Owen abroad

I’ve not seen much press coverage of the 2008 DATA report which aims to hold donors to account for meeting the promises they gave in 2005. This year’s report finds that rich countries have so far given only one seventh of the extra aid they promised. This year, the report (with its celebrity backers, Bob Geldof and Bono) singles out France as falling particularly far behind.

As the report says:

change remains incremental and tremendous success stories on the ground are not being taken to scale in the manner necessary to realise the shared goals of the international community

According to the FT:

DATA found that the increase in aid to Africa amounted to an average of $1bn a year from 2005-07, while countries were expected to give an additional $2.6bn in 2008. But this was far short of the extra $6.4bn needed this year to keep the G8 countries on track to meet their $50bn target.