CRS User's Guide: Basic concepts - Bilateral aid, multilateral outflows

The Aid Activity database covers DAC Members’ bilateral ODA i.e.

• activities undertaken directly with an aid recipient or with national and international non-governmental organisations active in development; and
• promotion of development awareness and other development-related spending in the donor country (e.g. debt reorganisation, administrative costs). 

DAC Members’ multilateral aid i.e. contributions to the regular budgets of the multilateral institutions is excluded.  These data are available in the aggregated DAC statistics.

Aid activities financed from the multilateral institutions’ regular budgets are referred to as “multilateral outflows”.  The Aid Activity database includes those of the World Bank, the regional development banks and some UN agencies. 

N.B.  Projects executed by multilateral institutions or non-governmental organisations on behalf of DAC Members are classified as bilateral aid (since it is the donor country that effectively controls the use of the funds.)