Modules

Official Development Assistance (ODA) is one of the key instruments of international development cooperation. According to the OECD, ODA covers support from official sources whose main objective is to promote the economic development and welfare of partner countries.

ODA can take different forms, including grants, technical cooperation, knowledge transfer, support for reforms, human capital development, infrastructure programmes, and certain types of concessional finance where they meet the rules of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). ODA should therefore not be reduced to a simple “transfer of money from one country to another”.

This module explains how ODA works, who takes part in providing and implementing it, why international development assistance matters for equality of opportunity and global solidarity, and how it can affect the everyday life of a young person through education, health, digital opportunities, employment, community development and civic participation.

The module also helps learners distinguish development assistance from humanitarian assistance, introduces the logic “need → resources → activities → outputs → outcomes → long-term impact”, and encourages critical thinking about common myths surrounding international support.