The document discusses official development assistance (ODA) and efforts to expand metrics of international cooperation beyond ODA to total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD). It defines ODA, outlines its governance by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), and describes how DAC members report ODA data which is made publicly available. The document notes limitations of focusing only on ODA and introduces TOSSD as a new statistical measure under development that would capture a broader range of officially supported resource flows to promote sustainable development.

1. Giorgio Gualberti
Financing for Sustainable Development
Development Co-operation directorate
Giorgio.Gualberti@oecd.org
Session 1 - Metrics of International Cooperation: from
Official Development Assistance to Total Official
Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD)
Seminar on International Cooperation – Financing for Development
12-13 December 2018

2. Contents
3. ODA data
4. From ODA to TOSSD
2. ODA Governance
1. ODA definition

3. 1.1 What is ODA?
http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/officialdevelopmentassistancedefinitionandcoverage.htm
O
D
A
“Official”: Provided by official agencies,
including state and local governments, or by their
executive agencies.
“Developmental”: Administered with the promotion
of the economic development and welfare of
developing countries as its main objective.
“Assistance”: Concessional in character.
Provided in the form of grants or soft loans.
ODA Flows to the DAC List of ODA recipients (countries and multilateral
development institutions)

4. BilateralaidreceivedMultilateralaidreceived
Bilateral Donors
29 DAC donors
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Korea
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovenia
Slovak Republic
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
Non-DAC providers
Kuwait
UAE…..
Aid recipient
countries
MULTILATERAL INSTITUTIONS
UN Programmes and funds
UNDP
UNICEF
UNFPA etc.
World Bank Group
IDA
IBRD
EU Institutions (DAC member)
Regional Development Banks
African Dev. Bank
Asian Dev. Bank
Inter-Amer. Dev. Bank etc.
Other agencies
IFAD
GAVI etc.
Extra-budgetary
funding
Regularbudget
Bilateral aid projects
Multi-bi
Projects
“earmarked”
Multilateral
contributions
“core”
Multilateral
aid projects
DONOR
PERSPECTIVE RECIPIENT
PERSPECTIVE
1.2 Official

5. 1.3 Official
ODA recipients are
• Low and middle income
countries based on gross
national income (GNI) per
capita as published by
the World Bank ( with the
exception of G8 members,
EU members, and countries
with a firm date for entry
into the EU).
• The list also includes all of
the Least Developed
Countries (LDCs) as defined
by the United Nations (UN).
The DAC revises the list every
three years. Countries that
have exceeded the high-
income threshold for three
consecutive years at the time
of the review are removed.
LIST
http://www.oecd.org/dac/fina
ncing-sustainable-
development/development-
finance-
standards/DAC_List_ODA_
Recipients2014to2017_flow
s_En.pdf

6. Certain in-donor
costs (administrative,
refugees, scholarships,
development
awareness).
1.3 Development
WHAT
IS
ODA?
Primary
objective and
focus should
be on the
development
and welfare
of developing
countries:
Humanitarian
aid and long
term
development
Core (general) contributions for development
General support to the recipient government budget
including funding to support the implementation of
macroeconomic reforms.
Core contributions to NGOs and multilateral institutions
active in development (UN agencies, Multilateral
Development Banks, etc.)
Projects aiming at improving economic development &
welfare of developing countries
Infrastructure project, e.g. construction of hospital,
school, tramway, dam etc.
Capacity building project, e.g. Ministry of justice
capacity building - rule of law.
Technical assistance
Experts, consultants, teachers, academics,
researchers, interns, volunteers contributing to
development.
Training & research; language training;
workshops, seminars & conferences.
Debt relief
operations

7. • Primarily commercial objectives
• Military aid and promotion of donor’s security
interests
• Promotion of language or culture of the provider
country
• Religious objectives
 Not sufficient for an activity to have a positive
impact on development to qualify as ODA, it needs to
have development as its primary objective.
 Specific eligibility rules agreed by the DAC on peace
and security, in-donor refugee costs, development-
oriented social and cultural programmes,
administrative costs.
What is not ODA?
1.4 Development

8. BEFORE:
NOMINAL VALUE
Grant Element
threshold
 25%
Discount
Rate
 10%
Measurement
System
 ODA is positive
when
disbursed and
negative when
repaid
1.5 Assistance
The measure of concessionality has been revised
AFTER :
ONLY GRANT EQUIVALENT
 45% for LDCs and other LICs
 15% for LMICs
 10% for UMICs
 5% base (IMF current discount rate) +
adjustment:
o 4% for LDCs and other LICs
o 2% for LMICs
o 1% for UMICs
 Grant equivalent of loan disbursement (grant
element multiplied by amount extended)
 Repayments on past loans are not subtracted
from ODA but will still be collected and
published.

