Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2012

2012 is a special year for Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation as it marks several important anniversaries. The original legal basis establishing the grounds for our activities first came into being thirty years ago. In 2012 we readapted and modernised the legal framework for development cooperation and humanitarian affairs. As a result, humanitarian affairs are now rightfully recognised as an integral part of our development cooperation work. The sectors that the Cooperation Fund can support have expanded, as have the horizontal themes. Precise criteria and rules have provided greater transparency of our collaboration with development NGOs. Following a consultation process at various levels, the Parliament adopted the modified law on 29 March, 2012; the grand ducal regulations outlining the application of this law were published on 7 August. Although some might have preferred for the revision process to extend further, we now have an adequate basis with which to work, including the reinforcement of policy coherence for development.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee for Development Cooperation that was put in place by this new legal basis is precisely the mechanism that will ensure coherence for development. The committee, which has its own permanent secretariat, was formed at the end of October. Two meetings were held in 2012, including one with the Cercle de Coopération, a platform for Luxembourg’s development NGOs, in December. Regular meetings are scheduled for 2013, and should take place at two-month intervals.

I would like to emphasise that, for the first time, policy coherence for development, which we all wished for and expected, is now an integral part of this annual report for 2012. Based on the committee’s work, my role consists of drawing my fellow ministers’ attention to potential inconsistencies and reviewing the work of Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation with a critical eye.

2012 also marks 20 years since Prime Minister Santer’s declaration at the General Assembly of the United Nations that Luxembourg was committed to devoting 0.7 % of its Gross National Income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance (ODA) by the year 2000 at the very latest. This target has not only successfully been reached but exceeded. The Luxembourg government committed itself to maintaining this proportional effort at 1 % of GNI for the period 2009-2014. This target was respected in 2012, as it was in previous years. Statistically Luxembourg now figures as one of the top member countries of the Development Aid Committee of the OECD. I am tremendously pleased with Luxembourg’s commitment, but the overall decline in the European Union’s ODA saddens me greatly, particularly given the joint commitments that we undertook in 2005 and the significant needs of the world’s most impoverished countries.

Government deliberations about the preparation of the budgets for 2013 and 2014 reaffirmed Luxembourg’s unwavering commitment to reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Some of our budgetary provisions were subjected to a more thorough examination than previously, such as our running costs which we, in conjunction with other public administrations and services, have limited to zero growth.

ODA is certainly not the only form of financial support for development, but it is the only means of attaining a tremendous ripple effect, catalysing other types of financing including from development banks, the private sector and the countries in question. Furthermore, these funds enable international agencies and organisations to respond in challenging environments and dramatic humanitarian circumstances.

At a time of increasing debate about redefining ODA and the new methods of financing, we must remain a vigilant but open and committed partner. This also applies to the monitoring of Rio+20 and the work on the post-2015 targets for the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. Being open to new components and partners in the post-2015 process is certainly essential, but the result cannot be a reduction in our efforts. In view of the upcoming deadlines in 2013, a concerted dialogue between my services and the Ministry of Sustainable Development will be necessary in order to act consistently both within EU bodies and internationally.

In 2012 Luxembourg’s development cooperation was subjected to its 5th peer review by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), an organisation that Luxembourg has been a member of for 20 years. Within this context, the DAC’s examiners met with Members of Parliament and the Cercle de Coopération of development NGOs, and conducted a field visit to Laos to obtain a more detailed picture of our work on the ground. The President of the DAC as well as the Member States praised Luxembourg’s development cooperation during the discussion of the peer review’s final report in Paris in November. The review was generally positive and confirmed that, in terms of development cooperation, Luxembourg is “a generous participant with a solid and institutional framework”.

Controlling the quality of aid and its effectiveness, as outlined in the Busan partnership in December 2011, remains an on-going effort that applies to all of Luxembourg’s development cooperation activities. With this in mind, I was eager for this annual report to present the programmes and projects that we implement with our partner countries in accordance with the principles adopted at Busan, thereby demonstrating our willingness to participate in this form of far-reaching partnership between the North and the South.
In terms of oversight, I am pleased with the Audit Committee’s special report on Luxembourg’s development cooperation, dated 23 May 2012, which concluded that there were no significant management issues, although certain items were identified that needed addressing.

In 2012, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation finished elaborating its operational framework by adopting a general strategy and complementary sectorial and thematic transversal strategies, including for example strategies concerning microfinance or fragile states. This framework is essential because it guides our activities, while leaving sufficient flexibility to deal with unexpected situations such as the political crisis in Mali.

In my speech to the Chamber of Deputies last 1 October emphasised that development cooperation is, I believe, a simultaneous pledge of solidarity towards the poorest partners and an acknowledgement of our international responsibilities. In times of economic crisis, when the temptation to turn inwards and prioritise national issues is heightened, it is imperative for Luxembourg to avoid that path and to show that this is not our understanding of coexisting at the international level. We must remain faithful to our commitment. I am convinced that this belief is shared by the vast majority of our citizens.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of Luxembourg’s development cooperation actors and partners, and particularly the NGO volunteers, for their continued commitment, without whom Luxembourg’s development cooperation would not be what it is.

Upon leaving government, I would like to wish my successor Marc Spautz every success with his new responsibilities and to reassure him how delighted I am to leave Luxembourg’s development cooperation in such good hands.

Marie-Josée Jacobs
Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs *

* in office until 29 April 2013