Priority countries

Bilateral assistance is addressed mainly to priority countries.

In 2004, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the first time defined a group of countries to receive Polish development aid on a priority basis: Afghanistan, Angola, Georgia, Iraq, Moldova and Vietnam. In 2005, the Palestinian Autonomy was included on the list of priority countries; in 2006, Ukraine and Belarus; in 2007, Tanzania. 

Due to the limited possibilities for practical co-operation, Vietnam was removed from the priority countries list in 2007. However, projects implemented in the framework of the Small Grants Fund are still being continued. In 2008, due to dangers to the lives of people directly involved in implementing development tasks, Iraq was taken off the list of priority countries of the Polish foreign aid programme. This does not imply that aid activities in Iraq have been terminated. Depending on the situation, humanitarian aid and projects supervised by the Polish Embassy in Baghdad are still implemented in the country. In 2009, in connection with the decision to close the Polish diplomatic mission in Dar es Salaam and the ensuing decrease in co-operation opportunities, Tanzania was taken off the list of priority countries. The country still receives support in the form of projects implemented by NGOs.

Currently, the countries receiving Polish priority aid:

• Belarus
• Ukraine
• Moldova
• Georgia
• Afghanistan
• Palestinian Autonomy
• Angola

The Small Grants Fund

In the framework of the Small Grants Fund, Polish diplomatic mission pursue small-scale initiatives (e.g. renovating school roofs, purchasing computers for cultural centres culture and building wells) which bring positive effects for the everyday lives of local communities. Such projects are financed in countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.  For more information, see Small Grants Fund.

Multilateral assistance

Multilateral assistance is assistance provided through international institutions.

Multilateral assistance consists in making contributions to multilateral assistance funds and programmes.
Poland is only starting to gain experience in providing assistance to other countries, which is why transferring development funds to specialised international institutions allows us to take advantage of their organisational and logistic potential, and thus increase the effectiveness of our aid.
We want to have the possibility of getting more involved than we have done so far in projects implemented by organisations supporting the reduction of poverty, economic and social development of the least developed countries, and the development of democracy and the civil society.
Transferring a payment to the European Union development budget is the main channel of multilateral assistance flow. It is a part of an annual contribution allotted to the EU general budget. The amount of these funds is an offshoot of a share of the EU budgetary expenses directed to development assistance provided to third countries, which in accordance with the OECD Development Assistance Committee is classified as the ODA.
In addition to the European Union, other important channels of Poland's multilateral assistance are the United Nations System institutions and the World Bank Group.
The largest number of institutions pursuing those objectives operates within the framework of the United Nations System. Thanks to their long-standing presence in the most needy countries, the United Nations' agencies, programmes and funds have extensive knowledge on the actual needs of given places in the world and a have a broad capacity for providing assistance. By making assistance contributions to those institutions (i.e. assistance in the multilateral form), we can be sure that we are supporting the most important initiatives from the point of view of individual beneficiaries.
Poland also makes regular contributions to UN and UNESCO. Apart from that, we support the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Multilateral assistance 2008

See voluntary payments in 2007