Development Co-operation Profiles

Czechia

Introduction

Czechia’s development co-operation focuses on reducing global poverty, fragility and inequality while promoting its national interests, such as strengthened security and economic diplomacy through stronger political, trade and investment relations. Czechia is recognised for its strong support of democratic transition and human rights. Czechia’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 789.4 million, preliminary data) decreased in 2023, representing 0.24% of gross national income (GNI).

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

The 2010 Act on Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid provides the framework for Czechia’s development co-operation. The 2018-2030 Development Cooperation Strategy sets out five thematic priorities: 1) building stable and democratic institutions; 2) sustainable management of natural resources; 3) agriculture and rural development; 4) inclusive social development; and 5) economic growth. Czechia’s partner countries are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Moldova, and Zambia. Czechia puts a special emphasis on building partnerships across the public, private, civil and academic sectors.

Czechia seeks to advance these national priorities, particularly in the context of the European Union (EU), through which the bulk of its ODA is channelled. Czechia’s priorities within the broader EU development policy include stronger linkages and coherence between development co-operation and security-building measures, the development of international trade and investment, the prevention of forced displacement and irregular migration, disaster risk reduction, and climate adaptation.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

The 2023 OECD-DAC peer review found that Czechia’s long-term 2018-2030 strategy ensures predictability and provides for flexibility. Czechia engages with the European Union and its members and identifies opportunities for building institutional learning processes. The review recommended that Czechia strengthen its institutional set-up to accelerate progress towards a more cohesive portfolio that explicitly addresses poverty and inequality and builds better partnerships with local civil society organisations (CSOs) and the private sector. The peer review found that Czechia had fully or partially implemented 15 of the 16 recommendations of the 2016 peer review. Learn more about Czechia’s 2023 DAC peer review.

ODA allocation overview

Czechia provided USD 789.4 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 690.4 million in constant terms), representing 0.24% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 34.3% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2022. Over the previous years, ODA had remained relatively stable, around 0.13% of GNI, until its peak to 0.38% of GNI in 2022 due to in-donor refugee costs. Czechia is not on track to meet its commitment to reach 0.33% of GNI by 2030 as part of the collective EU commitment to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Czechia provided all of its ODA as grants in 2022.2

In 2023, Czechia ranked 23rd among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. In 2022, Czechia was among DAC members with the highest share of refugee costs in total gross bilateral ODA (87.9%). The increase of in-donor refugee costs in 2022 means that shares of bilateral ODA allocated to other areas may have decreased from 2021 to 2022, even if absolute volumes have not.

 

Notes: Data on official development assistance (ODA) volumes (figure above) are in constant 2022 prices. Data for 2023 are preliminary. See the methodological notes for further details.

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Czechia is committed to several international targets and Development Assistance Committee standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC recommendations.

Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022	2023, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)	0.33	0.13	0.38	0.24
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.03	0.02
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	58.0	34.1
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		56.7	56.4
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	100	100

Note: ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee. This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations.

Czechia provided a higher share of its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 69.9% of total ODA disbursements. Three per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Czechia allocated 30.1% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, Czechia provided USD 15.9 million (preliminary data) of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia's war of aggression, a 59.9% decrease from 2022 in real terms. USD 14 million of the amount was allocated to humanitarian assistance in 2023, a 52.2% decrease from 2022.

 

Note: The amount reported in 2023 is an estimate, based on preliminary figures reported to the OECD and published in April 2024.

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ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2022, Czechia provided USD 336.7 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 10.7% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 316.4 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 20.2 million was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 45% of Czechia's non-core contributions and 55% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Eighty-five percent of Czechia's total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to EU Institutions.

 

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The United Nations (UN) system received 8.4% of Czechia's multilateral contributions, of which USD 14.2 million (50.4%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 28.2 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Czechia's support (core and earmarked contributions) were the UN (USD 4.8 million), UNHCR (USD 3 million) and the WFP (USD 2.7 million).

 

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See the section Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.

Bilateral ODA

In 2022, Czechia's bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 734.8 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 723.8% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 5.8% of Czechia's gross bilateral ODA, compared to a DAC country average of 42%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 646 million in 2022, an increase of 9 885.3% in real terms over 2021, and represented 87.9% of Czechia's total gross bilateral ODA.

