The Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have changed the world
profoundly. It seems that history has begun again in this decade. These events have made the
words “interconnectedness” and “complexity” much more tangible. Read more about how Slovakia could and should do better in financing, implementing, and reporting Slovak official development
assistance (ODA SR) in our new paper, called ‚The Impact of Innovations on Slovak development cooperation: its financing and implementation‘.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused 15 million (direct and indirect) deaths and reversed 25 years
of progress in the endeavor to reduce extreme poverty. An additional 75-95 million people could
fall into extreme poverty in 2022. With rising inflation and food prices, low-income countries are
projected to lose $718 billion by 2024.

If the conflict in Ukraine continues, an additional 47 million people may face acute hunger, the
majority of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. This represents a 17% annual increase. At the beginning
of 2022, the number of people facing acute hunger was almost double, compared to pre-
pandemic levels, increasing by 126 million to a record high of 276 million. The estimated
annual cost of hosting 4.7 million Ukrainian refugees in Europe is $30-35 billion dollars. This is
more than the total bilateral ODA to Africa in 2020 and represents 17-20% of global ODA in
2021.

We have learned how the lack of health or security can shut down whole economies, creating
supply chain disruptions and rising inflation across the globe. Together with climate change and
the loss of biodiversity, this poly crisis exposes the fragility of our globalized world and the
limitations of our planet. In 2023, it is likely that we are facing a deep global recession which
will impact frontier markets. It will hit LDCs harder than high-income countries. ODA providers
need to step up and play their counter-cyclical role in this environment, especially in supporting
countries that have insufficient social protection nets and are not able to finance their own
recovery due to high indebtedness and an inability to mobilize domestic resources.

Slovakia was among six EU countries that, in 2020, had inflated aid above 15%. In 2021, the
overall share of inflated aid dropped, while 75% of inflated aid stemmed from vaccine donations.
Slovakia ranks 23rd in the Commitment to Development Index 2021, with the lowest components
being migration (38th in rank) and technology (35th in rank). Next year we will celebrate 20 years of SlovakAid and our 10-year anniversary as an OECD DAC. Bearing in mind that the Good
Idea Slovakia brand is also about social innovations and tech progress, Slovakia could and
should do better in financing, implementing, and reporting Slovak official development
assistance (ODA).

Read the whole paper ‚The Impact of Innovations on Slovak development cooperation: its financing and implementation‘ – produced by Slovak NGDO platform Ambrela thanks to the financial support from the EU and EURODAD network under the Umbrella project here.