An important step along the way has been the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which was passed two years ago. Efforts to harmonise European development policy derive additional impetus from the apparently uncompromising integration process aimed at creating one European “nation state”. Among those particularly affected by this trend are government-run aid offices in the smaller member countries, such as Österreichische Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (OEZA).

OEZA is a reputed partner in east cooperation in the Balkans, where people are increasingly suffering from water scarcity and drought (also read from page 14). The execution of bilateral projects and budget administration are carried out by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), an enterprise within OEZA. ADA’s work is based on a three-year programme, which is developed by the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMeiA), formerly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While the growing Europeanisation itself may soon cause the Austrian emblem on domestic development aid projects to disappear, a recent statement by the head of the ADA liaison office in Brussels has caused additional turmoil. In the 12th issue of corporAID Magazine, Wolfgang Lehofer also raised the possibility of financing other donors’ programmes as a “silent partner” and thereby becoming invisible in the aid-receiving country!

It is clear that being integrated into a bigger system (like the EU) always implies giving up a “part of oneself”; in that case it is important to ensure a sound balance between giving and taking. In development aid projects, however, the national organisations commissioned with the relevant tasks are not the only ones involved. The money spent is taxpayers’ money, and it needs to be “visibly” invested on their behalf.

What is also at stake is the opportunity that domestic businesses get – or lose – to be involved in development aid projects. Austria is often criticised for its extensive practice of providing development aid in the form of debt remission (such as in Iraq). However, insiders know very well that other donor nations want to see much higher “profits” flowing back to their own economies from development aid projects than Austria.

At any rate, regions where ADA could become a silent partner in programmes launched by others do exist. One such example is Albania, where ADA rescued the water supply system of the city of Shkodra with its 100,000 inhabitants from decay and has been restoring the latter successfully since 1996. After making a € 6.8 million investment, however, ADA has realised that a sustainable restoration of the city’s water supply system would by far exceed the financial capabilities of OEZA.

ADA is therefore glad to have found two strategic partners – the German Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) – with whose support a sustainable water and wastewater management can be established. ADA and KfW unanimously agree that one priority will be to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Shkodra waterworks.

KfW, one of the big players in European development cooperation, has been active in Albania since 1992. In urban water management, the Development Bank is currently financing projects in eight different locations. KfW draws its main focus on the squandering of water resources and groundwater and surface water pollution caused by untreated sewage. As far as Shkodra is concerned, the Germans will mainly dedicate their work to wastewater programmes starting this autumn (restoration of the Ramsar Site at Lake Shkodra).

OEZA, and therefore also Austria, has earned itself an excellent reputation primarily in Albania and Macedonia that will persist well into the future. Still under the Austrian emblem, OEZA is currently devising a sectoral strategy of water and wastewater restoration for Moldova. In Serbia, the situation may develop quite differently.

After completing projects in the larger cities, KfW has launched an investment programme for water restoration in the smaller communities this year. According to KfW, OEZA would be an ideal “silent partner” in this ambitious project! Even from within big player KfW, voices are heard saying they would deplore the end of bilateral relations with the receiving countries for the reasons outlined above.

So smaller donor nations would be much more at risk of disappearing into anonymity in a joint EU development aid policy. Austrian stakeholders apparently haven’t yet come to an unanimous conclusion as to how this challenged should be addressed. State Secretary Christoph Matznetter, for example, recently announced the foundation of an Austrian Development Bank.
(Source: aqua press Int. 3/2007, Mag. Christof Hahn)