Czechia disbursed USD 1.3 million for triangular co-operation in 2022. Its regional priority is Asia, with a focus on agriculture, forestry, fishing. Learn more about triangular co-operation.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, Czechia channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector. Technical co-operation made up 0.8% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations received USD 27.1 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 23.1% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 0.3% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 3.4% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2021 to 2022, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 28.2% to 3.7%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

 

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Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2022, Czechia's bilateral ODA was primarily focused on ODA-eligible countries in Europe. USD 47.5 million was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 73.1% for Ukraine) and USD 18.4 million to Africa, accounting respectively for 6.5% and 2.5% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 9.2 million was allocated to Asia. Europe was also the main regional recipient of Czechia's earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, in line with its priorities.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 8.4% of gross bilateral ODA went to Czechia's top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are priority countries, specific fragile countries where there is a temporary focus on stabilisation due to crises or part of regional programmes. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 89.1%, of which 98.7% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, Czechia allocated 0.02% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). Czechia allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (5.1%) to lower middle-income countries in 2022, noting that 89.1% was unallocated by income group. Least developed countries (LDCs) received 2.8% of Czechia's gross bilateral ODA (USD 21 million). Additionally, Czechia allocated 2.5% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 18.3 million.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Support to fragile contexts was USD 25.1 million in 2022, representing 3.4% of Czechia's gross bilateral ODA. Twenty-eight per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, decreasing from 34.6% in 2021, while 9.2% was allocated to peace, slightly increasing from 8.8% in 2021. Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

 

Note: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral official development assistance that is allocated by country.

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Sectors

In 2022, support to refugees in donor countries amounted to USD 646 million. ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 38.5 million, focusing on health and population (USD 13.2 million), which accounted for 1.8% of gross bilateral ODA, and represents a 196.6% increase from 2019 in real terms. Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 38.3 million (5.2% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused also/primarily on social sectors and humanitarian assistance in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, Czechia disbursed USD 5.2 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 13.8 million in 2021. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Czechia provided USD 4.7 million in ODA for donations of excess doses to developing countries in 2022, down 29.2% from USD 6.6 million in 2021. All COVID-19 vaccines accounted for donations of doses from domestic supply in 2022.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, Czechia committed 20.1% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women's empowerment as either a principal or significant objective (down from 42.3% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 16.3 million of bilateral ODA in support of gender equality. Unpacking the gender equality data further:

• The share of screened bilateral allocable aid committed to gender equality and women's empowerment as a principal objective was 1.4% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• Czechia includes gender equality objectives in 17.9% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• Czechia screens the majority of their bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (97.9% in 2021-22).

• Czechia committed USD 37.3 thousand of ODA to end violence against women and girls in 2021-22.

Learn more about Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls: DAC Guidance for Development Partners and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.

 

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Environment

In 2021-22, Czechia committed 16.3% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 13.6 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), down from 25.6% in 2019-20. Unpacking the environmental data further:

• Four per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11%.

• Eight per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 7 million) focused on climate change overall, down from 11.2% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 30.5%). Czechia had a greater focus on adaptation (6.7%) than on mitigation (3.6%) in 2021-22.

• Three per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid (USD 2.7 million) focused on biodiversity overall, down from 6.1% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 7.2%).

Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change [DAC/CHAIR(2021)1/FINAL].

 

Note: In this figure, the category climate includes climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation efforts.

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Performance against environment and Rio Markers, 2021-2022

Marker	Constant 2022 USD million	% of bilateral allocable
Environment	13.1	16.2
Rio markers:
Biodiversity	2.7	3.3
Desertification	0.9	1.1
Climate change mitigation only	1.6	1.9
Climate change adaptation only	4.1	4.9
Both climate change mitigation and adaptation	1.3	1.6

Note: Individual Rio Markers should not be added up as this can result in double counting.

Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, Czechia also:

• Sought, in some cases, exemptions on its ODA-funded goods and services in partner countries and territories. It does not make information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.

• Committed USD 8 million (9.2% of its bilateral allocable aid) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as emergency response, and agriculture, forestry and fishing.

• Committed USD 9.6 million (11% of its bilateral allocable aid) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

Mobilised private finance

Czechia uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2022, Czechia's Czech Development Agency mobilised USD 0.2 million from the private sector through simple co-financing. This constituted a 65.5% decrease compared to 2021.

