How the Czech Republic Reduces Global Poverty

In September 2010, ten years have elapsed since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration. The international community representing the “developing” and the “developed” countries analyses the successes and shortcomings of the fight against poverty and the fulfilment of obligations derived from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The third monitoring and evaluating report entitled “How the Czech Republic Reduces Global Poverty” published by the Czech Forum for Development Cooperation (FoRS) points out the difference between the declared intention to eradicate poverty and the reality of the Czech official development assistance (ODA) that often contradict each other.

Decision makers of the Czech Republic have already publicly expressed their opinions on various forms of development goals prior to the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU. However, the conceptual documents of the ODA of the Czech Republic have so far failed to provide a clear profile of the MDGs, nor was a new framework strategy created, which would elaborate on the MDGs.

The volume of official development assistance is one of the indicators showing global poverty reduction. The Czech Republic increased the absolute amount of the ODA by 31 % from 3.236 billion CZK in 2005 (approx. 130 million USD) to 4.248 billion CZK in 2009 (approx. 170 million USD); nevertheless, the relative ratio against the gross national income (GNI) remained almost at a standstill at 0,12 % during the period concerned. It is already clear that the Czech Republic cannot fulfil the commitment assigned to new members of the EU12,i.e. 0.17 % of GDI in 2010. Whether the Czech Republic will noticeably advance towards the next level of commitments for the EU12, i.e. 0.33 % for the year 2015, is not clearly defined even in the new Conception of the ODA of the Czech Republic for 2010–2017.

Even though the overwhelming part of the MDGs is focused on the improvement of the bare necessities of life, such as healthcare, education and social services, according to statistics of the bilateral projects and programme support of the Czech Republic from 2005–2009, industrial development (27 %), environment (24 %) and agriculture (14 %) have predominated. On the other hand education (9 %), health care (5%) and social development (5%) have received a lower budget. The support of the Czech export interests was pointed out by the civil society and academic circles, and also by the fact that the two priority recipient countries of the ODA are, at the same time, the priority countries of the Czech Export Strategy for 2006–2010. This pragmatic approach was also reflected in the territorial focus of the ODA. During the last five years, the majority of aid was directed at the more developed countries in South-eastern and Eastern Europe (33%) while only 14 % was send to the poor sub-Saharan Africa.

Aside from the attention paid to Africa, the Millennium Declaration is also concerned with the support for the least developed countries (LDCs), which should receive the ODA equal to 0,15 - 0,20% of GNI, i.e. 21 - 29 % of the Czech ODA, taking into account the 0,17% commitment for 2010. The proportion of the Czech ODA financial amount heading to the LDCs was significantly enlarged from 8 % in 2005 to 45 % in 2008. Detailed analyses show that this enlargement was caused by incorporating a part of military costs of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan, whose civil part accounts for only 8 %. The reduction of poverty is also aggravated by the fact that the bilateral ODA has been hitherto tied; thus, only the Czech subjects could implement bilateral projects and export their know-how, products and technologies. In other words, despite the basic goal stated in the conceptual documents as global poverty eradication, the Czech Republic has so far considered its political-economic interests instead.

The reality of the ODA is in contrast with the Czech public opinion. The main source of motivation for providing aid is the support of the people in need and poverty reduction. The Czechs diverge from the Government’s approach in preferring Africa as the target destination of the ODA. Concerning sectors, the Czechs incline towards promoting human rights, education and combating HIV/AIDS in contrast to the governmental support of industrial development. Even the large number of projects of NGOs contributes to the MDGs, notwithstanding the lack of systematic governmental backing regarding the MDGs.

With the adoption of the new Conception of the ODA of the Czech Republic for 2010–2017 and the new Act on Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid in 2010, we can expect more systematization and transparency of development cooperation, but also the growth of its volume, quality, effectiveness and impacts. Moreover, the Czech Republic as the emerging donor is pro-active both on the EU and Czech level, professionalizes itself and learns to accept its part of global responsibility.

The Czech development cooperation has rapidly progressed in recent years. Now is the right time to think about the systematic course of development cooperation, its volume, quality, effectiveness and impact. Firstly, the three-year-long transformation of the ODA, which should make the disintegrated system transparent and united, will be completed in 2010. Secondly, the newly elected Chamber of Deputies has a chance to develop national policies in order to seek prosperity of the Czech society as well as to actively contribute to poverty reduction across the world. Acting accordingly, the Czech Republic would not only send an excellent signal to the international and European political circles, but it would also advance towards the fulfilment of the basic moral principles, humanity and global responsibility. 

Recommendations

Effectiveness of the Czech Official Development Assistance

1. To finalize and put into practice the plan of implementation of the Paris Declaration principles and the Accra Action Agenda, announced in the report of the European Commission from 2010.
2. To elaborate a multi-annual action plan of the Czech Republic as the supporting facilitator of the EU development cooperation for Mongolia and Moldavia according to the conclusions of the EU Council from 2009.

Financing the Czech Official Development Assistance

1. To initiate political discussion and consequently elaborate a detailed plan for the fulfilment of the financial commitments with respect to the official development assistance as stated in the conclusions of the EU Council from May 2005 amounting to 0.33 % of gross national income by 2015 and a vision of how to reach 0.7 % according to the UN recommendations. 
2. To financially strengthen grant schemes for raising awareness of global problems and extreme poverty (formal and informal development education, increasing awareness of development cooperation) and more precisely define their link to the Millennium Development Goals.
3. To create a specific financial mechanism that would support activities of non-profit non-governmental organizations in the partner countries and that would be based on the principle of their own initiative; the basic priority should be the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals and the reduction of poverty.

Sectors of the Czech Official Development Assistance

1. To elaborate strategies of sectors pursuant to the Czech Government Resolution no. 1070 on the Transformation of the Czech ODA system from 2007 and clearly specify their link to the Millennium Development Goals.

Territorial Priorities of the Czech Official Development Assistance

1. To increase money for sub-Saharan Africa and for the least developed countries in the agricultural sector and in the sector of social development, including healthcare and education, with respect to the cross-cutting issues of gender equality, good governance and protection of the environment.
2. To stop financing projects with the means of bilateral development cooperation in South-eastern and Eastern Europe that are exclusively export-oriented and whose influence on poverty reduction cannot be demonstrated clearly.

Programming and Implementation

1. The priorities of the partner countries should be incorporated into the Country Strategy Papers with priority countries (2011-2017), and this should be done in cooperation with local governments as well as NGOs on the basis of their agenda of fulfilling the MDGs.
2. To incorporate the regard for the MDGs into the phases of the project cycle of the Czech Development Agency, so that the contribution towards the fulfilment of the MDGs would be chosen as the main criterion in the identification of development programs and projects.

Availability and Quality of Information

1. To strengthen the transparency and consistency of the ODA statistics according to the methodology of the OECD/DAC and safeguard the availability of information for the Czech public as well as partner countries (in English).
2. To ensure regular publishing of the evaluating reports so that the public would have information about the Czech ODA contribution to sustainable development in the partner countries.
3. To incorporate the issue of MDGs into the education system for employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and of the Czech Embassies.

Full version of the Shadow Report on Official Development Assistance - A Retrospect of Five Years (available only in Czech).