Strengthening the effectiveness of Lithuania’s development cooperation policy

Problem

After becoming a fully-fledged member state of the European Union (EU) in 2004, Lithuania acquired
an official mandate to implement a national development cooperation policy. Such policy focuses on
providing official development assistance (ODA) to developing countries, which describes financial
and humanitarian support to developing countries and territories, funded by the state budget. Such
policy aims to promote international peace, economic development, and social stability, and at the
same time decrease the disparity between developed and developing countries and integrate
developing countries into the global economy.
Development cooperation is a foreign policy tool that allows countries that provide ODA (Donor
states) to represent their values and economic interests abroad. Such policy can support
democratization and human rights promotion in developing countries while also creating unique
opportunities for the donor state to improve its image and trade in developing markets across the
globe.
In 2019 Lithuania’s ODA accounted for approx. 60,4 million euro, or 0,13 % of the national gross
domestic product (GDP). For comparison, in the same year, EU member states on average dedicated
0,47 % of their GDP to developing countries. However, objective no. 9.6 in Lithuania’s National
Progress Plan for 2021-2030 outlines the national commitment to strengthen Lithuania’s development
cooperation policy and foresees that by 2030 Lithuania’s ODA must account for 0,33 % of the
national GDP. This means that Lithuania needs to increase its ODA by more than twofold over the
next ten years.
Even though development cooperation is officially considered to be an integral part of Lithuania’s
foreign policy, in 2019, data provided by the Eurobarometer has shown that only 27 percent of
Lithuanian respondents think that helping developing countries tackle their issues should be their
government’s priority. These results show that the Lithuanian society is not sufficiently aware of why
Lithuania should prioritise development cooperation in foreign affairs or how it can create mutual
benefits to both Lithuania and its developing country partners.
Despite an established structure for conducting this policy and a deep pool of public and private sector
experts with valuable knowledge for developing countries, the tools and opportunities of development
cooperation, as a measure of foreign policy and diplomacy, continue to be underutilized. The current
goals of Lithuania’s development cooperation policy are vague and do not foresee concrete
implementation steps. Currently, this policy has only one measurement indicator – the amount of
official development assistance provided by Lithuania annually and its share of the gross domestic
product. Such situation does not allow to properly evaluate the results and impact of Lithuania’s
development cooperation policy and ensure that this policy and its resources produce political and
economic benefits to Lithuania and its partner countries. Furthermore, after 2021 Lithuanian
government will not have any official strategic document that would outline the importance of
development cooperation for Lithuania’s foreign affairs, any other goals and priorities, or concrete
measures for the successful development cooperation. This creates further challenges for creating a
robust development cooperation policy in Lithuania, which would allow the country to utilize this
unique foreign policy tool. In the past, development experts (both from Lithuania and abroad) have
highlighted this issue and claimed that it is essential for the government to implement swift qualitative
and quantitative changes, particularly establishing more detailed geographic and thematic priorities.
Specific quantitative changes have already been initiated – at the end of 2020, the government
accepted changes to the Law of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid. These reforms
focus on establishing a more flexible financing mechanism, which will allow Lithuania to pursue
larger cooperation projects. At the same time, this opens up new opportunities for Lithuanian
development actors to secure required additional national co-financing from the Government when
implementing projects funded by such international actors as the EU. However, to fully utilize the
potential of such a mechanism and increasing levels of ODA, it is crucial to coincidingly review the
long-term goals and priorities of the overall development cooperation policy in Lithuania. Following
this, it is essential to ensure that Lithuania’s development cooperation priorities are associated with
clear goals and performance criteria, which would ensure its long-term effectiveness.

Goal

Create action guidelines for Lithuania’s development cooperation policy, foreseeing long-term
strategic priorities, goals, and tools for their achievement.

Project files

Result

Result: Strengthening Lithuania’s Development Cooperation Policy: Final Report, Recommendations, and Implementation Action Plan. (LT)

Participants

2020/21

Vygantė Mizgerytė

2020/21

Julius Zubė