As discussions over Denmark’s new international development policy continue, Siân talks to Danish development news site U-landsnyt about the EU’s proposed policy of ‘differentiation’ and future cooperation with MICs. Read the interview here (in Danish).

On 2 February, Siân Herbert gave a presentation at a workshop in Copenhagen, discussing the EU’s new policy on ‘differentiation’ (‘Differentiation’ means reassessing aid to middle income countries). The workshop was hosted by Concord Denmark, the Danish NGO platform for EU development work, and attended by a variety of Danish NGOs.

The objective of the workshop was to define a common position on differentiation. The NGOs present were open to the changes proposed by the European Commission, and support revaluating aid to MICs. At the end of the workshop, the decision was taken that Concord Denmark will not engage with the debate regarding the proposed criteria for aid allocation, but will instead focus on where the funds should be redirected. Concord advised that they are engaged in discussions with the European Commission, ahead of the release of a communication on CSOs later this year.

The EU’s policy on differentiation has also been discussed recently by Andy Sumner, Andris Piebalgs and Simon Maxwell.

Siân’s presentation is available here.

The high share of aid provided to relatively better-off middle income countries is one of the biggest challenges to the aid record of the European Commission. But what are the reasons behind this?

Simon Maxwell sets out to explore the issue in this EDCSP Opinion.

ODI Research Fellow,  Jonathan Glennie, analyses current evidence, thinking and practice on international support to Middle Income Countries (MICs) in his paper on “The role of aid to middle-income countries: a contribution to evolving EU development policy.”  He concludes that financial aid to MICs continues to play an important role in global development.

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