The EU development and cooperation policy and the promotion of wellbeing in the Pacific Region : a focus on EU financial instruments

Abstract

The European Union is a key player in promoting development in the world, and one of the largest donors with key funding instruments and programmes that aim at increasing wellbeing in low-income countries. The Pacific region is one of the areas in the world where many countries, especially Least Developed Countries (LDCs), are still catching up to reach sufficient standards of living. The EU is active in this region and supports the development of LDCs especially through two financial instruments, the European Development Fund (EDF) and the Development and Cooperation Instrument (DCI). Both instruments aim at promoting development, but there are still some degrees of uncertainty over the extent to which these two instruments are supporting actions to increase wellbeing, especially in health and education. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as a measure of development, does not entirely capture standards of living, and the overall wellbeing of countries. On the other hand, there are various methods on how to measure wellbeing, and many factors that can contribute to it. However, there is a general agreement that health and education are two important factors that determine wellbeing, especially in LDCs, and that development policies and financial instruments should support primarily these two sectors to increase wellbeing. This dissertation has the intention to assess if and to what extent the EU is supporting the promotion of health and education in this region, with a focus on the LDCs that are Small Island Developing States (SIDS), namely Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Through the adoption of a mixed methodology, using content analysis and descriptive statistics, this dissertation aims to identify which of these two financial instruments appropriately promotes wellbeing in the Pacific region.