Introduction

NGOs represent a complementary conduit for bilateral aid, enabling the Luxembourg Development Cooperation to be active in countries, zones and sectors where the ministry does not intervene or which it is difficult for it to access. Thus, the NGOs are partners of the Luxembourg Development Cooperation in the fight against poverty and social inequality, and are not agents of the government.

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to have significant impacts on the work of NGOs. The MFA continued to authorise reallocations of activities necessary to counter the effects of the pandemic on local NGO partners. Where reprogramming was not possible, the MFA provided additional budgets to the NGOs affected.

Some NGOs used the safety line in 2021 to deal with the deteriorating security situation in some countries where they operate. It should be noted that the MFA decided in 2020, within development projects, to unblock resources to finance not only security training for local partners and volunteers but also non-lethal equipment, eligible as official development assistance (ODA), required in order to ensure the safety of local partners and volunteers.

Within the framework of the charter against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH), the signing of which is now a condition for granting ministerial approval, the Ministry and the Cercle de Coopération des ONG have organised training courses to guide NGOs in the implementation of the charter and to give them practical tools for implementing it within each organisation.

In 2021 the NGOs disbursed EUR 58 730 101.80 for development cooperation activities, mainly through the following financial instruments:

• Development cooperation framework agreements: 25 framework agreements were co-financed in 2021, including two framework agreements on a consortium basis, with a total budget of EUR 27 604 973 million.
• Co-financing of development projects: 76 individual projects by 40 NGOs were supported in 2021, at a total cost of EUR 7 686 922 for the MFA share.

In total, the ODA allocated to national NGOs in 2021 was EUR 68 544 148.28 i.e. 22.21% of Luxembourg’s official bilateral development assistance. This amount also includes the ODA allocated to humanitarian action (emergency aid, food aid, crisis prevention, reconstruction and rehabilitation), subsidies for public awareness-raising and development education in Luxembourg, and support for NGOs’ administrative expenses.

The number of approved NGOs and the high percentage of ODA allocated to NGOs bear witness to the value placed by the people of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Development Cooperation on civil society organisations as separate development operators. The ministry’s strong commitment to Luxembourgish NGOs is thus enabling ODA to remain at around 1% of GNI.

The Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs cultivates regular, constructive dialogue with the NGOs, represented by the Cercle de Coopération des ONGD of Luxembourg, seen in particular in the meetings of the MFA-NGO working group, which met on six occasions in 2021.