Indicator 16.2 Number of projects to secure, register and destroy small arms and light weapons carried out by Germany in affected regions of the world

Text from the Indicator Report 2022 

The data of the depicted time series is provided by the Federal Foreign Office, however, the reported projects are not financed exclusively by the Federal Foreign Office, but in part with third-party funds as well. Considered projects significantly differ with respect to volume and content. Projects with run-times longer than one year were counted more than once. Notably, the number of projects carried out says nothing about their scale or their level of success. Consequently, a directionally safe interpretation regarding scope and success of the measures is challenging.

According to the current evaluation, the number of projects undertaken each year increased from 8 in 2006 to 38 in 2021. Thus the goal of Germany being involved in a minimum of 15 projects would have been achieved in 2012 for the first time. Except for 2013, the level would have been reached or even exceeded in subsequent years, too. According to the Federal Foreign Office, the regional focus of German efforts was on North, East and West Africa, the western Balkans and Ukraine. Other projects supported were in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The German Federal Government’s Annual Disarmament Report contains a list of projects with the objective of SALW control, alongside their sources of funding. Their number differs from those reported for this indicator up to and including 2018. One reason for this may be the particular focus of individual projects, which affects whether they are taken into account.

In accordance with the guidelines on statistical reporting issued by its Development Assistance Committee, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also publishes detailed figures on projects for reintegration and SALW control (CRS Purpose Code 15240). If the indicator were based on the number of projects counted in the above-mentioned OECD category, the target of at least 15 projects would have been reached in 2006 and every year since 2016. In 2020, the OECD counted 25 projects. Among these, 19 were funded by the Federal Foreign Office and, accordingly, 6 projects were funded by the Federal Ministry of Finance. However, those projects also included measures for reintegrating former combatants from armed groups into society. Without such reintegration projects, the number of project exclusively or chiefly intended to combat SALW would be lower.

The synoptic table provides information about the evaluation of the indicator in previous years. It shows if the weather symbol assigned to an indicator was rather stable or volatile in the past years. (Evaluation of the Indicator Report 2022 )

Indicator	16.2 Number of projects to secure, register and destroy small arms and light weapons carried out by Germany in affected regions of the world
Target	At least 15 projects per year by 2030
Year	2018	2019	2020	2021
Evaluation