France: 2008 Data report: aid in Africa works

The DATA Report 2008, released on June 18th by ONE, the global anti-poverty organization, shows the G8 are falling further behind on the commitment they made in 2005 to contribute an additional $22 billion (14 billion euros) in assistance to Africa by 2010.

According to The DATA Report 2008, the G8 are halfway to the 2010 deadline, but so far have only delivered $3 billion, or 14 percent, of the $22 billion commitment. If the G8 continue at their current pace, they will collectively fall far short of where they pledged to be by 2010.

Development works
While the pace of delivery is deeply concerning, the good news is that the assistance that has been delivered is making a real, measurable difference on the ground in lives saved and futures brightened. Because of recent increases in development assistance:

• 2.1 million Africans are on life-saving AIDS medication, up from only 50,000 in 2002,26 million children were immunized and against a group of life-threatening diseases between 2001 and 2006,
• 29 million African children were able to enter school for the first time as a direct result of debt relief and increased assistance between 1999 and 2005,
• By 2007, 59 million bed nets had been distributed by the Global Fund alone, helping to dramatically reduce malaria rates in countries such as Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

These statistics make clear that targeted development assistance, implemented in partnership with effective African leadership, works. There are no more excuses for not delivering quickly on what the G8 promised. The DATA Report lays out a clear roadmap for how the G8 can get on track to meet their 2010 goals by scaling up measures that have been proven to work.

In the foreword to the 2008 DATA Report, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M Tutu, now also serving as International Patron to DATA and ONE, writes: "We want to achieve success not through a hand out, but through hard work, persistence, creativity and a true partnership with the developed world. We're not there yet, but we have the roadmap to get there if the West keeps the commitments it made, with such fanfare, at Gleneagles and if African leaders keep their promises to their citizens too.

According to the 2008 DATA Report, while the G8 as a whole are off track, some countries are doing better than others and, equally important, some made more substantial promises than others.

European promises
The European members of the G8 – France, Germany, Italy and the UK ? made the biggest promises to Africa as a percentage of their national wealth and together are responsible for 75 percent of the $22 billion committed. While the scope of their commitments should be applauded, they are off track to meet them.

Writing in his foreword, Archbishop Tutu speaks directly to the importance of Europe keeping the commitments it has made: "Intentions are one thing, follow through is another and I am deeply worried that France, Germany and Italy are not going to keep the promises they made to Africa in 2005, because then all of Europe will be behind. President Sarkozy, Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Berlusconi need to hear more from their citizens on this subject if they are to make the right decisions, both for Europe and Africa," writes Archbishop Tutu.

Country highlights
The 2008 DATA Report contains extensive detail on the state of each country's progress towards the 2010 commitment. Highlights from each country are below:

• France's assistance to sub-Saharan Africa decreased by $66m between 2006 and 2007 even though global ODA increased. It is still off track, despite moving its goal of allocating 0.7% of GNI to ODA from 2012 to 2015.
• Germany is off track in 2007 despite posting significant increases in development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa. Further increases are planned for 2008, but in order to reach the 2010 target these annual increases will need to grow.
• Italy, which will host the G8 in 2009, has made very ambitious commitments but the country is also hugely off track. Good progress was made in 2007 to restore previous cuts in assistance to Africa and 2008 estimates reveal solid increases, but Italy must ensure these are sustained and not one-time payments.
• Japan has fulfilled a very weak commitment to double bilateral ODA to Africa from a 2003 baseline, but in 2007 it also cut ODA to the region and global ODA has fallen for two years running. Japan's announcement at TICAD that it would double aid to Africa, applied only to bilateral assistance, omitting multilateral assistance from its pledge. More is needed from the hosts of this year's G8 Summit.
• The UK has increased its overall volume of ODA to Africa more than any other G8 country. Despite a recent slowdown in increases, longer term budget commitments show that the UK will come close to meeting 2010 targets.
• The USA is currently off track on its ODA commitment, but DATA estimates that it has sufficient increases in the pipeline to fulfil its commitment by 2010.
• Canada reduced ODA to sub-Saharan African in 2007. Plans for 2008 show improvement, but not enough to be on track to keep its commitments to Africa.

Citizen activism to make poverty history
Over the past three years the G8 as a collective has increased assistance to Africa by $1 billion year over year. In a new estimation by DATA of G8 budget projections, the G8 is expected to increase assistance to Africa in 2008 by $2.6 billion. This is an important improvement over previous years, but still far from what is needed. The G8 would need to increase assistance to Africa by $6.4 billion in 2008 in order to be on track to meet their 2010 commitment.
While progress to date has been underwhelming, the DATA Report makes clear that it is still possible for the G8 to keep its historic commitment to Africa. Whether or not they are kept is up to the leaders of the G8 and the citizens in whose name the promises were made. The successes that have been achieved to date should refuel efforts to meet the 2010 target.

It was citizen activism that led the G8 to make the 2005 commitments to Africa in the wake of Live 8 and a global campaign aimed at making poverty history. Given the G8's slow pace in delivering on that promise, it's clear that citizen pressure will once again have to be applied to ensure that promise is kept. To help mobilize citizens to encourage their governments to keep their promises to Africa, DATA and ONE are launching an email petition to G8 leaders.

More info

• www.data.org
• www.one.org