Coherence of development policies

Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation seeks to promote the coherence of development policies. This makes it possible to ensure that all Luxembourg’s actions in a specific country are properly structured and coherent and make an effective contribution to sustainable development.

The 3D approach (diplomacy, development and defence) implemented within Luxembourg’s foreign policy, especially through a coordinated country approach in Cabo Verde, makes it possible to ensure coherence between national policies and thus to contribute to sustainable growth and stability.

This involves assessing whether and to what extent national policies effectively contribute to the attainment of the aims set in Agenda 2030 in developing countries. In this sense, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation supports the inclusion of impact on developing countries within the Nohaltegkeetscheck, which will make it possible to test the sustainability of legislative initiatives, thus boosting the synergies between national policies and international cooperation.

Nationally, the Interministerial Committee for Development Cooperation (ICDC) is responsible for pan-governmental coordination on development cooperation and the coherence of development policies. The ICDC works in close partnership with both the Interdepartmental Commission on Sustainable Development (ICSD), with which it held an initial joint workshop in June 2020, and with the Interministerial Committee on Human Rights (ICHR).

In order to strengthen the mechanisms that are vital for policy coherence, such as the ICDC, Luxembourg is currently supported by the OECD through an institutional scan, which will make it possible to formulate recommendations for adjusting Luxembourg’s mechanisms in order to make them even more effective.

For its part, the Chamber of Deputies continues to play an important role regarding governance and policy coherence by providing overall scrutiny through regular dialogue with government.

The state of progress regarding development policy coherence is also closely monitored by the NGOs’ Cercle de Coopération, which, with the support of Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation, regularly makes observations and implements awareness-raising activities, particularly in the areas of fair trade and socially responsible clothing.

Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation is also aware of its responsibilities in the area of human rights, and actively supports the implementation of the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights, within the framework of the second national action plan. This year, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation began to ask its private partners to make a commitment to respect human rights.