Five good examples of development assistance

A brief note to put on record five good examples of commitment to international development assistance. In 2014 the following countries’ financial contributions to development assistance exceeded the agreed threshold of 0.7% of their GDP: United Kingdom, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden. Sweden, it should be added, was particularly generous. Its financial assistance to development programmes and projects reached 1.1% of its GDP.

These countries and 23 more make the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD. The average contribution of the DAC countries to development, also in 2014, remained well below the target – the 0.7% figure – at a mere 0.29% of GDP. 

Costly Stavanger

I arrived in Stavanger last night. Coming from Lisbon, it was like a flight between Summer and early Autumn.
It´s cold and windy here But it is quite impressive to see how the city keeps growing, how large and modern business establishments are mushrooming, and also how the residential areas are able to maintain the tranquility, the beauty and the living space local people are so keen to have. In a country with an expensive cost of living, Stavanger is the priciest place.

The oil industry, this is the capital of oil exploration and services in Norway, explains the costs. It is also pretty interesting to look at the human landscape. The place is attracting a good number of immigrants, from many parts of Europe, Poland for instance, as well as refugees from the Middle East and elsewhere. And I have developed a test. If I address someone in English and he or she only replies in Norwegian, than the fellow is either from Eastern Europe or from Iraq or near by.

Development co-operation requires leadership

In a discussion this afternoon about development co-operation the OECD Development Aid Committee President, Erik Solheim said that leadership is essential for change to occur.

He knows what he is talking about as he himself was an important agent of change in his home country, Norway.

But I have the impression that leadership in the area of development is lacking nowadays. After the Busan (Indonesia) conference in 2011, where new principles for aid assistance were agreed upon, too much emphasis has been placed on partnerships and very little on the responsibility to lead the process. And when everyone is in charge nobody leads. Without clear and responsible leadership we see the UN (UNDP) and OECD struggling to get heard and to make things to happen. Or, UNDP and OECD should be accepted as the leading players in the field of international co-operation.

Co-operation is indeed about partnerships. But someone has to guide the process. If not, each player will go about it as he/she sees fit. And that is at present the case. 

NUPI

I spent a good deal of the day at NUPI, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. And as usual, I was very impressed by their applied research in the area of peace and security. They are certainly a reference institution when it comes to assessing peacekeeping operations as well as proposing new approaches to field deployments. They have done pioneer work on the issue of civilian capacities and are pretty substantively engaged in looking at the Police dimension in peacekeeping. Police has been the poor link in the peacekeeping field missions. 

Norway and the UN

Today´s decision on this year´s Nobel Peace Prize shows again how attached the Norwegians are to the UN and the organizations that make the UN System.

I have worked with many developed states. And I have always noticed how much the Norwegians appreciated the work of the UN.  The leaders and the public opinion in Norway believe in the UN and would feel safer in a world where the very big countries would accept a larger role for the international organizations.

You might believe there is some naiveté in the Norwegian attitude towards the UN. It might be somehow true. But dreams are important. And sometimes they become real. 

The Algerian hostage crisis

I agree with the decision taken by the Algerian authorities to storm the gas facility and try to find a solution to the crisis without delay. 

I know that my opinion might be perceived as contrary to the ones expressed through diplomatic channels by the UK Prime Minister or my friend, the Foreign Minister of Norway, among others. When contacting Algiers, they both emphasised the need for safeguarding the lives of the hostages at any cost. This is in principle the right approach. But out there, in the middle of a vast territory which is easy prey to all kinds of bandits, the leaders of Algeria have very little options. The key point for them was actually to send a very strong message to all the armed groups that kidnapping and attacking gas and oil facilities is not acceptable and will lead to the death of the assailants. 

Tonight, I think that message has been received by the terrorists. 

Of course, I sincerely deplore the heavy loss of life. And I feel deeply sorry for the families. For each one of them, this is a major personal tragedy. But I am convinced these lives were not lost in vain. The kind of action that has been taken might discourage many other terrorist initiatives in the future.

Now, the real challenge for the Algerian authorities is to look for the sponsors of this act of terror and bring them to justice. This is a major test for the government as many of these groups have powerful links within the officer corps of the national Algerian army.

Mr Cameron and other European leaders should now focus their attention on advising Algiers to do what remains to be done. On that front, they should be very firm. 

A new situation in North Africa

The hostage situation in Algeria, with the kidnapping of many foreigners, from different nationalities, by an al-Qaeda inspired group, opens a new phase in the security crisis in that part of North Africa as well as other areas surrounding Mali. All of sudden governments from outside the region are realising that their interests in the gas and oil fields in Algeria and the vicinity could be under very serious threat. This can deeply affect the functioning of the many fields and lead to a significant decrease in the production levels.