Annual Report 2019
2019 was the beginning of a new era for Ireland’s development cooperation programme. In February, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, An Tánaiste and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, and Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ciaran Cannon, launched A Better World, Ireland’s new policy for international development.
The policy sets out a cross-Government strategic framework for Ireland’s development cooperation for the decade ahead as we aim to deliver our commitment to allocate 0.7% of GNI to Official Development Assistance (ODA) by 2030.
2019 humanitarian response in numbers:
- Ireland's development and humanitarian assistance reaches more than 130 countries worldwide
- In 2019, more than 75% of Ireland's bilateral aid targeted gender equality
- In June 2019, the Government launched Ireland's Third National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security
- Our humanitarian programme plan provided €14.9 million in funding to support Irish NGOs to respond to humanitarian crises with an estimated 10% of programming prioritising protection, gender mainstreaming and the prevention of gender based violence (GBV) in 2019
- Through a new three year partnership with the International Rescue Committee, Ireland has committed to providing €4.5 million to deliver life-saving services for women and girl survivors of GBV in five of the most protracted, underfunded humanitarian settings in the world
- In 2019, Ireland continued to support the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) with funding of €7.5 million. GPE works with close to 70 developing countries to reach the most marginalised and vulnerable children, including girls, children with disabilities and those in emergency settings. With more than 120 million girls out of school, GPE focuses on ensuring girls’ access to quality education continues to remain essential.
- In 2019 Ireland pledged €6 million over three years to Education Cannot Wait – a fund hosted by UNICEF, dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crises. Ireland’s funding supports efforts to provide access to education for 8.9 million children living in crisis by 2021, including over 4.4 million girls
- Ireland will provide at least €250 million to global education by 2024
- In 2019, Ireland provided at least €80 million in climate finance exceeding the commitment made in the Programme for Government to €175 million in climate finance over the period 2016-2020.
Whole-of-Government programme
Irish Aid is a whole-of-Government programme managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Contributions to Ireland’s ODA are made from a range of Departments. These include Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Finance, Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, Department of Health, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.