AidWatch 2024 – Whose Interests Does Official Development Assistance Truly Serve?

The headline figures for Official Development Assistance (ODA) tell an alarming story. Half a century after the deadline by which “economically advanced countries” committed that their ODA would amount to at least 0.7% of their GNI, European ODA levels continue to fall short. This continues a decades-long trend of under-delivery, which we estimate means a loss of over EUR 1.2 trillion of ODA for partner countries since the original 1975 deadline.

The headline figures also conceal over EUR 18.9 billion of ODA from the 27 EU Member States that did not meet the basic ODA eligibility criteria set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This means that in 2023, more than one in every five euro of European Member States’ reported ODA was not ODA at all.

There are additional ODA areas for which it is highly likely that spending decisions are motivated primarily by EU Member States’ short-term commercial or political self-interests and therefore that ODA eligibility criteria are not met. 

This year’s AidWatch report builds on the new methodology introduced in 2023, and explores:

• The extent of inflated European ODA – that is, European ODA that does not meet the OECD’s own ODA definition and eligibility criteria.
• How far European Member States are assuming their wider responsibility to maximise the impact of their ODA.