The OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts periodic reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts of DAC members. The policies and programmes of each DAC member are critically examined approximately once every five years. DAC peer reviews assess the performance of a ...

The OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts peer reviews of individual members once every five to six years. Reviews seek to improve the quality and effectiveness of members’ development co-operation, highlighting good practices and recommending improvements. France has embarked on an ambitious reform of its development co-operation in institutional, strategic and financial terms. In addition to a substantial increase in the resources devoted to official development assistance and a strengthening of its crisis response instruments, France has championed the linkages between the green and social agendas and the mobilisation of the private sector for sustainable development. The review discusses the difficult balance between the objectives of visibility and development impact, particularly in fragile contexts. It makes recommendations on combining political impetus, steering by objectives and flexibility; deepening the cross-benefits between the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainable development; and, strengthening the contribution of local private sector to poverty reduction by optimising available resources and instruments.

This peer review shows that Germany invests in fair and sustainable globalisation and a rules-based multilateral order. It provided 0.73% of its national income as official development assistance in 2020. The country is adjusting its engagement with Africa and reforming the way it delivers development co-operation.

Belgium is a powerful voice for the cause of the least developed countries and fragile contexts, and a strong humanitarian partner. Committed to the principles of partnership, it empowers multilateral, civil society and private sector organisations to achieve their mandates. As Belgium emerges from a period of institutional reforms, this peer review provides recommendations to strengthen the management of its development co-operation policy.

Italy is strongly committed to multilateralism, and it uses its convening power as well as expertise in co-operation to make the country a leading voice on issues such as agriculture and cultural heritage. The country’s commitment to leaving no one behind is particularly apparent through the focus on gender and disability. However, the country would benefit from reversing the recent decline in official development assistance (ODA), building a stronger and better-skilled workforce, forming a coherent, whole-of-government approach to migration and development, and creating a system to manage for results.

The multidimensional and intergenerational nature of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for integrated policies. Progress made in a particular social, economic or environmental area or individual goal may generate synergies and trade-offs across dimensions (spillover effects), and steps taken in one country could have positive or negative impacts beyond national borders (transboundary effects).

Among other issues, this review looks at how the European Union has shown leadership in forging global agreements on sustainable development and climate change, and suggests the enhancement of a whole of EU approach in focusing on poverty reduction and countries that are most in need.

In the last three years, multiple global crises and the growing urgency of containing climate change have put current models of development co-operation to, perhaps, their most radical test in decades. The goal of a better world for all seems harder to reach, with new budgetary pressures, demands to provide regional and global public goods, elevated humanitarian needs, and increasingly complex political settings.

Korea is often cited as a leading example of how sound economic policies can drive growth and development, blazing a trail from poverty to advanced industrialisation throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

This review commends Sweden for its consistently generous levels of official development assistance and its global development leadership on peace and conflict prevention, environmental sustainability and gender equality.