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“OECD ensures better lives for people in the developing world by tracking publicly funded aid, making sure it is invested as effectively as possible and promoting good policy.” |
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Understanding
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Strengthening the
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Improving policy
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Fifty years of progressDiscover how much ODA countries give and receive
In 2009, total net ODA from DAC members rose by just 0.7% in real terms to $119.6 billion, but increased by 6% if debt relief is excluded. The largest donors were the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Japan. Five countries exceeded the UN's target of allocating 0.7% of their gross national income to ODA: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Other OECD Development Resources
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News and EventsPortugal improving aid policies, but volume remains low29-Nov-2010 DAC Peer Review of Germany27-Oct-2010 Aid statistics : Official development assistance over 50 years15-Oct-2010
About DAC and DCDThe Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) was originally established as the secretariat of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), a forum of many of the largest public funders of aid, including 23 member states and the European Commission. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the DAC remains at the heart of DCD, offering a wealth of experience and insights into how to co-ordinate and manage publicly funded aid for greater impact. It has also played a pivotal role in forging major international development commitments, including the Millennium Development Goals and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The World Bank, IMF and UNDP participate in DAC as observers.
PARIS21 is helping nearly 120 low-income countries develop the statistical capacity needed to target and measure the impact of poverty-reduction policies – including those supported by aid – at a national, regional and local level. Established by the UN, OECD and other bodies, PARIS21 works with each country to build a National Strategy for Statistical Development (NSSD), a proven methodology for building robust statistical systems. Currently, 93% of countries that have agreed to implement an NSSD have started the process. |
Strengthening Statistical CapacityDO NOT EDIT AFTER THIS
THE DAC IN A CHANGING WORLD
For 50 years now, the DAC has grouped the world’s main donors, defining and monitoring global standards in key areas of development. The DAC is a unique forum for sharing views and exchanging lessons and has gained a reputation for neutrality and high-quality work. One of the OECD’s oldest and principal committees, it has ready access to a diverse array of policy communities.
Increasingly, the DAC looks beyond the traditional aid arena to address pressing development challenges such as climate change, conflict and fragility, and more open and fair trade.
1960
1. DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE GROUP
On 13 January 1960, the Development Assistance Group (DAG) is created as a forum for consultations among donors on assistance to developing countries. The DAG is part of an extraordinary surge in aid-related institutional developments, which have laid the foundation for the current aid system.
1961
2. DAC ESTABLISHED
Following the OECD’s entry into operation in September 1961, the DAG becomes the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), holding its first meeting on 5 October 1961. The OECD Development Department is created, consisting of two branches: the Development Finance Branch, and the Technical Co-operation Branch. The Development Finance Branch later becomes the Development Assistance Directorate (DAD, 1969), and then the Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD, 1975), which acts as the operational arm of the DAC.
1962
3. IMPROVING AID
The DAC launches regular reviews of its members’ development assistance efforts and policies. The first annual DAC High Level Meeting is convened in July to examine the conclusions of the first Aid Reviews (now known as Peer Reviews). The DAC issues agreed Directives for Reporting Aid and Resource Flows to Developing Countries on a comparable basis. The DAC Chair also issues the first annual Development Co-operation Report.
1963
4. TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF AID
The DAC adopts a Resolution on the Terms and Conditions of Aid, recommending that DAC members ensure that the terms of aid are adapted to the circumstances of each developing country or group of countries. This will serve as the basis for the first Recommendation on Financial Terms and Conditions (1965), setting the standards for official development assistance (ODA).
1965
5. AID TARGETS
With the Recommendation on Financial Terms and Conditions, the DAC introduces measures for defining what is considered aid. DAC members reaffirm their support for the target established by the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD, Geneva, Switzerland, 1964), which calls for each developed country to target 1% of “national income” as assistance to developing countries.
1966
6. REPORTING ON AID
The OECD Council approves the Expanded Reporting System on External Learning, a joint project by the OECD and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) that will serve as the basis for the Creditor Reporting System (CRS), the DAC database on individual countries’ aid activities.
1969
7. WHAT IS AID?
The DAC adopts the concept of ODA, which separates aid funds from other official flows. The annual DAC Chair’s report publishes first-time figures on ODA as a percentage of gross national product (GNP).
1972
8. TRACKING ODA
The DAC adopts a firmer definition of ODA – one that still applies today (see Box) – as part of the revised DAC Terms Recommendation (see Highlight 5), which sets an overall financial target for each DAC member’s ODA programme at 84% grant element. Special terms are recommended for least developed countries.
1974
9. UNTYING AID
Ten DAC members subscribe to a Memorandum of Understanding on Untying Bilateral Development Loans in Favour of Procurement in Developing Countries, encouraging other bilateral donors to increasingly untie their bilateral development loans.
1975
10. ENGAGING ALL ACTORS
Ten DAC members subscribe to a Memorandum of Understanding on Untying Bilateral Development Loans in Favour of Procurement in Developing Countries, encouraging other bilateral donors to increasingly untie their bilateral development loans.
