Development Co-operation Profiles

Slovenia

Introduction

Slovenia’s development co-operation focuses on its near neighbourhood in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe, including through its integration into the European Union (EU). Over half of Slovenia’s official development assistance (ODA) is delivered bilaterally, and the European Union receives almost all of its multilateral ODA. Slovenia’s total ODA (USD 162.9 million, preliminary data) decreased in 2023, representing 0.24% of gross national income (GNI).

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

Slovenia's legal and policy framework comprises the International Development Cooperation of the Republic of Slovenia Act, the September 2017 Resolution, the November 2018 Decree, and the Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Strategy until 2030, providing a framework for multilateral activities and scope to enhance bilateral co-operation. Slovenia’s strategy identifies two thematic priorities: 1) productive employment, decent work and an inclusive society, which includes education, enabling business environments, private sector development, the rule of law and good governance; and 2) sustainable management of natural resources and the fight against climate change, which includes water management and the transition to a circular economy. Gender equality and environmental protection are both cross-cutting priorities.

Slovenia strives for a strong European Union and a strong multilateral system. It pays particular attention to integrating Western Balkan countries into the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Slovenia presided over the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2021, focusing on bolstering EU resilience, aiding in post-pandemic recovery and advocating for the enlargement towards the Western Balkans. Since January 2024, Slovenia has had a non-permanent seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council for the 2024-25 term. This role allows Slovenia to actively participate in global issues, promoting conflict prevention, gender equality and addressing climate change.

Poverty and inequality reduction focus

Slovenia’s Resolution on Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid outlines eradicating poverty and creating peaceful and inclusive societies as key development co-operation goals. Slovenia is beginning to implement its guidelines for mainstreaming gender equality in development co-operation, aiming to ensure a targeted intersectional approach to gender and inequalities. Slovenia’s broader development programming aims to identify and target the most vulnerable and marginalised populations, such as internally displaced women and female refugees and children.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

Slovenia’s first OECD-DAC peer review was conducted in 2017. The 2020 OECD-DAC mid-term review recognised the government’s efforts to build its development co-operation system, including strengthening staff and partner understanding of the importance of gender equality and environmental protection as cross-cutting issues. The mid-term review encouraged Slovenia to articulate more clearly how its development co-operation defines and seeks to eradicate poverty, particularly in middle-income countries in its immediate neighbourhood. Overall, the mid-term review noted that Slovenia had taken steps to address 9 of the 14 recommendations in its 2017 peer review. Learn more about the 2020 OECD-DAC mid-term review of Slovenia [DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/31] and the 2017 OECD-DAC peer review. The next OECD-DAC peer review of Slovenia will be launched at the end of 2024.

ODA allocation overview

Slovenia provided USD 162.9 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 145.3 million in constant terms) representing 0.24% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 13.9% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2022. ODA volume has continuously increased from 2017 until 2022. Slovenia is committed, at the European level, to achieve 0.33% ODA/GNI and collectively a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Slovenia provided all of its ODA as grants in 2022.2

In 2023, Slovenia ranked 24th among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. In 2022, almost half of its ODA was provided multilaterally, primarily to EU institutions. Bilateral ODA mostly focused in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe, and in-donor refugee costs represented 29.7% of Slovenia's gross bilateral ODA in 2022.

 

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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Slovenia 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	0.19	0.29	0.24
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.03	0.06
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	92.6	99.6
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		48.3	65.1
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.

Slovenia provided a higher share of its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 51.8% of total ODA disbursements. Twelve per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Slovenia allocated 48.2% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, Slovenia provided USD 6.7 million (preliminary data) of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia's war of aggression, a 13.4% increase from 2022 in real terms. USD 4.9 million of the amount was allocated to humanitarian assistance in 2023, a 7.3% increase 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, Slovenia provided USD 92.1 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 20% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 81.3 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 10.7 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 32.5% of Slovenia's non-core contributions and 67.5% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Seventy-six per cent of Slovenia's total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to EU Institutions.

 

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The UN system received 9.4% of Slovenia's multilateral contributions, of which USD 4.7 million (54.6%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 8.7 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Slovenia's support (core and earmarked contributions) were the WFP (USD 1.5 million), the UN Secretariat (USD 1.1 million) and UNICEF (USD 1.1 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, Slovenia's bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 87.4 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 100.3% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 13.6% of Slovenia's gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 42%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 26 million in 2022, an increase of 1 079.5% in real terms over 2021, and represented 29.7% of Slovenia's total gross bilateral ODA.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, Slovenia channelled bilateral ODA mainly through public sector. Technical co-operation made up 11.5% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 4.3 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 0.3% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 0.6% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 4.3% 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 6.9% to 4.9%. 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, Slovenia's bilateral ODA was primarily focused on ODA-eligible countries in Europe. USD 26.3 million was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 20% for Ukraine) and USD 24.2 million to Africa, accounting respectively for 30.1% and 27.7% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 2.4 million was allocated to Asia. Europe was also the main regional recipient of Slovenia's earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations. Slovenia's geographic focus is in line with its overall policy regional focus.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 54.8% of gross bilateral ODA went to Slovenia's top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are in Europe and Africa, in line with its focus on its immediate neighbourhood and its policy priorities. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 39.8%, of which 74.6% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, Slovenia allocated 0.06% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). Slovenia allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (26.1%) to least developed countries in 2022, noting that 39.8% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, Slovenia allocated 11.5% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 10.1 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 22.3 million in 2022, representing 25.5% of Slovenia's gross bilateral ODA. Five per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, decreasing from 15.6% in 2021, while 2.5% was allocated to peace, decreasing from 2.8% in 2021. Two per cent went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing a decrease from 2.7% 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 Slovenia's bilateral ODA was allocated to other sectors. Investments in this area accounted for 57.2% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 51.0 million) with a strong focus on support to refugees in donor countries (USD 26 million), action relating to debt (USD 21.6 million) and administrative costs of donors (USD 3.3 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 28.1 million (31.5% of bilateral ODA), focusing on education (USD 16.4 million). Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 7 million (7.9% 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, Slovenia disbursed USD 4.1 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 12.5 million in 2021. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Slovenia provided USD 3.8 million in ODA for donations of doses to developing countries in 2022, down 64.1% from USD 10.6 million in 2021. All COVID-19 vaccines accounted for donations of doses from domestic supply in 2022.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, Slovenia committed 7.7% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women's empowerment, as either a principal or significant objective (down from 36.3% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 1.4 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 1.7% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• Slovenia includes gender equality objectives in 1.1% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, below the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• Slovenia screens most of their bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (73.6% in 2021-22).

