Development Co-operation Profiles

Portugal

Introduction

Portugal’s development co-operation is strongly focused on providing expertise to Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa and Timor-Leste. Most of Portugal’s official development assistance (ODA) is provided as a core contribution to multilateral organisations, with the largest share going to European Union (EU) institutions. Portugal’s total ODA (USD 526.4 million, preliminary data) decreased in 2023, representing 0.19% of gross national income (GNI).

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

The 2030 Portuguese Co-operation Strategy (in Portuguese, English summary here) continues the focus on co-operation with Portuguese-speaking countries, building on the particular links between Portugal and these countries. Key thematic priorities are human development, governance, and climate and the environment, with gender equality as a cross-cutting priority. Through its peer-to-peer links, Portugal’s bilateral co-operation mainly aims to strengthen institutional capacity in its partner countries. Multiannual country strategies are jointly agreed upon with partners at a high level and cover all government interventions. The strategy also encompasses humanitarian assistance and development education.

In multilateral co-operation, the European Union is Portugal’s main partner. Portugal advocates, in particular, for the EU partnership with Africa. It is closely engaged with the CPLP, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, and is also active in partnerships with Ibero-America. Portugal strongly advocates for triangular co-operation (also regularly hosting international conferences) and protecting the ocean. The co‑operation strategy places greater attention on global development challenges. Portugal is preparing a National Roadmap for Sustainable Development 2030 with the aim to better link different policy areas. In 2023, Portugal agreed on debt-for-climate swaps with Cabo Verde and Sao Tome and Principe.

Poverty and inequality reduction focus

The mission of the Portuguese Development Cooperation Strategy 2030 is to eradicate poverty; fight inequalities; and promote sustainable, equitable and inclusive global development, informed by the concept of leaving no one behind. The Solidarity and Social Security Strategy is currently being reviewed. According to Portugal, it is likely to reach many people experiencing poverty and inequalities through its strong focus on social sectors in least developed countries (LDCs) and fragile states. Portugal’s poverty and inequality projects target vulnerable populations such as children and youth, women, the elderly, and people with disabilities by using social protection as the main policy instrument for reducing poverty and inequalities and strengthening local systems. Portugal does not have specific guidance or programming tools for mainstreaming poverty and inequality considerations across its ODA programming.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

The 2022 OECD-DAC peer review praised Portugal for mobilising its whole-of-government expertise and its strong focus on partner country ownership. It also highlighted its effective international advocacy, notably on triangular co-operation and EU collaboration during its Presidency of the European Council. The review found that Portugal can make more out of its “decentralised” system of numerous institutions engaging in co-operation. It recommended improving co-ordination across government, pulling bilateral efforts together, focusing more on outcomes and taking action to increase ODA. Portugal submitted an internal management response to the review’s recommendations. The peer review found that Portugal had fully or partially implemented 16 of the 19 recommendations of the 2016 peer review. Learn more about Portugal’s 2022 OECD-DAC peer review.

ODA allocation overview

Portugal provided USD 526.4 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 478.3 million in constant terms), representing 0.19% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 8.5% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2022. Except for 2022, ODA as a share of GNI has maintained below 0.2% since 2014, although with an upward trend in volume, especially since 2021. Portugal is not yet in line with its domestic and EU commitments to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Portugal provided all of its ODA as grants in 2022.2

In 2023, Portugal ranked 27th among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member countries in terms of ODA to GNI ratio. In line with its policy, ODA allocations are highly concentrated in Portuguese-speaking countries and in social sectors in 2022. Among DAC countries, Portugal allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA to Africa (62.5%) and the second highest allocated to fragile contexts (43.2%). With the phasing out of tied loans, Portugal's bilateral ODA is increasingly untied.

 

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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Portugal 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 (%)	0.7	0.18	0.21	0.19
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.06	0.03
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	43.7	78.0
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		58.3	70.9
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.

Portugal provided a higher share of its ODA multilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 45.2% of total ODA disbursements. Ten per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Portugal allocated 54.8% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, Portugal provided USD 7.7 million (preliminary data) of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia's war of aggression, a 78.5% decrease from 2022 in real terms, the year the conflict arose and aid to Ukraine was exceptionally high. USD 5.9 million of the amount was allocated to humanitarian assistance, a 83.3% 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, Portugal provided USD 336.9 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 12.9% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 311.5 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 25.4 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 23.9% of Portugal's non-core contributions and 76.1% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Eighty-one per cent of Portugal's total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to EU Institutions.

