Irish Aid
Irish Aid is the Government of Ireland’s programme on overseas development co-operation.
Ireland has had an official development co-operation programme since 1974. It has grown steadily over the years from modest beginnings to its current size (total ODA in 2007 is €813M) and is on track to meet the UN target of 07% of GNI by 2012.
Ireland’s development cooperation policy and programmes reflect a longstanding commitment to human rights and fairness in international relations. Irish Aid has a constructive partnership with NGOs in many areas of development work and in its emergency and recovery work. Irish Aid works in cooperation with development NGOs such as VSO as part of the global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, as agreed by the UN.
A more systematic and structured working relationship has evolved between VSO and Irish Aid in recent months, as soon VSO Ireland will become a Block Grant partner of Irish Aid. VSO already receives support for its work in HIV and AIDS, Education and Secure Livelihoods in the following countries: Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Thai-Burma border, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Irish Aid is strongly committed to ensuring aid effectiveness, based on the principles of partnership, support for locally owned strategies, better donor coordination and policy coherence. As an organisation, Irish Aid makes continuous efforts to improve reporting and monitoring and to promote a results-based culture.