countries would not have been able to settle the outstanding accounts anyway. According to Coordination Sud, debt relief accounted for approximately 40% of French ODA in 2003.
Accordingly, Africa’s share of French aid also increased, since most indebted countries are located on this continent. Statistically, French aid thus looks like a perfect example of orientation towards the Millennium Development Goals and a focus on Africa, just as the Gaullist government has always proclaimed. However, the non-governmental organisations wonder how the government expects to meet its target to increase ODA beyond 2007, since a decrease in debt relief is already noticeable. France will therefore have to increase the development budget. But even the ODA increase planned for 2006 consists primarily of debt relief, benefiting mainly Nigeria (¤1 billion) and Iraq (¤0.5 billion).
Furthermore, Coordination Sud blames the French government of taking into account spending that has little to do with development assistance – a practice common among other donors, too – for example, by including spending on refugees, on foreign students at domestic universities or on cultural activities abroad in the calculation. According to Coordination Sud, some 16% of French ODA is earmarked for such purposes. Therefore, “real” aid – minus debt relief and other issues – enjoys a share of only 44% in French ODA.
Coordination Sud takes stock of institutional reforms of French development cooperation in recent years. In 1998, the department responsible was incorporated into the Foreign Ministry with the aim of increasing coherence between French foreign and development policy. At the same time, the position of a junior minister in charge of development affairs (ministre délégué), and a new government agency for international cooperation and development were created. In 2004, the junior minister’s jurisdiction was expanded in a further reform step.
At the same time, however, the French development bank Agence Française de Développement (AFD) was also given more powers. The bank, which is under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, now manages areas such as health and education. Coordination Sud argues that AFD instruments are not well suited to these tasks.
The NGOs recommend that the French government should follow the example of the UK, where the Department for International Development acts as the single institution responsible for development under the leadership of a cabinet member. In addition, Coordination Sud wants the government to give NGOs a greater say in French policy.
Nathalie Gillet
On the internet:
http://www.coordinationsud.org
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