Ireland ranks second among donors in its commitment to African development

The first annual regional survey by the Centre for Global Development in Washington D.C. has ranked Ireland as second only to Sweden in terms of its commitment to development in Africa.   A global Commitment to Development Index (CDI) is published by the Centre every year and this is the first time that a separate index has been issued which focuses exclusively on Africa. 

The African regional CDI which was published last week ranks donor countries across seven domains ; aid quality, trade, investment, security, migration, the environment and technology.  Ireland scored particularly well in the aid quality, security, migration and environmental domains.

Speaking following the announcement of the results, Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power T.D.  said ;

“Ireland gives the bulk of its overseas assistance to Africa because that is where poverty is concentrated.  It is very heartening to see the benefits of this focus being recognised internationally.  The survey also rightly highlights the very significant contribution that Ireland makes to peacekeeping in Africa, most recently with the deployment of almost 400 troops to Chad”.

David Roodman of the Centre for Global Development commented ;
“Rich nations are linked to Africa in many ways—not just through foreign aid. The new Commitment to Development Index for Africa looks at aid, trade, migration and other polices. Ireland takes a striking second place among 21 rich countries. Its aid to Africa as a share of GDP is among the highest in the world”.
Note for Editors:

The Commitment to Development Index (CDI) is published annually by the Centre for Global Development (CGD), an independent think-tank based in Washington D.C..  The index ranks 21 donor countries on the extent to which their policies in seven domains contribute to global development. 
 
Ireland allocated two thirds of its assistance to sub-Saharan Africa in 2005, representing 0.29% of GNP.   This combined with the fact that Irish Aid is untied (not linked to the provision of Irish goods or services), the absence of non-concessional loans and tax incentives for charitable giving also contributed to the high score.  Ireland’s substantial contributions to peacekeeping operations in Liberia and Ethiopia/Eritrea in recent years along with the relatively strong flow of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and greenhouse gas emissions growing more slowly than economic growth also boosted our ranking. 

The seven top ranked countries were as follows ;

Sweden
Ireland
UK
Netherlands
Denmark
Portugal
Norway

The United States was placed 13th on the index.

Further details are available at : http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/cdi/cdi_africa/

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Press
21 May 2008