 

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The United Nations (UN) system received 6.3% of Portugal's multilateral contributions, of which USD 6.1 million (28.8%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 21.2 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Portugal's support (core and earmarked contributions) were the UN Secretariat (USD 5.4 million), UNDPO-UN Peacekeeping operations (USD 3.8 million) and the ILO (USD 3 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, Portugal's bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 256.6 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 32.9% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 50.6% of Portugal's gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 42%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 14.2 million in 2022, an increase of 37.8% in real terms over 2021, and represented 5.5% of Portugal's total gross bilateral ODA.

Portugal did not report on its triangular co-operation in 2022. The modality is a priority for the country. It generally focuses on Portuguese-speaking countries, agriculture research and development, and public sector policy and administrative management. Learn more about triangular co-operation.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, Portugal channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector. Technical co-operation made up 13% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 12.2 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 32% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 0.2% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 4.6% 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 7.1% to 4.8%. 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, Portugal's bilateral ODA was primarily focused on Africa. USD 160.3 million was allocated to Africa and USD 37.3 million to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 87.6% for Ukraine), accounting respectively for 62.5% and 14.5% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 15.9 million was allocated to America. Africa was also the main regional recipient of Portugal's earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, which was in line with its policy focus.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 79.9% of gross bilateral ODA went to Portugal's top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are mostly Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa and Timor-Leste, in line with its policy priorities. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 12%, of which 46% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, Portugal allocated 0.03% of its GNI to the least developed countries. Portugal allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (56.5%) to LDCs in 2022, noting that 12% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, Portugal allocated 4.2% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 10.9 million. Portugal allocated 33.2% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2022, equal to USD 85.2 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 110.9 million in 2022, representing 43.2% of Portugal's gross bilateral ODA. Around 0.4 per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, decreasing from 0.9% in 2021, while 4.5% was allocated to peace, decreasing from 4.9% in 2021. Three per cent went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing a decrease from 3.2% 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, more than half of Portugal's bilateral ODA was allocated to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 54.8% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 115.8 million) with a strong focus on support to education (USD 61.1 million), health and population (USD 26.9 million), which accounted for 12.7% of gross bilateral ODA, and a 117.7% increase from 2019 in real terms, and other social infrastructure and services (USD 11.4 million). Multi-sectoral aid or aid that is unallocable by sector (except for humanitarian assistance) totalled USD 52.1 million (24.6% of bilateral ODA), focusing on general budget support (USD 21.6 million). Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 36.5 million (17.3% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused primarily on social sectors in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, Portugal disbursed USD 18.7 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 29.3 million in 2021. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Portugal provided USD 18.4 million in ODA for donations of doses to developing countries in 2022, down 34.4% from USD 28.1 million in 2021. All COVID-19 vaccines accounted for donations of doses from domestic supply in 2022.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, Portugal committed 31.5% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women's empowerment, as either a principal or significant objective (down from 38% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 45.5 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 2% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• Portugal includes gender equality objectives in 0.3% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, below the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• Portugal screens virtually all their bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2021-22).

• Portugal committed USD 20.1 thousand of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 119.7 thousand to support women's rights organisations and movements and government institutions 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, Portugal committed 7.5% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 10.1 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), down from 9.9% in 2019-20. Unpacking the environmental data further:

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

• Three per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 3.5 million) focused on climate change overall, up from 2.5% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 30.5%). Portugal had a greater focus on mitigation (1.8%) than on adaptation (1.7%) in 2021-22.

• One per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.7 million) focused on biodiversity overall, down from 1.8% 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	10.1	7.5
Rio markers:
Biodiversity	1.7	1.3
Desertification	0.5	0.4
Climate change mitigation only	1.3	0.9
Climate change adaptation only	1.1	0.8
Both climate change mitigation and adaptation	1.2	0.9

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

The OECD initiative Sustainable Oceans for All shows that Portugal committed USD 0.8 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2022, USD 0.2 million less than in 2021. The 2022 value is equivalent to 0.5% of Portugal's bilateral allocable aid.

Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, Portugal:

• Did not have a general policy for the payment of local tax and customs duties for ODA-funded goods and services. It makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.

• Committed USD 6.9 million (4.6% of its bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries' trade performance and integration into the world economy.

• Committed USD 0.1 million (0.1% of its bilateral allocable aid) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as health.

