What TOSSD offers today and how it can help monitor the future, post-Seville Financing for Development agenda

 

TOSSD is politically anchored in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) where, for almost 10 years ago, UN Member States committed to “hold open, inclusive and transparent discussions on (…) the proposed measure of “total official support for sustainable development”, while affirming that “any such measure will not dilute commitments already made.”

This commitment is being fulfilled. By 2025, TOSSD will have collected data on five years of cross-border support to developing countries and global expenditures from over 120 official providers, including countries (both traditional donors and South-South co-operation providers) and multilateral organisations. TOSSD provides a holistic, inclusive and transparent measure of the resources available for sustainable development that can inform the design and implementation of the needed reforms to the international FfD architecture.TOSSD data can both inform the FfD process and serve for monitoring the future, post-Seville FfD agenda. 

TOSSD provides a comprehensive view of development finance.

Cross-border resource flows reported to TOSSD (also known as TOSSD Pillar I) reflect the broad landscape of international development co-operation. TOSSD measures resources provided to developing countries in a comprehensive way, from all official sources, through a wide range of financial instruments and in-kind modalities. Developing countries and other relevant stakeholders can use TOSSD data to conduct trend analyses on cross-border flows, concessionality, thematic and SDGs allocation, channels of official support, modalities of support, and financial instruments used.

As shown in the graph below, concessional finance for developing countries reported to TOSSD has increased since 2019, while non-concessional finance reached a peak in 2020 and slightly declined after that year. The increase of concessional finance (both grants and loans) has been mainly visible in the health sector (following the COVID-19 pandemic) and budget support to governments. The increase is partly explained by broader data coverage, both in terms of the number of providers and the activities reported to TOSSD. The peak in non-concessional finance relates to funding for middle-income countries (UMICs and LMICs) in social infrastructure and services but also banking and financial services. 

The enhanced transparency TOSSD brings to international development co-operation is best demonstrated through country examples. TOSSD data have been used by a number of developing countries in the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) in 2023 and 2024 and can serve to map the financing landscape in the Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs). TOSSD data can inform resource mobilisation strategies, strengthen accountability and country ownership, and facilitate provider co-ordination. Transparency and accountability are essential for ensuring that financial commitments are met and that resources are properly allocated.

From 2025 onwards, TOSSD will track official development support following a beyond-GDP approach. By implementing a list of TOSSD recipients that considers – in addition to GNI – economic, social and environmental criteria, in line with the ambition and nature of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda, TOSSDwill enhance transparency on financing for sustainable development in developing countries and regions, including 9 countries that are no longer ODA recipients: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Brunei, Chile, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. The chart below presents the data already available in TOSSD on concessional and non-concessional flows to Uruguay, primarily targeting public finance management, social protection services, road transport, and large sanitation systems.

 

FfD4 provides an opportunity to position the need for funding for International Public Goods (IPGs) and responses to global challenges. TOSSD tracks these contributions while clearly distinguishing them from cross-border support to developing countries. By 2025, TOSSD will present five years of data on contributions to IPGs and can share lessons learnt, best practices and challenges in their measurement. TOSSD currently tracks support in areas such as research and development, global public health, global normative functions, climate change mitigation, and support to refugees and protected persons. The measurement methodology has been progressively refined, with important technical support from relevant stakeholders, including UN agencies and bodies.

The graph below shows a thematic breakdown of support to international public goods and responses to global challenges. The 33% increase from 2021 to 2022 was mainly driven by a rise of refugee expenditures in provider countries. 

There is no evidence of the TOSSD measure diluting commitments already made. The 0.7% ODA/GNI target remains the formal international commitment under the UN and the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The introduction of TOSSD has not altered this target nor affected ODA calculations. DAC Members continue to be evaluated based on their ODA performance. TOSSD includes financial flows beyond ODA, such as non-concessional finance, and is measured from the recipient’s perspective, making it complementary to ODA rather than a substitute. Importantly, TOSSD tracks South-South Cooperation, expanding the understanding of development support aligned with the SDGs without diminishing ODA’s focus on traditional aid priorities.

TOSSD can be a data source to track financing for development in line with the new FfD Agenda.

TOSSD has made significant progress in measuring officially supported resources for sustainable development and is recognised as a data source for key international agendas like the 2030 Agenda, the Global Compact on Refugees, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Colleagues use TOSSD data world-wide to track support for biodiversity, gender equality, water, among other sectors. TOSSD can support the Seville follow-up process by providing high-quality, disaggregated data on official development support, available online at no charge. TOSSD offers transparency on various resources supporting sustainable development, tracking both concessional and non-concessional finance, reflecting support from multilateral organisations to developing countries, including core resources and trust funds.

The quality of TOSSD data will be boosted thanks to the Recipient Data Review Mechanism (to be launched in Q1 2025). This mechanism responds to a long-standing request from developing countries to ensure that development finance statistics accurately reflect the support that they receive.

TOSSD thus plays a critical role in enhancing the transparency and accountability of international development co-operation, supports developing countries in mapping their financing landscapes and informs their resource mobilisation strategies. It has become a crucial tool for tracking sustainable development financing, will continue to evolve, and can help monitor the commitments in financing for development to be agreed in 2025. As Spanish delegates have stressed throughout the FfD4 process so far, “Seville does not end in Seville”.

---

 

Publication date: 15 December 2024

Author: International Forum on TOSSD Secretariat