• Slovenia committed USD 38.8 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, Slovenia committed 12.5% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 2.9 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), down from 27.1% in 2019-20. Unpacking the environmental data further:

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

• Ten per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 2.3 million) focused on climate change overall, down from 21.6% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 30.5%). Slovenia focused more on adaptation (9%) than mitigation (8.7%) in 2021-22.

• One per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid (USD 0.1 million) focused on biodiversity overall, down from 0.7% 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	2.9	16.3
Rio markers:
Biodiversity	0.1	0.5
Desertification	0	0.2
Climate change mitigation only	0.7	3
Climate change adaptation only	0.8	3.3
Both climate change mitigation and adaptation	0.8	3.5

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

Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, Slovenia:

• Did not seek tax exemptions on its ODA-funded goods and services in partner countries and territories. It did not make the information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.

• Committed USD 2.8 million (12.7% of its bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries' trade performance and integration into the world economy.

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.

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 publication. Regarding DAC/CRS reporting to the OECD, Slovenia's reporting in 2022 was late, with some areas to improve regarding the completeness and 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 Gosls (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 Slovenia as TOSSD totalled USD 178.4 million, up from USD 121.5 million in 2021. Slovenia'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 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MFEA) is the national co-ordinator for development co-operation. It is responsible for co-ordinating development co-operation policies and implementation between line ministries as well as consulting with providers, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders. The Permanent Coordination Group for International Development Cooperation plans, co-ordinates and monitors the implementation of development co-operation. In 2022, the Ministry of Finance disbursed the largest amount of ODA, primarily to multilateral institutions, followed by the MFEA.

The MFEA has 13 full-time employed staff and 19 full-time equivalents covered by staff working part-time on development co-operation, 64% of which are based in Ljubljana and 36% of which are in country offices/embassies abroad.

 

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An important mechanism for consulting stakeholders is the Expert Council, which advises the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs on development co-operation. It comprises representatives from ministries, foundations, CSOs, academia and businesses involved in development co-operation. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body Platform SLOGA (Slovenian Global Action).

Quality and oversight

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

Features of Slovenia’s systems for quality and oversight

Quality assurance	Slovenia makes an effort to ensure quality through criteria like gender equality in project planning and monitoring and evaluation guidelines.
Risk management	Slovenia has mechanisms in place to assess three different types of risks: 1) security and political risks; 2) implementation risks; and 3) financial risks. Project proposals submitted by civil society organisations and foundations include a section on risk analysis.
Innovation and adaptation	Slovenia’s development co-operation strategy highlights the relevance of innovation as a bridge between the public and private sectors, for example, by pooling grant aid to leverage private loans for quality infrastructure in the Western Balkans.
Results management	Slovenia is at the early stage of setting up a results system. It uses results and logical frameworks at the project level, mainly for accountability and communication purposes.
Evaluation	Mandated through Slovenia’s Evaluation Policy (2014), the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MFEA) has a dedicated unit responsible for strategic and thematic evaluations of all Slovenian official development assistance. The unit is accountable to parliament and the public by reporting the results of Slovenian development co-operation.
Communication and transparency	Slovenia continues its effort to ensure public access to information on development co-operation and humanitarian aid. The MFEA’s official website makes policy documents, annual reports on development co-operation, programmes and their results available to the public.

Additional resources

2020 OECD-DAC mid-term review of Slovenia: DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/31

2017 OECD-DAC peer review of Slovenia: http://www.oecd.org/dac/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-slovenia-2017-9789264279308-en.htm

Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid: https://www.gov.si/en/state-authorities/ministries/ministry-of-foreign-and-european-affairs/about-the-ministry-of-foreign-and-european-affairs/directorate-for-development-cooperation-and-humanitarian-aid

Resolution on Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance of the Republic of Slovenia: https://www.gov.si/assets/ministrstva/MZZ/Dokumenti/multilaterala/razvojno-sodelovanje/Resolution-on-development-cooperation-and-humanitarian-assistance-of-the-Republic-of-Slovenia.pdf

CSO umbrella organisation Platform SLOGA (Slovenian Global Action): https://sloga-platform.org

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.