Official development assistance (ODA) refers to the flow of financial resources from the central and/or local governments of donor countries and multilateral agencies to developing countries. ODA is intended to promote the economic development and to improve the quality of life in developing countries. In other words, ODA can be described with the following three key questions:
by whom
Central and local governments of a donor country or other public, international agencies
to whom?
A developing country in the list of ODA recipients, provided by the OECD-Development Assistance Committee (DAC)
how?
Providing grants or concessional loans for the recipient country in order to promote its economic development and welfare improvement