| European Commission adopts Annual Report on development aid |
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“The Commission has acted rapidly to address the problems caused by the crises of 2008-2009 and to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable countries. It has shown the capacity to innovate and to adapt its aid instruments to maximise the impact of its support. This makes a real difference to people's lives”, stated Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. In his blog, Commissioner Piebalgs added a few examples to illustrate the reality of EU development cooperation behind the figures. He writes: “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.” Piebalgs concludes: “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.” Sources:  |
Last week the European Commission adopted its Annual Report on the EU’s development co-operation and external assistance in 2009, covering programmes in 140 countries. The report notes the establishment of a range of new financial instruments to address the great development challenges of 2008/9, such as: the EU Food Facility, set up to provide relief to those suffering from the food crisis; a €2.4 billion annual fund to assist countries with climate change adaptation; and budget support to 15 countries in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific to help them through the effects of the global financial crisis, via the €236 million “Vulnerability FLEX” instrument.
