IRIN interview on increasing Irish aid commitments

In light of a doubling in Irish assistance to Uganda from last year to almost US $22 million this year, and the intention to increase it substantially again in 2002, IRIN spoke to Liz O'Donnell, Ireland's Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for Overseas Development Assistance and Human Rights, during a visit to Nairobi on Monday about the motivation for the increased funding and the uses to which it would be put. QUESTION: Irish President Mary McAleese said in Uganda last week that Irish aid would increase again next year, after what was a record high this year. Why Uganda, in particular? ANSWER: The Irish programme is based on LDCs (less developed countries). We concentrate on the poorest countries in Africa, and on the poorest people in those poorest countries. We find that by focusing on these criteria, we can actually make an impact: we can become a significant donor in those countries and have a greater impact because of our poverty reduction focus. Uganda is one of our six priority countries. We have bilateral relations and a development cooperation programme with the government - we've had it for many years now - and next year it will be the second biggest of our programmes in Africa. I've just been there [with President McAleese] focusing on Ireland Aid projects, but also on the Irish missionaries who have been engaged with Uganda for many, many years - long before we had an official aid programme. The missionaries are, in fact, the template of that aid programme and it was very opportune for the president and me, as development minister, to see the excellent work that they've done. We also had a meeting with President Museveni (among others), and the president has recently been to Ireland. Our relations are very good; we have very respectful relations in a partnership approach to development. Q. In what areas do you focus your aid to Uganda? A. Increasingly, we're involved in budget support in the health and education sectors. We concentrate primarily on health, education and governance - and building up the capacity of different districts. We have 'adopted' three districts [Kibale, Kumi and Kiboga] where we work very closely with the local authorities - and the central government as part of their decentralisation programme. We aim to enable better services - in terms of health and education - to be delivered to the poorest of the poor in those areas. Q. On the subject of health, how did you find HIV/AIDS as an issue in Uganda? A. I was very impressed with the HIV/AIDS programme in Uganda, where the government has taken a lead in showing strong leadership in terms of awareness of the disease. We have mainstreamed HIV/AIDS in all our priority countries because we see the devastating impact that AIDS in Africa is having on all of our development endeavours. We have decided to focus on AIDS and next year we have promised that we will spend IEP 30 million (about $34.5 million) extra on AIDS-related activities. That will be a mix of activities: it will be to the UN Secretary-General's global fund; it will be the bottom-up approach in our priority countries - building up indigenous health systems to enable better quality of service; and also dealing with missionaries and NGOs in palliative care. Q. How is it that Ireland's aid to Uganda, and overall, is increasing so rapidly? A. I see our development cooperation programme as probably the most practical manifestation of the vindication of individual human rights. There's a lot of rhetoric about human rights but, when it comes to it, the Overseas Development Assistance budget is the only objective way that people's commitment can be tested... that's the argument that I made to my government colleagues, and I won the argument - though not without a struggle. And I did also get the support of our people: there was very strong popular support for not allowing our ODA levels to drop off, particularly at a time of plenty in Ireland. All in all, Ireland is very committed to Africa. We have a long relationship, as I say, through Irish missionary orders, and now, on a secular basis, we have these strong bilateral relations with governments in Africa , including Uganda's. We believe in the power of governments; we believe that governments in Africa, if the capacity is built through donor support to govern themselves and bring out the best in their people - that's long-term, sustainable development. Of course, there are always NGOs who will deliver certain categories of service, and they do excellent work; they're our implementing partners in many cases. But we do believe that if these countries are to sustainably develop, we have to help them in good governance, building up strong institutions, building up civil society, building robust democracies. Q. What impact does increasing support for Uganda and other priority countries have on your multilateral aid budget? A. We intend to maintain the mix of activities that we currently have - the focus on Africa, using NGOs to have a wider outreach, and a strong multilateral budget as well. That budget is expanding and we have particularly focused on those UN agencies who have shown the capacity to reform and enhance their delivery of services - the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in particular. We decided as a government last year that we will reach the UN target for donor countries of 0.7 percent [of national income, measured by Gross National Product] by 2007. This means that the Irish development budget will quadruple over the next seven years. We're reaching an interim target of 0.45 percent next year (2002) and planning now the best way to use that money. We will join a very small group of donor countries which have reached the UN target. I believe that is a very strong commitment by Ireland, and very well supported by our social partners in Ireland... among the trade unions, broad civil society and right across the political sector, there's broad support for that. The other aspect is our NGO co-financing and it's through that conduit that we use missionaries and NGOs in the field. We have excellent Irish NGOs who are well-regarded the world over - Goal, Trocaire and Concern - and we'll continue that relationship with them. So at the moment we're reviewing our programme, not through any criticism of the current programme but just to ensure that we put in place the best possible basis for its expansion. A rapidly-growing programme such as ours needs proper planning, so that our partner countries can properly absorb the money that's available to them. We also intend to raise awareness in our own country, and to work on developing public understanding of development issues and justice issues.