Mobilised private finance

Portugal uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2022, Portugal's Camões-Institute for Cooperation and Language and the Portuguese Government mobilised USD 2.3 million from the private sector through simple co-financing and guarantees. This constituted an 86.8% decrease compared to 2021.

 

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

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A share of 84.8% targeted middle-income countries, while 9.1% went to the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs) in 2021-22, noting that 6.1% was unallocated by income.

 

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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Mobilised private finance by Portugal in 2021-22 related mainly to activities in Transport & Storage (84.1%), as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 2.9% of Portugal's total mobilised private finance was for climate action.

Private sector instruments

In 2022, Portugal's Development Financing Company (SOFID) extended USD 6.3 million in the form of loans to the private sector.

 

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In 2022, USD 2.1 million (33.3%) of Portugal's private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other LICs, while a majority (66.7%) went to LMICs. Portugal's private sector instruments supported projects in the transport and storage (66.7%) and communications (33.3%).

 

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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. Portugal'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, Portugal was not able to report its detailed statistics in 2022 and provided these early 2023. Still, the data was complete, with some areas to improve in terms of accuracy.

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 with the objective of increasing transparency and accountability of all external support that developing countries receive. In 2022, activities reported by Portugal as TOSSD totalled USD 631.1 million, up from USD 605 million in 2021. Portugal's TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all and 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. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

Portugal describes its development co-operation system as “decentralised”, reflecting the engagement of many ministries, public and non-governmental institutions. The development co-operation agency Camões I.P. (also responsible for language and culture promotion) is responsible for the overall co‑ordination of Portuguese co-operation. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, it also leads engagement with the European Union and multilateral organisations. It directly implements some bilateral programmes and delegated co-operation on behalf of the European Union. Camões I.P.-led co‑operation centres in key partner countries co-ordinate co-operation and are gradually gaining greater decision-making authority.

Around 400 staff work on development co-operation in the Portuguese system, around half of which are in Camões I.P. and 80 abroad.

 

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An important mechanism for consulting stakeholders is the Development Co-operation Forum. In addition to an annual meeting, it is planned to establish thematic working groups. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under ‑the umbrella body Plataforma Portuguesa das Organizações Não-Governamentais para o Desenvolvimento (Plataforma).

Quality and oversight

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

Features of Portugal’s systems for quality and oversight

Quality assurance	Camões I.P. quality assures the projects it manages and provides binding prior approval to interventions proposed by other Portuguese public entities. Cross-government clusters on health, energy and environment, and security help identify synergies between interventions. An evaluation of the mainstreaming of gender equality identified challenges in terms of guidance, training and resources.
Risk management	Camões I.P.’s risk management plan 2021-23 is informed by an internal learning exercise and is published on the agency’s website. Individual units document and monitor risks, with oversight by the Internal Audit Team and the Risk Management Committee.
Innovation and adaptation	Digital transformation is indicated as a priority in Portugal’s co-operation strategy.
Results management	Portugal is strengthening its focus on results through results frameworks developed at the country level to collate outputs, and annual progress monitoring exercises of country programmes. Measuring outcomes is a work in progress.
Evaluation	The Evaluation and Audit Unit in Camões I.P. oversees evaluations, guided by an evaluation policy and a three-year evaluation plan. Resourcing is a challenge, and the new co-operation strategy commits to more strategic evaluation and greater attention to follow-up and learning. Read more about Portugal’s evaluation system. Visit the DAC Evaluation Resource Centre website for evaluations of Portugal’s development co-operation.
Knowledge management and learning	Camões I.P. is developing toolboxes for staff on themes and approaches that enhance access to lessons and good practice. A new document management system and intranet platform support access to and sharing of information. Camões I.P. is also piloting a new project management system.
Communication and transparency	Portugal publishes general information about its development co-operation on Camões I.P.’s website. A separate ODA portal provides basic information on projects and disbursements by all agencies. The new co-operation strategy commits to developing a communications strategy to raise the profile of co-operation.

Additional resources

2022 OECD-DAC peer review of Portugal: https://www.oecd.org/dac/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-portugal-2022-550fb40e-en.htm

Camões - Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, IP: https://www.instituto-camoes.pt/en

Sociedade para o Financiamento do Desenvolvimento (SOFID), Portugal's development finance institution: www.sofid.pt/

CSO umbrella organisation Plataforma: https://www.plataformaongd.pt/english

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

Member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1960/1991 (Portugal joined the DAC in 1960, withdrew in 1974 and re-joined in 1991).

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.