Despite humanity facing some of the most intense conflicts since 1946, the Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) for peace in fragile contexts plunged significantly in 2021, reaching a 15-year record low. A report by the OECD titled Peace and Official Development Assistance also shows that in terms of funding, DAC members did not make a strong distinction between developing and fragile countries with both receiving almost the same percentage of the total ODA for peace.
ODA, among other goals, aims to promote peacebuilding and address complex conflict-affected situations. However, the report recently published by the OECD states that the DAC’s ODA for peace in fragile contexts accounted for 10.8% of the total ODA in 2021 which was US$5.27 billion. For comparison, in previous years, the percentage of DAC’s ODA for peace in fragile contexts was 13.7%, 14.2%, and 12.2% in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively. This decrease came at a time when the world was facing some of the most violent conflicts since the Second World War.
Despite countries in fragile situations carrying the risk of conflict, the report shows that developing countries received almost the same amount for conflict prevention and peacebuilding as those countries in fragile situations. In 2021, DAC members’ expenditure for peacebuilding was set at 9.6% of the total ODA for developing countries, and 10.8% for fragile contexts.
Fig.1. DAC members peace expenditure as a percentage of their total ODA (2012-2021)
Source: Peace and Official Development Assistance
A subcategory of peace that is dedicated to conflict prevention by DAC members dropped to a five-year record low (in volume) of US$1.85 billion in 2021 which equals 3.8%. This amount is particularly small in contrast to the US$35.8 billion that DAC members disbursed for humanitarian aid and in-donor refugee costs during the same year. Germany, the United States, and the European Union topped the list of countries financing conflict prevention in 2021 each spending US$976.1 million, US$961.6 million, and US$835 million, respectively. These three countries collectively funded around 60% of the total ODA for peace by DAC members.
Fig.2. DAC members’ ODA to conflict prevention as % of total ODA to fragile contexts (2012 – 2021)
Source: Peace and Official Development Assistance
Furthermore, according to the report, fundamental peacebuilding activities, apart from “civilian peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and resolution”, received less funding from DAC members than secondary peacebuilding activities. Altogether, core peacebuilding activities received only 27.3% of the total ODA for peace and 35.1% when considering fragile contexts. Democratic participation and civil society, both secondary peacebuilding activities, were second on the list, receiving 13% of the total ODA for peace.
Fig.3. Percentage distribution of DAC members’ ODA to core and secondary peacebuilding activities for fragile contexts (2021)
Source: Peace and Official Development Assistance
Two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, topped the list of the recipients of ODA for peace for five consecutive years in 2021. Together, these two countries received more ODA for peace than the next five largest recipients combined. Of the top 20 recipients of ODA for peace, 11 countries were African and six were in fragile contexts. Countries in fragile contexts also led the list of the recipients of ODA for conflict prevention. All six countries, namely Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Mali, Syria, and Somalia, received over US$100 million in 2021 for conflict prevention, and all experienced a high level of fragility according to the OECD-developed fragility framework (security dimension).
Fig.4. Top 20 fragile recipients of peace ODA (2021)
