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CPE in the Netherland’s Development Assistance: The Case of Egypt
production-oriented activities in the agricultural sector. During the 1980s, capital
goods were also requested to further the development in the social sectors (health
infrastructure, drinking water and sanitation). Since the mid-1980s, more emphasis
has been placed on technical assistance, which has increasingly focused on
institutional strengthening in the public sector.
The core of the aid programme consisted of regular bilateral allocations, which
increased from USD8-10 million per annum in the 1970s to USD17-20 million in the
1990s. These regular allocations represent two-thirds of the total aid volume of
USD480 million over the period 1975-1997. The remaining one-third was allocated
on an ad-hoc basis out of special thematic and sectoral budget categories.
Aid has been provided mainly in the form of project aid, totalling 65% of
disbursements involving some 300 projects. About one-third of total aid consisted
of programme aid, chiefly for commodity import support to those sectors which also
received project aid, in particular drinking water and sanitation. Programme aid was
also provided for debt relief.
If one combines disbursements for project aid with those for commodity
import support for specific sectors, is becomes clear that the Netherlands’ assistance
focused on three main sectors: water management and drainage, agriculture
and animal husbandry, and infrastructure and transport. Taken together, these
sectors received two-thirds of total aid disbursements. Another 25% consisted of
disbursements to drinking water and sanitation, and health and population. The
activities supported for each sector were diverse. For example, in the health sector,
as well as covering a number of small-scale activities, Dutch aid also covered the
following sectors: provision of equipment to a specialised clinic for the treatment
of bilharzia and for rehabilitation centres for the handicapped, support to the
production of vaccines, assistance to a broad range of production-oriented and
social services projects in the framework of the United Nations Fund Population
(UNFPA) and Development Programme, two governorate-level primary health care/
reproductive health projects in Damietta and Fayoum, and a tuberculosis control
project. For other priority sectors, a similar diversity was observed.
The concentration of aid at governorate level has been considered a priority
since the aid programme’s inception. It was assumed that such a concentration
would result in higher efficiency and effectiveness, provide a way to reduce bureaucracy,
put priority on rural development, and enhance opportunities for integrated
development planning. In 1986, the Fayoum Governorate was selected as a concentration
area for the Netherlands’ aid because of its high poverty rate, the Governorate’s
keen interest in aid from the Netherlands, the number of ongoing projects
already supported in the area and the proximity to Cairo which would facilitate
supervision by the Netherlands’ Embassy.
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