Dispersion of Czechia’s Development Assistance Allocated to Priority Partner Countries with the Use of Bilateral Projects

Abstract

Czechia has been an ODA donor since the mid-1990s and its ODA was too fragmented in the past. However, no research study has been published so far to address the issue of ODA dispersion in the portfolio of Czech bilateral development projects. The paper aimed to assess dispersion of Czech ODA allocated to priority partner countries with the use of bilateral projects between 2011 and 2019, and to show whether any progress towards lower ODA dispersion has been made since 2011. To meet the aim, concentration measures standardly applied for the analysis of ODA dispersion were used. The findings showed that ODA was dispersed especially in recipient countries that received higher ODA volumes, and that the progress towards more concentrated ODA has been made since 2017.

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on European Integration 2024

“…By the end of 2017, data were collected with the use of the so-called cash or flow basis methodology, resulting in the same valuing of grants and loans in ODA flows. However, since 2018, the DAC OECD has applied improved methodology (so-called grant-equivalent) to show that grants and loans differ and represent different efforts of ODA donors (Kovářová, 2021a). The changes in methodology mean that only the grant portion of loans (parts of lending below the market rates) is considered to be a part of ODA flow (OECD, 2020).…”

“…Other challenges faced by Central European donor countries can be seen in low political and public support, or quality and territorial allocation of ODA (Opršal et al, 2016). The CECs identify their partner countries among the ODA recipients from Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans as the CECs are motivated by their own experience with political and economic transformation (Kovářová, 2021a). On the other hand, the CECs pay less attention in their development policies to the least developed countries, for instance in sub-Saharan Africa (Jančovič, 2023).…”