43 Lithuania “Our state will take the lead in gender equality” Dalia Grybauskaitè, President of the Republic of Lithuania The Republic of Lithuania has stated that it will strive to achieve the commitments to provide 0.17% and 0.33% of GNI by 2010 and 2015 respectively. In 2009, the Government provided €30m in ODA, amounting to 0.11% of the GNI. In absolute figures, Lithuania’s aid levels plummeted below 2007 levels. Although the 2009 figures represent a €4m drop from €34m in 2008 to €30m in 2009, ODA as a percentage of GNI remains at 0.11% for the third year in a row. This is, however, the result of the impact of the financial crisis on the GNI, and it is worth noting that Lithuanian ODA is inflated with student costs. If Lithuania wants to reach its 2010 target, genuine aid levels must increase from €30m to €46m. Lithuanian NGOs acknowledge the efforts of the Lithuanian government in 2009, but also remind the government that more efforts and extensive increases will be needed in the coming years if it wants to fulfil its 0.33% target by 2015. • Aid quality Lithuanian ODA is granted in 5 priority cooperation areas: the promotion of democracy, rule of law and human rights, economic development, euro-integration processes and administrative capacity building. Given the rather small allocations for bilateral development cooperation and democracy promotion programmes (€2m), further division under vertical priorities is regarded as hair-splitting. National CSOs are advocating for a greater relevance of gender equality in development policies. The opening of the European Institute for Gender Equality last December and the Lithuanian Presidency of the OSCE in 2011, represent an excellent opportunity to work and make progress on gender issues. CSOs are hoping to translate this opportunity into a development practice by harnessing the existing momentum and using it to reinforce the role of gender issues in the new law on Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid the government is currently drafting. There are no accountability or evaluation mechanisms in place to guarantee that Lithuanian aid is being effective in fighting poverty and fostering development. Mutual accountability has never been a subject of public debate and aid is generally perceived as an instrument of foreign policy. The government also fails to evaluate its development policies and programmes, constraining progress on democratic ownership and accountability. The government needs to make further efforts to improve transparency and data available on development policies and ODA flows. There is insufficient information published through the Internet, and activity descriptions do not include analytical data. For instance, a simple breakdown of aid figures per project is still unavailable and national CSOs face significant problems when trying to scrutinise Lithuanian ODA. Lithuanian ODA focuses on areas where it has a comparative advantage and the main recipients are: Afghanistan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. Thematic priorities reflect the European Neighborhood Policy, but show little commitment with general poverty reduction goals. This is further confirmed by the fact that Lithuanian ODA has a strong focus on neighbouring countries and only includes one LDC, Afghanistan (€0.8m), which despite being an LDC is a recipient country defined along strong geopolitical lines. Lithuanian NGOs call on their government to: • Set clear and transparent criteria for the selection of geographical and thematic priorities in drafting the Law of Development Co- operation and Humanitarian Aid replacing the “Policy provisions of Development Cooperation of the Republic of Lithuania in 2006-2010”. • Introduce legislation setting guaranteeing steady annual increases in order to fulfil its international commitments (0.33% of the GNI by 2015) and improve the predictability of aid flows. • Ensure specific dialogue meetings with the participation of CSOs in policy construction process and formulate a distinct gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights strategy. • Start regular external evaluations of Lithuanian ODA programmes’ results and achievements and make the results public. • Provide development assistance according to poverty reduction goals and ensure sufficient additional (non-ODA) budget for climate and security related issues. Will Lithuania achieve the 2010 target according to the budgeted aid levels? Unlikely Will Lithuania achieve the 2010 target without inflating its aid? Unlikely Lithuania's genuine and inflated aid L a t v i a / L i t h u a n i a Organisations consulted: LITDEA - National NGO network for development education and awareness-raising 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 € m 2 0 0 7 c o n s t a n t Genuine aid Student costs Total ODA