Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2018

2018 was marked by the increased implementation of the multi-annual Indicative Cooperation Programmes (ICP) in most of the seven priority partner countries of Luxembourg’s development cooperation. While ensuring we have a presence on three continents, Luxembourg is continuing to pursue an approach of geographical concentration by maintaining a limited number of countries with which it has preferred long-term relationships, i.e. Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Mali, Niger and Senegal in West Africa, Laos in South-East Asia and Nicaragua in Central America.

At the institutional level, four partnership committee meetings were held in Luxembourg, with the authorities of Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Laos and Niger respectively. In principle these meetings are held annually between the governments of Luxembourg and its partner countries in order to take stock of the cooperation relationships and activities carried out and underway and also, on that basis, to identify the strategic priorities and any operational adjustments for future actions.

Using the same approach of capitalisation and projection into the future, the collaborative action by Luxembourg’s development cooperation with its priority partner countries was underpinned by the launch or finalisation of five mid-term Indicative Cooperation Programme reviews of the partnership and cooperation relationships between Luxembourg and Cabo Verde, Laos, Nicaragua, Mali and Niger. It should be noted that, under an approach of integration, mutual capitalisation and an even deeper drive for efficiency and effectiveness, these reviews are now being carried out in a cascading framework that initially involves technical evaluations of the bilateral projects and programmes of the ICPs; the conclusions and recommendations of those reviews are then fed into the ICP reviews that are of a politico-strategic nature.

These reviews, which are occurring at a pivotal moment in the execution of the Programmes, are also the first formal opportunity for assessing if and to what extent Luxembourg’s development cooperation and its partners are aligned with and contributing to the implementation of the United Nations’ Agenda 2030, its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the principle of “leaving no one behind” adopted in 2015, including the recommendations of the peer review of Luxembourg performed by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (DAC-OECD) in 2017. Furthermore, some of these reviews already took account of the priorities and principles of Luxembourg’s positioning and commitment included in the new general strategy of Luxembourg’s development cooperation (“The road to 2030”) adopted by the government council in September 2018. The performance of the mid-term reviews and the recommendations drawn from them also marked the start of reflection and analysis ahead of the identification and planning phases of further ICP programming cycles with these countries, which will probably be launched in 2021.

At the geographical level, there will in particular be a continuation of the consolidation and consistency of Luxembourg’s activities in its partner countries in West Africa and the Sahel – especially in the context of its long-term presence in the sub-region – and also as part of the extension of its work at the political and diplomatic level and in the field of defence, as demonstrated by the fact that Luxembourg joined the Sahel Alliance in 2018. At the internal level, it should also be noted that the Luxembourg government took measures in 2018 to enhance the security and safety of staff in the embassies and Luxembourg’s development cooperation offices in the countries of the Sahel.

For the priority partner countries, one of the headline events of 2018 was the official visit to Senegal by His Royal Highness the Grand Duke from 21 to 23 January. Alongside the Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Romain Schneider, the Minister for the Environment, Carole Dieschbourg, and the Secretary of State for the Economy, Francine Closener, His Royal Highness delegation was also accompanied by a large economic task force consisting of representatives of the Luxembourg private sector. The official visit also enabled the signature on the fringe of the visit of the fourth Indicative Cooperation Programme between Luxembourg and Senegal. Covering the 2018-2022 period, this fourth-generation ICP in particular enables the strategic positioning of Luxembourg’s development cooperation to be enhanced through a change from five to two priority intervention sectors – “health and social protection” and “vocational and technical training and getting young people into work.”

In Mali, where ICP III (2015-2019) is in progress, 2018 was the 20th anniversary of the signature of the general cooperation agreement between the Malian and Luxembourg authorities. Along with enhanced work on governance, compliance with human rights and international humanitarian law in this Sahel country, Luxembourg deepened its commitment in the fields of security and defence, in particular by contributing to the European Union’s civil and military support missions, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and the G5 Sahel Joint Force.

In Central America, 2018 was tarnished by the start of the social and political crisis that have shaken Nicaragua since the violent repression of demonstrations by the public in April 2018, following which Luxembourg suspended the planned signature of a new ICP and all direct disbursement of funds to the Nicaraguan authorities. In spite of a situation that remains very volatile, we have decided to maintain the presence of Luxembourg’s development cooperation in Nicaragua while also increasing our support to multilateral organisations derived from civil society that are working in particular on protecting human rights and respect for the rule of law.