A New Results Framework for EU development cooperation - Main contents

Making our work even more effective

Money is a very valuable and scarce resource. I am very keen therefore to make sure that every euro spent on supporting our partner countries around the globe is well spent and delivers the best possible impact.

With this ambition, the European Commission has just finalised its new results framework for the EU's development cooperation. This framework will strengthen our ability to monitor and report on the results that we achieve through our cooperation with partner countries. As of this year, we will report annually on what the concrete impact of our work has been. This will help to demonstrate how our funding contributes to achieving the agreed objectives.

This is a big step forward: we are improving our accountability towards EU citizens, as well as beneficiary countries and to other donors. It also means that the EU becomes even more transparent.

Reliable facts and figures on the results of our support in developing countries are more important than ever. In times of economic crisis and budgetary constraints we all want to be assured that taxpayers’ money is put to good use and improves lives. In addition, our reporting on results will have a strong link with the new set of Sustainable Development Goals that will come out of the ongoing negotiations later this year.

How will the new system work? Reporting will look at results on three levels. Firstly, it will measure development progress in all of our partner countries in a more general way. Indicators at this level include elements such as the percentage of the population with access to energy services and the prevalence of marriages among girls below the age of 18.

On a second level, we will measure the specific EU contribution to development progress in our partner countries. Here indicators would cover, for example, the number of children enrolled in primary education, and the number of human rights defenders who have received EU support.

On a third level, the European Commission will provide information on the way we have managed our own performance as an organisation. This is an important way of constantly improving our work; for example by looking at how much we have been spending on climate change related projects, or on human and social development.

I am confident that this new framework will help us to illustrate further how EU aid improves millions of lives and how we are constantly striving to be as transparent and accountable to our taxpayers as we can be.