Brussels, 19/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - A framework report on the results of the EU's international political and development cooperation, which was published by the European Commission on Tuesday 19 July, says that between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2014, the EU's development aid enabled 4.5 million women of reproductive age and children under five to benefit from nutrition-related programmes.
This is the first report on concrete results and it enables transparency on the use of public money to be provided to the European taxpayer. This positive result is far from being alone as the report lists the results obtained in over 100 countries, thanks to projects implemented by the Commission's NGO partners in areas as diverse as education, public health, good governance, conflict prevention, sustainable agriculture, the environment and climate change. “We must show that every euro spent for development makes a difference”, European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica stated, saying he was “proud” of the results.
Thanks to programmes and projects financed by the EU, 1.1 million births were attended by skilled health personnel, helping reduce maternal mortality; and 29 million children were enrolled at school, with over 19 million at primary school and 9.5 million at secondary school.
The report also shows that European aid enabled support for the organisation and conduct of more than 19 electoral processes, which led to free and democratic elections, as recognise by international observers. European aid also enabled the protection of over 14 million hectares of natural areas in order to preserve biological diversity; and it enabled training and skills to be offered to over 325,000 people to improve their employability and productivity. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)