The Law of 25 May 1999 is the reference document for Belgium’s development co-operation policy. The prime goal is sustainable human development, to be achieved through combating poverty, on the basis of the notion of partnership and in compliance with the development criteria as defined by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The Law brought in the principle of geographical and sectoral concentration of aid. Belgium’s direct bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) targets 18 countries and five sectors:

• basic health care;
• education and training;
• agriculture and food security;
• basic infrastructure; and
• conflict prevention and the consolidation of society.

Added to these are four cross-cutting themes which relate to gender, the environment, welfare economics and children’s rights. The commitment made in Monterrey to increase Belgium’s ODA to 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) by 2010 was written into the Law in 2002.

In 2004, the Minister for Development Co-operation confirmed that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are central to Belgium’s co-operation policy. Belgian aid is targeted very much at the least developed countries (LDCs), and Belgian co-operation remains substantial in the fragile States of Central Africa. Belgium now gives more attention to access to basic social services and gender equality, and also to measures to combat HIV/AIDS and the protection of children’s rights.

The Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (DGDC) is responsible for the execution of co-operation activities (policy-making and strategic planning, and identifying co-operation programmes and activities) and manages some 60% of ODA. The DGDC budget increased from € 721 million in 2004 to € 854 million in 2005, an increase of 18%. Also important is the Federal Public Service for Financial Affairs which manages country-to-country loans and contributions to international organisations which represent 10% of ODA. Other general directorates also have a role, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is also in charge of conflict prevention and part of humanitarian aid (representing 5% of the ODA budget). Then, there are the measures taken by the Regions and Communities, the Provinces and a large number of Communes (5% of ODA), and a variable share of debt relief managed by the National Delcredere Office.

In 2005, Belgium contributed € 1.58 billion in ODA, which represents a 17.2% increase on the € 1.17 billion paid out in 2004 and corresponds to 0.53% of GNI. The increase in spending on ODA is mainly due to the growth in the federal budget for development co-operation and to debt cancellation totalling € 383 million in 2005. Nevertheless, the figures show that Belgium meets the EU target that Member States allocate 0.33% of GNI to ODA by 2006. It is also ahead of the further EU target that ODA reach 0.51% by 2010 and 0.7% by 2015. Bilateral aid represented 64% of Belgian ODA, while 36% was multilateral.

In 2003, 99.1% of the aid allocated to the LDCs was untied. Belgium supports the untying principle, and it complies with DAC recommendations on this count. Likewise, the food aid it distributes through the World Food Programme (WFP) is also untied.

The DGDC is in charge of defining policy orientations and programmes and has drawn up strategy papers for the five development co-operation sectors and the three cross-cutting issues which guide bilateral Belgian development assistance. 

Belgian bilateral ODA is delivered via two channels: direct and indirect. Direct bilateral co-operation (or government co-operation) is made up of different forms of aid managed at federal level or at federal institution level, while indirect bilateral co-operation consists of the programmes co-financed by the DGDC but prepared and implemented by indirect players. Mostly, these are recognised non-government organisations (NGOs), Belgian universities and scientific establishments and associations specialising in training the developing countries’ human resources. There are, in addition, special programmes relating to humanitarian aid and conflict prevention, and also the Belgian Survival Fund (FBS).

The Belgian Technical Co-operation Agency (BTC) carries out all direct bilateral aid programmes (www.btcctb.org). The relationships between the Federal State and the BTC are defined in a management contract, specifying the tasks delegated to the BTC:

• implement direct bilateral projects and programmes;
• carry out financial co-operation and debt relief projects and programmes for partner countries;
• put in place actions to support the private sector in partner countries;
• manage grants to foreign students;
• draw up proposals and prepare technical dossiers for the above-mentioned projects and programmes;
• provide emergency aid and short-term rehabilitation assistance and food aid.

Even though the BTC is responsible for execution, it delegates the execution as much as possible to the partner country and local partners. Also, the BTC tries to fully reconcile the decision-making powers of the project beneficiaries for which a ‘partner committee’ has been created in all the programmes and projects: Belgium is focusing its governmental co-operation on 18 partner countries, 10 of which belong to the group of LDCs:

• Middle East: Occupied Palestinian territories
• Northern Africa: Algeria, Morocco
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Benin, Burundi, DR of Congo, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda
• Asia: Vietnam
• South America: Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru

Multilateral co-operation is becoming an increasingly important part of Belgian development co-operation policy. In 2005, almost 45% of the DGDC’s budget was allocated to international organisations. Given the wide range of multilateral partners, the Belgian government decided to pursue an aid concentration policy and to focus on 12 priority organisations among 23 (CGIAR, FAO, GFATM, ICRC, OCHA, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNEP, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank).

