In recent years, Latvia has become increasingly active in development co-operation while transforming itself from a recipient to a donor country of Official Development Aid (ODA). Since accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004, Latvia has adopted the primary community legislation on development assistance and has started to participate in the implementation of the EU’s development policy. However, the formulation of a coherent development co-operation policy and project administration, which falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is still in the initial stages of development.

Latvia’s development policy is guided by the ‘Basic Principles for the Development Co-operation Policy’ (2003) and the ‘Development Co-operation Policy Programme 2006–2010’. According to these policy documents, the main objective of Latvia’s development co-operation efforts over the next years is to strengthen its role as a new donor country and to define areas of co-operation where Latvia can offer added value to the international development community.

During this orientation process, Latvia aims to introduce internationally recognised standards in the planning, administration and implementation of aid programmes and to co-ordinate its activities with other donors. At the same time, the government aims to foster public support for Latvia’s development policy priorities.

Since 2004, Latvia has published an annual development co-operation policy plan which sets out development assistance objectives and priorities for the coming year. For 2006, the following thematic priority areas have been identified:

• support for state administration, local government and defence system reform processes;
• support for the European and transatlantic integration process;
• promotion of democracy and civil society; and
• education, culture, social development, health, and environmental protection.

Moreover, research projects, development studies and communication activities will be supported.

In 2004, Latvia allocated 0.06% (approximately US$ 8.8 million) of its gross national income (GNI) for development co-operation. For 2005 and 2006 respectively, ODA levels of 0.061% and 0.057% of GNI are expected. According to the EU’s External Relations Council conclusions of 24 May 2005, new EU Member States should increase their ODA to at least 0.17% of GNI by 2010. The Latvian government aims to reach 0.1% of GNI by 2010. Around 97% of Latvia’s ODA represents payments to international organisations and their programmes, while bilateral assistance so far accounts for only 3%.

Latvia’s bilateral development assistance does not concentrate on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) but puts its prime focus on the former Soviet republics in the eastern regions of the EU. While Latvia's development co-operation activities have been based mainly on reactions to specific situations or events in the past, a specific amount of the budget was allocated for planned bilateral assistance for the first time in 2005.

According to the ‘Basic Principles for the Development Co-operation Policy’ (2003), future bilateral Latvian co-operation will focus on the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Balkans as priority regions, with the aim to pass over Latvia’s experience in the implementation of economic, social and political reforms. This is in line with Latvia’s foreign policy, which prioritises stability and welfare in the countries covered by the ‘European Neighbourhood Policy’. In 2005, Latvia supported projects in Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Belarus. For 2006, Latvia will concentrate its aid on two priority countries only, namely Moldova and Georgia.

Latvia also co-operates with institutions of third countries like the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) by providing experts to support institutional reform projects in priority countries.
Total funding allocated for the implementation of the ‘Development Co-operation Policy Plan 2006’ is LVL 150,000 (approximately US$ 277,000).

It is planned that in the future, Latvian bilateral assistance will be facilitated through grant programmes which will be accessible by non-government organisations (NGOs), the private sector, local governments, etc. See ‘Co-operation with NGOs’ for more information.

Latvia started to make regular payments to international organisations in the early 1990s and today supports organisations like the United Nations (UN), UNESCO, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Red Cross, the International Migration Organization, etc. Latvia’s co-operation with multilateral development organisations is still in its early stages. The government is currently introducing an appropriate co-ordination mechanism with the relevant institutions in order to establish more efficient co-operations. Through its contributions to the EU budget Latvia also contributes to EU development co-operation. Like every EU Member State, Latvia also contributes to the European Development Fund (EDF) as per the criteria set by the European Council.

Neither of Latvia’s two development policy guidelines, the ‘Basic Principles for the Development Co-operation Policy’ (2003) and the ‘Development Co-operation Policy Programme 2006-2010’, mentions sexual and reproductive health (SRHR) or HIV/AIDS as policy areas for the government’s development programmes. Likewise, the annual development co-operation policy plan has so far not featured interventions in these fields. Hence, there are no provisions for SRHR or HIV/AIDS support in the country’s development co-operation budget. However, in 2004 Latvia contributed US$ 200 to the UNFPA budget. This figure must be regarded as a largely symbolic gesture only. The absence of support for SRHR and HIV/AIDS interventions points to the need for advocacy campaigns by Latvian and international civil society organisations working in this field to raise awareness on these issues with the Latvian public and the government.

The Latvian government regards the involvement of civil society as one of the most important pre-requisites of a successful development policy implementation. The ‘Development Co-operation Policy Programme 2006–2010’ explicitly calls for an increase in the number of NGOs involved in the implementation of Latvia’s development programme.

However, to date Latvia has no formal funding scheme which supports the actions of Latvian or foreign NGOs in developing countries. The Foreign Ministry is currently in the process of drafting grants tender regulations, which will define future tender provisions and criteria for the evaluation of grant applications. In the future, after the call for proposals is published, applicants will prepare a project submission for the grant tender, which will then be evaluated by the Tender Evaluation Commission. The final decision on the award of the funding will then be taken by the Development Co-operation Council, which consists of representatives from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economics, Finance, Regional Development and Local Governments, and the State Chancellery.

In 2006, the Foreign Ministry announced two calls for proposals for the implementation of development projects in Georgia and Moldova and for increasing public awareness on development co-operation issues in Latvia. Total available funding was LVL 105,120 (about US$ 194,000). It is expected that similar calls for proposals will be announced on a regular basis once a formal NGO grant programme has been launched.

Interested NGOs should consult the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regularly to stay informed about upcoming calls for proposals and the relevant guidelines.

In 2004, 21 Latvian NGOs founded the Latvian Platform for Development Co-operation (LAPAS), which will participate in the Development Co-operation Advisory Board at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and can provide information as to the current status of Latvia’s support for NGOs.

Contact: Ingrida Skuja (Director)
E-mail: ingrida@lapas.lv

pdf download

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia: Development Co-operation Policy Programme of the Republic of Latvia 2006–2010.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia: The Basic Principles for the Development Co-operation Policy of the Republic of Latvia.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia: Development Co-operation Policy Plan for 2006.

UNFPA: Donor payments and pledges for 2004.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia

OECD Development Assistance Committee