Washington, D.C.-The global anti-poverty advocacy group ONE today analyzed new findings of 2009 development aid levels released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), saying the figures present a mixed bag for development in Africa.

The U.S., U.K., France and Scandinavian and Benelux countries were top performers. Italy continued its dismal record of not delivering on its aid promises, while Canada cut assistance both globally and to sub-Saharan Africa in 2009.

“After successfully meeting its Gleneagles commitments, it’s concerning to see Canada cut its assistance to Africa as it was preparing to host the G8 and G20 and focus on child and maternal health,” said ONE’s Global Policy Director Erin Thornton. “Yet again, the dismal performance of Italy is undermining hard work by others in delivering on their assistance promises. The fact that many donor countries, like the U.S., U.K. and now France, are fulfilling their commitments shows it can and must be done.

“These aren’t just abstract goals-they make a huge impact on millions of lives,” Thornton continued. “Over the past few years, effective aid and debt relief in Africa have helped put more than three million people on AIDS treatment, distributed tens of millions of anti-malaria bed nets and put 42 million children into school. Failure to deliver these promises can be measured in lost lives, lost educations and lost economic opportunity.”

Overall, official development assistance (ODA) from members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee continued to rise in 2009. Once bilateral debt relief is excluded, the net increase was 6.7 percent, from $109 billion to $116.8 billion. Assistance to sub-Saharan Africa, excluding debt relief, increased from $36.1 billion to $38.2 billion, a 5.8 percent increase.

ONE found that the U.S. increased assistance to Africa by $1.12 billion (13.9 percent), constituting a large portion of its global ODA increase in 2009, $1.5 billion (5.6 percent).

The U.K. increased global ODA to $1.9 billion (19.7 percent), with an increase of $375 million for Africa.

France increased global ODA by 20.5 percent and assistance to Africa by 30.8 percent.

Italy’s global ODA dropped $812 million (20.7 percent) and assistance for Africa dropped $331 million (22.3 percent). All analysis is in 2009 prices.

On May 25, 2010, ONE will publish its annual “DATA Report,” a comprehensive report card on progress made by the G8 countries on all the Gleneagles commitments specifically to Africa.  The report’s analysis of aid figures removes debt relief to give a more accurate view of progress against promises.