Washington, D.C. – ONE’s 2010 DATA Report shows that promises made to African countries at the 2005 Gleneagles G8 Summit have yielded historic increases in development assistance and life-saving results on the ground over the past five years. This final assessment gauges countries on the scope of the overall commitment, the delivery of that commitment, and evaluates each country’s plan for 2010 and beyond.

ONE’s report predicts that by the end of this year, G7 countries (the G8 minus Russia) will have delivered 61 per cent of their 2005 pledge to double aid to sub-Saharan Africa. While short of its original goal, aid to Africa increased by US$13.7bn, the largest increase for Africa in such a span.

“In the five years since the Gleneagles Summit, the G7’s aid to Africa has increased at almost three times the rate it did in the first half of the last decade,” said David Lane, President and CEO of ONE. “That support has helped put more than 40 million African children into school, halved malaria deaths in a string of countries, and funded innovative projects such as using mobile phones to help African citizens hold their authorities to account. Effective aid and debt cancellation have delivered measurable, life changing results.”

The report found that the United States-along with Canada, this June’s G8 Summit host, and Japan-set relatively modest targets in 2005 but has exceeded them. France and Germany set more ambitious goals but are likely to deliver approximately one quarter of them. Italy’s dismal delivery – cutting aid to Africa by 6% from 2004 levels – brought down overall performance and is a key example why a new framework must be put in place to help make promises more track-able and enforceable.

“Lessons from the past five years show that America’s leadership along with other G8 countries in fighting poverty and disease has yielded tremendous results, but going forward, new commitments must include measures of accountability to ensure that promises made are promises kept,” said Lane. “At the upcoming G8 we expect the focus to be on the issue of improving child and maternal health. This is smart and critical, as progress on both goals has lagged. A strong, country-specific, results-based initiative in these areas will help put a renewed focus on making progress towards all the Millennium Development Goals at the UN’s meeting in September.”

The report also underscores the need to focus on trade and investment, areas where there has been little progress. The G8 has yet to deliver on the promise to “make trade work for Africa”, with momentum all but vanishing on the Doha Development round.  The G8 have performed slightly better on their commitment to work to increase foreign direct investment in Africa, with a recent increase in support for the African Development Bank for example.

The global community must also remain committed to debt cancellation, which has helped put 42 million children in school. The report raises concerns that some donors, such as France, are now giving more aid as loans rather than grants, thereby risking a new debt crisis.

“2010 is not the finish line,” said Lane. “Our lessons learned from the past five years mean that with political will, we can accelerate progress in the next five years. This starts in just a few weeks when the G8 meets in Canada. We hope the United States and the rest of the G8 will forge a new chapter in development based on results-driven solutions and mutual accountability to catalyze poverty-reduction, economic growth and investment in Africa.”

The United States remains a clear leader on global health programs and has maintained a solid record on investments in agriculture. Although the US performs poorly on the five aid effectiveness indicators measured in the DATA Report, as the Obama Administration moves forward on two new strategy and operational initiatives (one led by the White House and one led by the State Department/USAID) there is hope that aid effectiveness will be improved.