OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews: Czech Republic 2023

Annex B. Progress against OECD-DAC Recommendations

Recommendations adopted by the DAC

DAC Recommendation on the Terms and Conditions of Aid (1978) [OECD/LEGAL/5006]

Czechia provides all its ODA in the form of grants. As it has the ambition of using its National Development Bank (NDB) to provide concessional loans to municipalities, it will need to comply with the DAC Recommendation on the Terms and Conditions of Aid.

DAC Recommendation on Untying ODA (2001) [OECD/LEGAL/5015]

The share of untied ODA under the DAC recommendation on Untying has increased since the last peer review from 32% in 2014 to 58% in 2021, but this remains below the DAC average and Czechia’s commitment to fully untie ODA in sectors and countries covered by the DAC recommendation.1 All instruments aimed at leveraging private sector, such as B2B grants, UNDP‑partnership and NDB guarantees are focused on Czech companies. The “tied financial donations” programme is de jure fully tied to Czech companies and its volume has now surpassed the de jure untied procurement tenders managed by CzDA. Finally, while CzDA tenders published on the tender platform are de jure untied, current processes make it difficult for non-Czech companies to participate (e.g. tenders published only in Czech). Czechia has not yet published ex ante notifications of untied tenders on the Untied Aid Public Bulletin Board but should be commended for its increased transparency in reporting ex post contracts at the individual level. Its ex-post contract awards reporting shows that since 2018 it has awarded five contracts above the EUR 1 million ex ante notification threshold (= USD 1.05 million in 2022). Notifying ex ante all tenders above EUR 1 million in one or more of the languages customarily used in international trade would effectively allow international competition.

DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (SEAH) in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance (2019) [OECD/LEGAL/5020]

Regarding policy and standard setting (Pillar 1), Czechia has committed to developing comprehensive guidelines and mainstreaming them in the strategic framework of bilateral development co‑operation and humanitarian assistance by 2025. It is planned that all Czech development and humanitarian activities beginning in 2025 will include a SEAH prevention and response element. It will be key to translate these commitments into implementation.

Regarding training and awareness raising (Pillar 4), the SEAH Recommendation was presented in the Council for Foreign Development Co-operation and discussed with Czech NGOs. The platform of Czech NGOs – the Forum for Development Co‑operation (FoRS) – developed a code of conduct and response system for its members. Active dissemination of this code will be important to promote SEAH prevention.

Czechia should continue to collaborate across international stakeholders – including through the DAC Reference Group on Ending SEAH – to ensure progress against implementation of the DAC Recommendation, and more collective progress internationally to support better prevention and response.

DAC Recommendation on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus (2019) [OECD/LEGAL/5019]

The DAC Recommendation on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus supported improvement through organisational changes. Its policy efforts towards the HDP nexus approach, in particular in relation to disaster risk reduction and climate change, were boosted during Czechia’s EU presidency. During this time, Czechia got implementation guidelines endorsed by both the EU COHAFA (humanitarian) and CODEV-PI (development) working parties of the Council of the EU and shared with all Delegations of the European Union in developing countries. The HDP Nexus approach is clearly owned by Czechia, which is adapting it to its own priorities, integrating climate agenda and food security.

Czechia supports partners’ co‑ordination through the UN Resident Co‑ordinator, which is a key enabler for co‑ordination and operations in the most politically constrained environments. For example, Czechia and the European Union organised a joint HDP mission with the United Nations in Sudan – one of six EU pilot countries for the nexus implementation. The results have been widely reflected upon and contributed to further shaping of EU nexus policies.

The localisation agenda, too, was strengthened as Czechia strived to implement the DAC Recommendation on the HDP nexus. Czechia provides direct funding to local partners or request its Czech partners to do so. However, limited amounts and capacities can prevent long-term substantial co‑operation at scale. In addition, humanitarian funding is mainly available through calls for proposals which significantly constrains Czechia’s ability to build sustainable partnerships with its civil society, let alone local civil society.

Since 2020, Czechia has enhanced its strategic framework for gender equality (National Gender Action Plan; a new GAP on Women, Peace and Security; participation in the Call to Action to Ending Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies) and inclusion (joining the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action). Czechia also engages in joint ad hoc reviews of conflict sensitivities and do no harm principles.

DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance (2021) [OECD/LEGAL/5021]

Respecting, Protecting and Promoting Civic Space is a key priority of the Transition Promotion Programme, including in co‑operation with independent media.

