Oxfam, ActionAid blast aid inaction in wake of G8 accountability report
May 19, 2011 | 05:10 PM | Filed in: Agricultural development Food security
By JERRY HAGSTROM
The United States is doing better than most countries in meeting the commitments it made during the 2008-2009 food security crisis to provide development aid, but all need to do more, two key development groups said after an official accountability report on the pledges was released.
France holds the leadership of the G8 countries, which released their Deauville Accountability Report Wednesday in advance of a meeting that will take place in Deauville, France.
The report said the countries had delivered almost $49 billion of a promised $50 billion, but Oxfam, the international relief organization, said a careful examination of official aid figures as measured by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that the G8 have delivered $31 billion.
Pledges by the G8 countries are notoriously difficult to measure because countries combine various types of spending when claiming to meet their commitments.
“Rather than deliver on their promises, the G8 have cooked the books and massaged their aid figures upwards to cover up their lack of action,” said Emma Seery, spokesperson for Oxfam. “This is not an accountability report; it is a cover-up that is deeply embarrassing for the G8 and an insult to the world’s poorest people.”
“Italy, Germany, France, and Japan have all failed to find the money they promised to help the poor,” Oxfam said. “Italy is the worst offender – providing only 0.15 percent of its national income as aid, the lowest of all G8 countries and a far cry from the U.N .target of 0.7 percent. Italy spent only $2.3 billion on aid in 2010, almost half of what the Italian government spent on cars and drivers for ministry and other government employees. Germany is significantly off track, and France, chair and host of the G8 and G20 this year, also has some way to go, despite increases in aid last year.
“The [United Kingdom] is almost on track to meet its 2010 promise, and is on track to reach its promise of 0.7 percent by 2013,” Oxfam said. “Canada has very nearly met its commitment and the United States has met its, but only because they both put so little money on the table in the first place.”
Beyond the figures on official development aid, the report focuses on the agriculture and health sectors, but Oxfam said the “the lack of information on how investments in those sectors were made prevents any exhaustive analysis in terms of both quantity and quality.”
Pledges for agriculture and food security totaled $22 billion in 2009, but Oxfam said “little if no information exists regarding where this aid has been delivered, how much has been used to support national and regional led plans and how effective it has been in meeting the needs of smallholders.
Neil Watkins, director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA, another development group, noted that, while the United States was a leader in the effort, delivery of the promised aid has been slow.
“The United States was a star performer at the G8 summit in L’Aquila, pledging significant new resources to fight hunger,” Watkins said. “ The U.S. is leading other G8 nations by reporting transparently on its progress, and by committing to deliver all its aid behind country-led plans.
“But delivery has been much too slow, largely due to delays in the Congressional budget process,” he said. “With a global food crisis looming, Congress now more than ever must support the administration’s request for funds to fight global hunger so that the U.S. can get back on track to meeting its G8 pledge.”
ActionAid also said that some G8 members had deliberately inflated their aid to agriculture figures.
“Italy, France and Germany had included in their calculations previous aid commitments that were not part of their L’Aquila pledge. Furthermore, money used on ‘transport’, ‘land mine clearance’, ‘water supply’ and ‘sanitation’ had also been counted as aid to fight hunger," ActionAid said.
The United States is doing better than most countries in meeting the commitments it made during the 2008-2009 food security crisis to provide development aid, but all need to do more, two key development groups said after an official accountability report on the pledges was released.
France holds the leadership of the G8 countries, which released their Deauville Accountability Report Wednesday in advance of a meeting that will take place in Deauville, France.
The report said the countries had delivered almost $49 billion of a promised $50 billion, but Oxfam, the international relief organization, said a careful examination of official aid figures as measured by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that the G8 have delivered $31 billion.
Pledges by the G8 countries are notoriously difficult to measure because countries combine various types of spending when claiming to meet their commitments.
“Rather than deliver on their promises, the G8 have cooked the books and massaged their aid figures upwards to cover up their lack of action,” said Emma Seery, spokesperson for Oxfam. “This is not an accountability report; it is a cover-up that is deeply embarrassing for the G8 and an insult to the world’s poorest people.”
“Italy, Germany, France, and Japan have all failed to find the money they promised to help the poor,” Oxfam said. “Italy is the worst offender – providing only 0.15 percent of its national income as aid, the lowest of all G8 countries and a far cry from the U.N .target of 0.7 percent. Italy spent only $2.3 billion on aid in 2010, almost half of what the Italian government spent on cars and drivers for ministry and other government employees. Germany is significantly off track, and France, chair and host of the G8 and G20 this year, also has some way to go, despite increases in aid last year.
“The [United Kingdom] is almost on track to meet its 2010 promise, and is on track to reach its promise of 0.7 percent by 2013,” Oxfam said. “Canada has very nearly met its commitment and the United States has met its, but only because they both put so little money on the table in the first place.”
Beyond the figures on official development aid, the report focuses on the agriculture and health sectors, but Oxfam said the “the lack of information on how investments in those sectors were made prevents any exhaustive analysis in terms of both quantity and quality.”
Pledges for agriculture and food security totaled $22 billion in 2009, but Oxfam said “little if no information exists regarding where this aid has been delivered, how much has been used to support national and regional led plans and how effective it has been in meeting the needs of smallholders.
Neil Watkins, director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA, another development group, noted that, while the United States was a leader in the effort, delivery of the promised aid has been slow.
“The United States was a star performer at the G8 summit in L’Aquila, pledging significant new resources to fight hunger,” Watkins said. “ The U.S. is leading other G8 nations by reporting transparently on its progress, and by committing to deliver all its aid behind country-led plans.
“But delivery has been much too slow, largely due to delays in the Congressional budget process,” he said. “With a global food crisis looming, Congress now more than ever must support the administration’s request for funds to fight global hunger so that the U.S. can get back on track to meeting its G8 pledge.”
ActionAid also said that some G8 members had deliberately inflated their aid to agriculture figures.
“Italy, France and Germany had included in their calculations previous aid commitments that were not part of their L’Aquila pledge. Furthermore, money used on ‘transport’, ‘land mine clearance’, ‘water supply’ and ‘sanitation’ had also been counted as aid to fight hunger," ActionAid said.
