Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2018

In 2018, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs had a total budget of 44,5 million euros earmarked for budget item 01.7.35.060. The year was dominated by the response to humanitarian crises, especially in Syria and Yemen, but also in the Sahel and in the Lake Chad region. For all these humanitarian contexts, the government made substantial funding available to implement Luxembourg NGO emergency projects and to support humanitarian operations by the UN agencies and the ICRC.

This budget was disbursed on supporting humanitarian interventions in various countries in the three phases of a humanitarian crisis, in line with the three pillars set out in Luxembourg’s humanitarian action strategy: emergency relief, transition and prevention. If we add to this the contributions for humanitarian purposes included in the multilateral and Development Cooperation Fund budget line, the total amount allocated to humanitarian interventions in 2018 amounted to 48,53 million euros.

Luxembourg continued to honour the strategic partnership agreements concluded in 2017 for a period of four years with the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Thus a considerable part of the humanitarian action budget was allocated to the UN agencies and the ICRC. These agreements enable Luxembourg to respond to international requirements in terms of budget predictability and to ensure continued support for humanitarian activities.

In addition to the annual financial support, the agreements with the WFP, the UNHCR and OCHA also specify the possibility of using the emergency.lu platform and of developing solutions in the field of information and communication technologies, thereby making an innovative contribution to the effectiveness of the coordination of relief efforts on the ground. 

To further enhance the potential for innovations as an essential catalyst of improved humanitarian responses, in 2018 Luxembourg concluded a new partnership with the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Innovation Accelerator based in Munich. As part of this new partnership, Luxembourg is supporting the WFP in its research into new innovative solutions required to achieve the “Zero Hunger” Sustainable Development Goal. In particular, part of Luxembourg’s financial contribution has been invested in the “Building Blocks” project, for two camps for Syrian refugees in Jordan. It is a question of strengthening the new methods of money transfer to reduce the associated costs and risks while ensuring timely distribution. The other part of Luxembourg’s contribution has been invested to support innovation in itself and to support the WFP in identifying new projects.

As in previous years, the Luxembourg government made an annual contribution to the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which enables the UN to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches people affected by global crises as quickly as possible. In addition, in order to contribute better to address the most urgent needs in Yemen, in 2017 Luxembourg contributed for the first time to the Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund managed by the UN.

In March 2018, Luxembourg submitted its second report on the implementation of the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit held in May 2016. Luxembourg pledged support for all the fundamental commitments at the heart of the “Agenda for Humanity” and made 45 national commitments. Luxembourg also maintained its participation in the “Grand Bargain” initiative, an agreement between implementing agencies and donors to make humanitarian aid more effective, in particular by making it more predictable.