If the Slovak Republic had not included the amount of 9.42 million in the official development cooperation. euros in the form of donated vaccines to partner countries to fight the covid-19 pandemic, the value of foreign aid to the Slovak Republic last year would be even lower than in 2020. The civil society report AidWatch from the workshop of the Umbrella platform shows how the year 2021 in the system of official development cooperation of the Slovak Republic was spent in the spirit of missed opportunities. Its conclusions were subsequently underlined by the humanitarian crisis as a result of the war in Ukraine.
AidWatch is a report of the Platform of Development Organizations - Umbrella, which describes and evaluates the system of development cooperation - ODA SR (from English Official development assistance), including its processes, milestones, as well as set and achieved goals in 2021. It thus offers a critical view, but also recommendations for the field of development cooperation and global education on the part of civil society.
SR does not fulfill its international obligation for a long time
In 2021, the Slovak Republic spent 131 million on development cooperation. euro The sum of 9.42 mil. euros in the form of donated vaccines to partner countries to fight the covid-19 pandemic. Without this amount, the nominal value of Slovakia's aid would be even lower than in 2020. Thus, the Slovak Republic did not come close to its international commitment to spend on development cooperation in the amount of 0.33% of the gross national income by 2030 - 190 million was missing from its fulfillment. euro In order to achieve this commitment, it would have to continuously increase development cooperation by approx. 45 million per year. euro
The executive secretary of Umbrella and the author of the AidWatch report, Daniel Kaba, also points out that "the actual bilateral / bilateral aid, which was fully directed by the Slovak Republic (after deduction of contributions to international organizations), and thanks to which Slovak entities could implement their development projects, was equal to the amount of 17.3 million euros. Since its volume is not growing, it significantly affects the capacities of actors in the implementation of development cooperation in the world. Together with rapidly growing inflation threatens that the real impact of foreign aid under the SlovakAid brand in partner countries will be lower and lower."
The war in Ukraine confirmed the need for a humanitarian strategy of the Slovak Republic
Although AidWatch is primarily devoted to the evaluation of the Slovak Republic's development cooperation for the year 2021, the report could not omit the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine after it was attacked by Russia in February 2022. This crisis also held up a mirror to the Slovak humanitarian aid system and exposed problematic areas in the cooperation between the state and civil society. The head of Umbrella, Daniel Kaba, explains that in addition to the low allocation, the state's response to the provision of humanitarian aid directly in Ukraine was slow: "The humanitarian call for submission of aid projects to Ukraine was announced only 3 months after the start of the war, and the actual implementation began after 5 months of the war. The Slovak Republic needs an appropriate tool for implementing humanitarian projects, and the creation of a national humanitarian strategy simply cannot be avoided." Although the overall communication between civil society and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is relatively open, many challenges and opportunities to strengthen cooperation remain untapped. That is also why the Aidwatch report contains: a clear traffic light for monitoring the fulfillment of selected recommendations of the Committee for Development Assistance of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/DAC) by the Slovak Republic, as well as recommendations for the quality of official development cooperation, as well as the reporting of official development cooperation and its volume. The Umbrella Platform recommends: increasing the foreign aid budget to 0.21% of GNI in 2024; systematically link bilateral and multilateral development cooperation of the Slovak Republic with EU institutions; and adopt solutions to mitigate the consequences of high inflation on Slovak actors of development cooperation and the effect of their interventions in the world. Download and subscribe to the AidWatch report from the Umbrella workshop, possibly on the Umbrella website or directly here: https://ambrela.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Ambrela_report_Aidwatch_za_rok_2021.pdf
About the Umbrella platform as the creator of the AidWatch report: The platform of development organizations - Umbrella unites and represents the interests of 29 important Slovak organizations (mostly non-governmental) that operate in the field of development cooperation, humanitarian aid or global education. Its main pillars include advocacy, capacity building of member organizations and public awareness of global challenges and the need for solidarity with those in need. Ambrela is also a founding member of the Confederation of European Non-Governmental Development and Humanitarian Organizations (CONCORD Europe) and thus participates in promoting the interests of development cooperation and fulfilling the Global Goals of Agenda 2030 at the level of the European Union. The AidWatch report was developed in consultation with Umbrella members and observers.
Text and photo: Umbrella www.ambrela.org