 

Note: CIV: collective investment vehicle; SPV: special purpose vehicle.

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Mobilised private finance by Czechia in 2021-22 related mainly to activities in Business and Other Services (72.7%), as its top sector.

Effectiveness of development co-operation

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation monitoring exercise tracks the implementation of the effectiveness commitments. Following the reform of the exercise over 2020-22, the 4th global monitoring round (2023-26) is underway. Information on partner countries' participation in the exercise as well as their progress is available at the Global Dashboard. Czechia's results from the 2016 and 2018 monitoring rounds can be found here.

To help improve the transparency of development co-operation, the OECD provides regular feedback to members on the overall quality of their statistical reporting and works with each member to ensure the data meet high quality standards before they are published. Regarding DAC/CRS reporting to the OECD, Czechia's reporting in 2022 was on time and complete, with some areas to improve in terms of the accuracy of the data.

Total official support for sustainable development

Total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) is an international statistical standard that monitors all official and officially supported resources for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. It provides a broad measure of development finance to increase transparency and accountability of all external support that developing countries receive.

In 2022, activities reported by Czechia as TOSSD totalled USD 1.1 billion, and Czechia's TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels and SDG 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MFA) mandate is to lead, co-ordinate and oversee the delivery of Czechia’s ODA according to the 2010 Act on Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid. The Czech Development Agency is a state organisation under the authority of the MFA. It implements bilateral country programmes and bilateral grants through calls for proposals. Operational guidance defines a clear division of labour between the MFA and the Czech Development Agency, as well as the embassies, implementers and the Council for Development Cooperation.

The MFA and Czech Development Agency have 67 staff working on development co-operation, about 80% of which are based in headquarters.

 

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The Department of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid within the MFA consults with and reports on evaluations to the Council of Czech Development Cooperation – an interdepartmental co-ordination body. The council brings together government and external stakeholders and is tasked with overseeing Czechia’s development co-operation strategy. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body FoRS – Czech Forum for Development Cooperation.

Quality and oversight

Internal systems and processes help ensure the effective delivery of Czechia’s development co-operation. Select features are shown in the table below.

Features of Czechia’s systems for quality and oversight

Quality assurance	The 2021 development co-operation methodology places a greater emphasis on quality assurance and risk management, for example, when identifying new projects and monitoring ongoing ones.
Innovation and adaptation	The Czech-UNDP Partnership is a challenge fund for innovative development solutions. A project was launched to promote better use of technological innovations among the non-profit, private and academic sectors.
Results management	The 2021 development co-operation methodology focuses on results and closer donor co-ordination. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs focuses on managing data from project monitoring and developing a comprehensive results framework with target outputs and outcomes linked to specific Sustainable Development Goals.
Evaluation	The evaluation function is embedded in the Department of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DCD) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The DCD also collaborates with the Czech Evaluation Society, which brings evaluators and evaluating companies together, conducts trainings and workshops, and disseminates a public code of conduct for evaluators. Czechia uses evaluations to strengthen scholarships and deepen partnerships with universities. Learn more about Czechia’s evaluation system. Visit the DAC Evaluation Resource Centre for evaluations of Czechia’s development co-operation.
Knowledge management and learning	At the country level, learning from other donors helps improve the effectiveness of projects, but such learning is not systematically applied across countries.
Communication and transparency	The communication strategy includes raising awareness through digital and social media and formal and non-formal global development education. Mapping of all projects is available on line, as are podcasts in each priority country.

Additional resources

2023 OECD-DAC peer review Czechia: https://www.oecd.org/dac/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-czech-republic-2016-9789264264939-en.htm

2019 OECD-DAC mid-term review of Czechia: DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/28

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid: www.mzv.cz/aid

CzechAid: www.czechaid.cz/en

CSO platform FoRS – Czech Forum for Development Cooperation: www.fors.cz

Czechia’s practices on the Development Co-operation TIPs: Tools Insights Practices learning platform: https://www.oecd.org/development-cooperation-learning?tag-key+partner=czechia

Member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 2013.

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.

Notes

← 1.  DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.

← 2.  Other providers also provide non-grants, which include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.