The BMZ's Multilateral Engagement: Financing and Interplay

Abstract

The international community needs to work together in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to protect global public goods. Germany makes important contributions to multilateral organisations through various ministries. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which holds the largest share of the overall German multilateral portfolio, is especially relevant here. Just under 30% of the BMZ's expenditure is made up of multilateral budget items; if earmarked funds are included, the share is as high as 56%. Despite the extent of the BMZ’s involvement in multilateral development cooperation (DC), there are still evidence gaps. Various actors - including the Bundesrechnungshof (Federal Audit Office) and the Ministry itself - identify the need for evaluation and name multilateral DC as an important subject of evaluation (BMZ, 2021a; BRH, 2023). Against this background, this evaluation is the first comprehensive analysis by the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) of the BMZ's multilateral engagement. The overarching objectives of the evaluation are to contribute to transparency and accountability and to generate stimuli for learning.The BMZ's multilateral engagement is part of a complex multilateral development system. Multilateral organisations are independent actors that have enough scope to act and operate in accordance with their respective mandates; at the same time they are often deployed in DC as project implementing organisations (Klingebiel, 2014). Furthermore, their respective reputation and performance vary; some organisations are heavily criticised, while others enjoy a comparatively good reputation. Bilateral donors such as the BMZ are confronted with the question of how they can reconcile the promotion of the multilateral system as such with their own development interests, and what considerations need to be weighed up (Milner and Tingley, 2013). At present, the decision by the United States government to massively cut DC funding seems to be leading to fundamental changes in the multilateral development system.