International Development Assistance

Being a member of the European Union and the international community of democratically and economically advanced countries, the Czech Republic recognizes the principle of solidarity among people and countries, and accepts its share of responsibility in resolving global problems. International development cooperation, an integral part of the Czech Republic’s foreign policy, is one of the manifestations of this attitude.

The Czech Republic began providing international development cooperation in the form of specific development projects in 1996, with the primary framework objective to contribute, in compliance with the efforts of the international community, to poverty alleviation in the less advanced/developed countries of the world by way of sustainable development. In this respect, the Czech Republic lends full support to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), derived from UN international conferences and ratified by the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. The principal objective is to reduce the number of people living in absolute poverty to one half by 2015.

Thus, the main objectives of the Czech Republic’s international development cooperation as defined in the International Development Assistance Principles, adopted by Government Resolution no. 302 on 31 March 2004, are as follows:

• Poverty reduction
• Economic and industrial development
• Gradual integration of partner countries into the world economy
• Agricultural development
• Introduction of principles of lawful conduct
• Migration control
• Promotion and consolidation of democracy, human rights and good governance
• Sustainable development with a focus on environmental protection
• Post-conflict reconstruction

The system of the Czech ODA is currently in the process of its transformation. The new Czech Development Agency, established on January 1, 2008, is gradually taking over the responsibility of implementation of the ODA projects from the line Ministries. In the case of new projects launched since January 2009, the full responsibility belongs to the Czech Development Agency (i.e. project identification, preparation, call for tenders and monitoring). The Ministry of Foreign Affaires continues to play a key role in strategy preparation, planning and subsequent evaluation of the projects. Nevertheless the expert role of the Ministry of the Environment is preserved within the Intergovernmental ODA Council.