Lithuania

Total aid in 2011: €38m

About Lithuania's aid commitments:

Changes in 2011

An updated version on procedures for development programming and a Democracy version of the Description of Procedures of Implementation of Democracy Promotion Programme were prepared. On December 28th, 2011, Government approved “Concept of Law on development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid of the Republic of Lithuania”, which legitimates the main provisions of legal regulations and structure of the forthcoming law.

Aid Quantity

In 2011, Lithuania increased aid levels to € 37,36 million and ODA reached 0.13% of GNI. This signals the highest aid figures that Lithuania has seen since the 2009 aid drops and budget cuts due to the economic crises. Bilateral aid in 2011 was € 15,06 million, i.e. 40% of the total ODA. The ODA increase in 2011 is mainly due to contributions to the EDF – € 2,9 million , and other international bodies.

System

Since development cooperation is an integral part of foreign policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is taking the lead on policy and coordination. The focal point being the Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Department within the MFA.

Countries and sectors

Lithuania has 7 partner countries (Afghanistan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, and Azerbaijan). However ¾ of bilateral aid of Lithuania is directed to Afghanistan, where the central premise of Lithuanian engagement has been the pursuit of security and development in partnership with the Afghan Government and the people. In 2011 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the implementation of Lithuania’s Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme has funded 116 projects worth more than € 1,5 million, mainly in good governance, economic and social development, education and women’s social participation.

Challenges in 2012 and beyond

The internal quality assessment of development cooperation and global education in Lithuania is not based on international standards. The transparency of the Lithuanian ODA system suffers from a lack of independent and sound evaluations, carried out regularly and systematically. The evaluation reports are scarcely accessible to the public. Public support for development cooperation is steadily decreasing from 72% in 2005 to 48% in 2010. At the same time, the number of opponents to development cooperation is steadily growing: in 2005 against development cooperation were 5.4%, and in 2010 – 33%. Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2013 will be an excellent training ground for national development cooperation actors; it will improve their administrative capacity and effectiveness.

Recommendations

 Ensure genuine engagement in the forthcoming national discussions on Law of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid by a new term of office Parliament and new Government after the parliamentary elections in late 2012.

 Introduce legislation setting guaranteeing steady annual increases in order to fulfil its international commitments (0.33% of the GNI by 2015) and improve the predictability of aid flows.

 Ensure specific dialogue meetings with the participation of CSOs in policy construction process and formulate a distinct global education strategy.

 Start regular external evaluations of Lithuanian ODA programmes’ results and achievements and make the results public.

 Provide development assistance according to poverty reduction goals and ensure sufficient additional (non-ODA) budget for climate and security related issues.