CSOs are engaged in policy and strategic decisions through the Inter-ministerial Council for Development Co‑operation. Through the Council and direct dialogue, CSOs are part of project design and evaluation. However, funding to the platforms of Czech development and human rights are limited. Funding is provided through calls for proposal on an annual basis. In 2021, 1% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 27.3% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the provider (earmarked funding). Local CSO actors in partner countries are co‑implementing partners of standard projects. The main instruments to provide direct funding to local CSO are small-scale grants for a maximum budget of EUR 20 000 (= USD 21 053 in 2022) per project. These are often administrated by Czech embassies, which play a key role in partnering with local CSOs. Funding to local CSOs represented 17.9% of gross bilateral ODA provided to CSOs in 2021, compared to 9% in 2018, the highest share since Czechia joined the DAC in 2013.

The MFA and CzDA regularly engage with the development CSO platform (FoRS) on both policy and practical implementation matters, and as part of the Council for International Development Co‑operation and its working groups.

Recommendations adopted by the Council

OECD Recommendation on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (2010) [OECD/LEGAL/0381]

The umbrella framework (Strategy Czech Republic 2030 and Development Co-operation Strategy of the Czech Republic 2018-2030) and commitment to policy coherence enable the government to pursue the 2030 Agenda coherently. The 2018-2030 Strategy identifies three overarching strategic priorities that echo the guiding principles of the OECD Recommendation on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD): foster a nexus approach, enhance coherence and promote multi-stakeholders’ partnerships. According to the 2018 Czech institutional profile on policy coherence for sustainable development (OECD, 2018[1]), translating commitment into practice would be supported by greater awareness on PCSD and by fostering an administrative culture of cross-sectoral co‑operation within the public service.

The Government Council for Sustainable Development (GCSD) allows for a shared approach to sustainable development domestically and abroad. An effective interface between the GCSD and the Council for Development Co-operation would support a unified approach to PCSD. It would help ensure synergies between domestic and international actions with a strong will to address potential transboundary impacts.

The monitoring and reporting system planned by the Ministry of Environment will be instrumental in enhancing policy coherence.

The OECD Recommendation of the Council for Development Co-operation Actors on Managing the Risk of Corruption (2016) [OECD/LEGAL/0431]

A code of conduct applies to public, private and NGO partners, and anti-corruption and ethics have been incorporated as dedicated topics in the overall training of MFA and CzDA staff. While these steps contribute to raising awareness on corruption risks and support prevention efforts, the Czech international development co‑operation system recorded virtually no acts of corruption or intentional misuse of resources in recent years. This near absence of corruption reports raises questions about the efficiency of the corruption risk management system. Evidence from other development co‑operation providers highlights that lack of reported allegations or incidents of corruption raises concerns on the effectiveness of detection and reporting mechanisms. Looking into the disincentives to reporting suspicions of corruption, with a view to better tackling them, could support an enhanced risk management system.

The Recommendation calls for active and systematic assessment and management of corruption risks. CzDA considers governance as a cross-cutting issue and requires implementing partners to report on associated risks in the design and finalisation of their operations. However, the ways, extent and frequency with which Czechia assesses corruption risks in its development co‑operation activities remains unclear.

Recommendation of the Council on Environmental Assessment of Development Assistance Projects and Programmes (2020) [OECD/LEGAL/0458]

Czechia does have dedicated staff on environmental issues in development assistance projects. However, it does not provide sufficient guidance to ensure that environmental issues inform project design and are systematically monitored. Czechia could make greater use of the DAC Secretariat and the Statistics peer review mechanisms to improve the screening and use of the Rio Markers.

OECD-DAC Declaration on a new approach to align development co-operation with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2021) [OECD/LEGAL/0466] (hereafter “the DAC Declaration”)

During its presidency of the EU Council in 2022, Czechia actively advocated for and led biodiversity discussions, including on climate-related issues and nature-based solutions, in the lead up to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Czechia has also mainstreamed Disaster Risk Reduction and resilience building in bilateral development co‑operation in Ethiopia and Zambia (climate-smart agriculture, resilient rural development, mapping of natural resources and its sustainable governance). Czechia could build upon this momentum to ensure its development co-operation activities contribute to global climate and biodiversity objectives, e.g. by introducing a checklist that ensures that all its activities are contributing to these goals and doing no harm to the environment.

References

[1] OECD (2018), “Country profiles: Institutional mechanisms for policy coherence”, in Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development 2018: Towards Sustainable and Resilient Societies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264301061-6-en.

Note

← 1.  Countries covered by the recommendation are least developed countries (LDCs), heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs), other low-income countries and IDA-only countries and territories. The Recommendation only applies to specific sectors, excluding scholarships and free-standing technical co‑operation, among others.