9. Eligible
as ODA
Not eligible
as ODA
A country on the
DAC List A multilateral
organisation on
“Annex 2”
Does the activity have a primary
development purpose?
Eligible
as ODA
Not eligible
as ODA
A multilateral
organisation not
on “Annex 2”
YES NO
Who benefits from the activity/contribution?
Is the financing
concessional?
NO
Not eligible
as ODA
YES
Multilateral (core)
contribution
Bilateral contribution
A country not
on the DAC List
NO
Not eligible
as ODA
NOYES
1.6 ODA test

10. The Development Assistance Committee - DAC
MANDATE
“ ... promote development co-
operation and other relevant
policies so as to contribute to
the implementation of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable
Development, including
sustained, inclusive and
sustainable economic growth,
poverty eradication,
improvement of living standards
in developing countries, and to
a future in which no country will
depend on aid.”
• MAIN ACTIVITIES
• Collects statistics and monitors
development finance flows
• Analyses, reviews and provides
guidance on development co-
operation policies
• Peer Reviews
• Aid – coordination platform
• Promotes sharing of good practices
• Work on development effectiveness
• Promotes Policy Coherence for
Development
• Helps shape the global development
architecture
2.1 Governance

11. 2.2 Governance
DAC
Development
Assistance Committee
(Subsidiary Body)
Working Party on
Development Finance
Statistics WP-STAT
Main Political
Decisions
Technical work /
implementation
Decisions are taken
by consensus and
are mandatory for
all DAC members
Observers are
admitted and
consulted
(but cannot vote)

12. Technical work
Request (e.g. implementation of a
DAC HLM decision)
Proposal by the Secretariat
WP-STAT
Implementation
2.3 Governance

13. 3.1 Data flows
30
DAC Members
35
Multilateral
organisations
19
non-DAC countries
+ private
foundations
Quality assurance
on 250,000 Aid
activities / year,
aggregate level
data and themes
Methodology, analysis
http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/
Online databases
PUBLIC

14. 3.2 Data Cycle

15. CRS Purpose codes
(sector classification)
Channels of delivery
(first implementing
partner)
Over 50 data points for each transaction 250’000transactions a year
including
Financial Instrument
(e.g. grants, loans, equity
etc.)
Types of aid
(e.g. budget/sector
support, pooled funds,
projects, scholarships etc.)
Title and Description
SDG targets or goals*
Commitments and yearly
disbursements
Face value and
risk-adjusted
grant equivalent
Providers:
Bilateral,
Multilateral and
Philanthropic
Recipients Amounts mobilised*Policy markers
Taxonomies
Description and policy
objectives
Quantitative dataPartners involved
* Voluntary reporting
3.3 Data Characteristics (All development finance)

16. 4.1 Next Steps - TOSSD
A new statistical measure for the 2030 agenda – under development
TOSSD includes all officially-supported resource flows to promote sustainable
development in developing countries, and to support development enablers and/or
address global challenges at regional or global levels. It includes south-south and
triangular cooperation, and private amounts mobilised
Resources to
developing
countries
Global level
expenditures

17. TOSSD ODA
Objective of the
measure
Measuring resources in support of
sustainable development
Measuring donor effort
Key eligibility
criterion of the
measure
Sustainable development Economic development and
welfare of developing
countries
Main focus Recipient Provider
Scope of flows
covered
Officially-supported flows: official
flows and private finance mobilised
through official interventions
Official flows
Concessional and non-concessional Concessional
4.2 ODA and TOSSD

18. TOSSD ODA
Measurement Cash flow Grant equivalent
Target countries DAC List of ODA Recipients
and other countries on an
opt-in basis
DAC List of ODA Recipients
Reporters Ambition: All providers DAC and some non-DAC
countries
Governance arrangements Ambition: driven by the
international community
through the UN
DAC-driven
4.3 ODA and TOSSD

19. Thank you / Obrigado!

20.  Co-operation between developed and
developing countries for a mutual benefit is not
per se a sufficient criterion for qualifying as ODA;
the primary motivation must be the promotion
of economic development and welfare of a
developing country.

21. • Primary objective and focus should be on the
development and welfare of developing countries:
– Goal of the overall programme explicitly mentions a
developmental objective such as reducing poverty, supporting
job creation and sustainable growth, providing benefits and
generating revenues in developing countries.
– Individual projects must also have a development goal as
their main objective.
• Partnerships with donor country private sector can be
used as a channel for development co-operation …
• … but a primarily commercial objective & a focus on
the donor country’s business interests disqualify
projects from ODA.
Development

22. – “ ... promote development co-operation and
other policies so as to contribute to
sustainable development, including pro-poor
economic growth, poverty reduction,
improvement of living standards in developing
countries, and a future in which no country will
depend on aid.”
DAC Mandate
A1. Governance

23. 1.3 Development Statistics – ODA and beyond
Concessional Non-concessional
Official Official development assistance
(ODA)
--grants
--concessional loans
--technical assistance
Other official flows (OOF)
--non-concessional loans (e.g. by DFIs)
--investment-related transactions
--export-related transactions
Private NGO, foundation and other
charitable flows
Private flows at market terms
--FDI and portfolio investment
--export credits yes
--bonds
Coverage • Activity level data publicly
available
• Complete coverage (ODA)
• Some data are confidential at the
activity level but available in
aggregated form
• Limited coverage
Current
Under Development
TOSSD – Total Official Support for Sustainable Development

24. 1.5 DAC Members
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
European Union
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Korea
Luxembourg
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States