Working with other bilateral donors

logo of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The UK is one of the world’s largest donors of aid to developing countries. Nonetheless 92% of the world’s aid comes from other industrialised nations.

If we feel strongly that developed countries should be giving more aid, that aid should be more efficient, better targeted, and focused on key goals like poverty eradication or climate change, then we need to work with a wide range of partner countries and organisations to achieve those ends.

What is a bilateral donor?

The world’s aid system is dominated by a number of global organisations, for example the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations. These are known as the multilateral agencies because they have multiple relationships - with both donor countries and with developing or partner countries.

A one-to-one relationship with another country or body is called bilateral. The UK has bilateral relationships with developing or partner countries as well as with other donors from the developed world. The UK pursues development objectives with these other donor countries

We seek to influence other donors' policies in directions we favour, and to co-ordinate and harmonise how we work together within multilateral bodies, within stand-alone funds and programmes, and in partner countries.

Who are the bilateral donors?

There is no definitive list of donor countries. The nearest thing is the membership of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The OECD is a grouping of 30 industrial nations which accept the principles of democracy and free market economics. The Development Assistance Committee is the OECD body which deals specifically with development. It has 22 member nations plus the European Commission.

The DAC is the primary forum where donors compare and evaluate how they manage their aid programmes. It establishes standards and guidelines for good practice. The DAC provides the internationally agreed definition of overseas development assistance (ODA), the technical term for foreign aid. It collects and distributes statistics on ODA. The DAC also monitors members’ aid performance (and ODA levels) through a process of peer review.

The 23 members of the Development Assistance Committee are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States.

Meeting bilateral donors

DFID works with the other donor countries in a number of ways. There is a regular calendar of one-to-one meetings between DFID's Secretary of State and ministers and their opposite numbers, in the UK and abroad. DFID ministers also attend one-to-one meetings at large summits.

Occasionally bilateral relationships merit a ‘summit’ meeting where the UK Prime Minister and other ministers meet with their opposite numbers to discuss and co-ordinate policy across a broad range of issues. Recent examples include the 2007 UK-France Summit and the 2008UK-Australia Summit.

The Call To Action – a triumph of bilateralism

A recent example of this bilateral influencing was the Call To Action. In July 2007 the Prime Minister called for 2008 to be the year in which the world made a special effort to get the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) back on track. Over the last 12 months DFID and other UK ministries met, lobbied and negotiated with donor countries to address the MDGs. As a result of this activity by the UK a series of high-level meetings throughout the year – the European Union Council in June, the G8 summit in July, and finally a UN High Level Event in September – made substantial commitments to increase aid and focus greater effort on achieving the MDGs.

The announcements were all made at major multilateral meetings. But the preliminary lobbying and influencing had taken place at earlier, bilateral meetings.

Last updated: 17 November 2008

Working with other bilateral donors

What is a bilateral donor?

Who are the bilateral donors?

Meeting bilateral donors

The Call To Action – a triumph of bilateralism

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