Official Development Assistance (ODA)

Luxembourg's ODA commitments

With its investment of 401 million euros in 2018 for development aid, Luxembourg remains loyal to its strong commitment to keep its ODA flows at 1% of its GNI. Luxembourg was the second most generous contributor among OECD member states, just behind Sweden.

In the early 1970s, industrialised countries of the UN pledged to devote at least 0.7% of the GNI to ODA, and Luxembourg reached that threshold in 2000. Since then, the Grand Duchy has remained true to its commitment and has continually increased its contributions to ODA.

The country is thus one of the few countries to meet the commitments made by European ministers in May 2005, under the Luxembourg Presidency, on ODA levels to be attained in 2010 (0.56%) and 2015 (0.70% ).

Since 2009, Luxembourg has been part of the group of countries being most active in the field of Official Development Assistance, allocating 1% of its GNI to this end, while remaining loyal to the principle of not taking into account, within its ODA, resources allocated to international climate finance and hosting refugees in Luxembourg.

Apart from aid for its main objective - eradicating extreme poverty - Luxembourg's ODA includes a strong focus on humanitarian aid, making it possible to respond with emergency aid in the case of humanitarian or natural disasters.

Geographic concentration

Today, Luxembourg's development cooperation is active on all continents, with over 1,000 co-funded projects in 82 countries in total. But in order to be effective and have a real impact, the Cooperation concentrated its efforts in recent years, going from ten to seven priority partner countries.

They are the poorest countries, characterised by armed conflicts, degraded environment, weak institutions and large populations. Five of the seven partner countries are located in sub-Saharan Africa:  Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Mali, Niger and Senegal. Aside from these African countries, Luxembourg maintains privileged relations with Laos in South-East Asia and Nicaragua in Central America.

International coordination

Internationally speaking, Luxembourg's cooperation encourages coordination between the various stakeholders involved, whether they are international organisations, states or other partners. Luxembourg is strongly convinced that collective aid strengthens the efficiency and effectiveness of international efforts.