In September 2005, 74% of the DGDC’s multilateral budget was earmarked for compulsory contributions under international agreements approved by Belgium. Voluntary contributions are usually allocated to activities that support sustainable development in Belgium’s partner countries and in Central Africa in particular. For example, Belgium raised its contributions to almost € 4 million a year (2004-2007) for two International Red Cross programmes aiming to protect conflict victims in Central Africa as well as a worldwide mines programme. The UNHCR received € 3 million a year for its refugee assistance programmes in Central Africa. Belgium was asked to head the pilot programme for the Consolidated Appeals Process organised by the OCHA in the DR of Congo. Finally, half of the € 12 million earmarked for the FAO is intended for reforming the national agricultural policy in the DR of Congo.

According to projections of the Resource Flows Project, Belgium contributed US$ 26.4 million to population and HIV/AIDS activities in 2003, ranking it 12th out of 16 western European countries. In 2004, the DGDC published a new strategy paper on HIV/AIDS control defining five objectives to achieve the MDGs. Within the context of direct bilateral co-operation, it is currently running 52 health projects, of which nine have the fight against HIV/AIDS as their main objective. South Africa, Burkina Faso (two projects), the Ivory Coast, Morocco, Niger, the DR of Congo (two projects) and Senegal are the direct beneficiaries. At the same time, twenty other projects have the objective of improving primary health care and contain specific sections related to the fight against HIV/AIDS and reproductive health.

The DGDC supports the AIDS-related activities of Belgian NGOs that are primarily active in the health care sector, with projects such as the general care and support of AIDS patients, improved access to treatment and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Activities for the prevention or treatment of HIV/AIDS outside of a strictly medical context are also supported, such as those related to youth work, work with street children, the re-education of child soldiers and women's movements.

On the multilateral level, Belgium supports programmes by UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF and the GFATM: the Belgian contribution to UNAIDS was substantially increased, with a total sum of € 14 million for 2004–2007. This is an increase of € 1 million per year in comparison with the previous period. The UNAIDS programme in the Great Lakes region will receive € 4 million. Also, Belgium supports the UNAIDS Three Ones initiative which aims to combat AIDS more effectively. The GFATM is a priority partner organisation for which the contribution was significantly increased to more than € 20 million for the period 2004–2007. Through UNFPA, Belgium is supporting the three-year ‘Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Promotion and HIV Prevention Programme in sub-Saharan Africa’ for just under € 3 million. The goal of the project is to improve the sexual and reproductive health of young people in Mali, the Ivory Coast and Niger, with a special focus on increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS and especially on how it can be prevented. The fight against HIV/AIDS is one of the top priorities of UNICEF. The Belgian contribution goes mainly to their general funds, but in 2004, a new agreement was concluded to provide € 2.5 million for the UNICEF programme in Peru to combat the sexual abuse of children.

Indirect bilateral co-operation programmes are co-financed and controlled by the DGDC but prepared and implemented by non-government actors. These are the 135 authorised Belgian NGOs, local authorities (since 2000) and trade unions (since 2002). The DGDC also funds the development actions of Belgian universities and scientific institutions, represented by the French-speaking Community Inter-University Committee/University Commission for Development (CIUF-CUD) and the Flemish Inter-University Council (VLIR), and non-profit organisations specialising in training human resources in developing countries (APEFE and VVOB). It also funds scientific institutions like Antwerp’s Institute of Tropical Medicine, the Royal Museum of Central Africa and BIO, a Belgian corporation for investment in developing countries created in 2001.

Belgium is negotiating framework agreements with the partner organisations, defining the objectives of the actions and their methods of execution. These agreements focus on five-year programmes. Note that the indirect actors are invited but not obliged to concentrate their efforts on the priority sectors and countries of government co-operation.

Indirect co-operation is steadily increasing and is substantial, having accounted in 2003 for 29% of Belgium’s overall ODA (excluding debt reduction operations). In 2004, Belgium co-financed 1,500 actions by 109 NGOs working in 75 countries at a total cost of € 95 million.

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Belgium (2005), DAC Peer Review, OECD, 2005

Belgian Directorate General for Development Cooperation

DGDC Annual Report 2005

DGDC Annual Report 2004

Belgian Development Cooperation and the fight against AIDS