Monaco’s Official Development Assistance benefited 3.5 million people between 2022 and 2024

Bilan Coopération Internationale de Monaco © Stéphane Danna - Direction de la Communication

Monaco’s Department of International Cooperation summed up its strategic plan for 2022–2024 with one key figure: 3.5 million direct beneficiaries. This committed effort also contributes to the Principality’s international standing.

On Friday 6 June, the Department of International Cooperation presented the key outcomes of the Strategic Cooperation Plan 2022–2024 to department heads within the Monegasque Government. During this period, the Prince’s Government mobilised €74.1 million in official development assistance (ODA) to help combat poverty. Monaco gives €637 per capita in ODA each year, making it one of the world’s most charitable nations, truly a “small country with a big heart”, as the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon described it in 2013.

Monaco targets its ODA, focusing on 12 countries across three regions*, to boost the impact of the action taken. More than 75% of the ODA was directed towards eight least developed countries, in line with the United Nations’ target in this area.

Accounting for a third of resources and 2.4 million beneficiaries, health continues to dominate Monaco’s international cooperation efforts, which have supported capacity-building for health stakeholders, as well as work to combat female, childhood and adolescent mortality.

Initiatives aimed at improving food and nutritional security have reached half a million direct beneficiaries, including through work on sustainable agriculture and the “School Feeding” programme to set up school canteens.

Education and child protection projects have also benefited 500,000 people, with a priority focus on educating girls.

Support for access to decent work has helped nearly 100,000 people in their pursuit of economic empowerment, improving employability, vocational training and access to entrepreneurship, particularly for women and young people.

The most vulnerable groups – children, women and girls, people with disabilities, displaced people and refugees – are at the core of all activities. Conservation of the planet and its resources are also taken into account, with an approach that prioritises sustainable projects.

Finally, the period in question was marked by unprecedented levels of crisis due to climate change, conflict and natural disasters. The Principality responded to 53 emergency appeals issued by the United Nations and international NGOs.

* Southern and East Africa (South Africa, Burundi, Lesotho and Madagascar); the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal); North Africa/Mediterranean (Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia).