With its development co-operation, Sweden aims to contribute to poor people being able to improve their living conditions. To further strengthen Sweden’s efforts towards this goal, parliament passed a new law in 2003 called ‘Shared Responsibility: Sweden’s Policy for Global Development’. Under this law, all Swedish policy areas have to contribute to global poverty reduction and the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This makes Sweden the first country to establish a coherent policy integrating all policy areas to achieve sustainable global development.

Sweden’s policy for global development is dominated by a ‘bottom-up’ approach and a rights-based perspective. Consequently, it aims to define its development priorities solely based on the needs and views of poor populations. With the objective to foster an environment supportive of poor people’s own efforts to improve their quality of life, is focuses closely on vulnerable and marginalised groups.

Sweden’s development co-operation emphasises ‘untied aid’, which is unconditional on partner countries buying products or services from the donor country.

Styrellsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete (Swedish International Development Agency – SIDA), is responsible for implementing Sweden’s development policy. As a government agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it operates within the framework laid down by the Swedish parliament and government which specify the annual budget and focus of Swedish development aid.

Sweden’s policy for global development concentrates on the following themes:

• Human rights
• Democracy and good governance
• Gender equality
• Sustainable use of natural resources
• Economic growth
• Social development and welfare, including HIV/AIDS prevention
• Conflict management and security
• Global public good

Every year, SIDA focuses on a number of issues that will receive special attention. In 2006, special action was taken in the areas of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), HIV/AIDS, conflict management and prevention, and employment and the labour market.

Sweden’s international ambitions with regard to development co-operation and poverty reduction are reflected in the large share of its gross national income (GNI) that is spent on development aid. For years, Sweden has surpassed the United Nations (UN) goal of 0.7%. In 2005, Sweden’s Official Development Aid (ODA) amounted to 0.92% of its GNI (US$ 3.2 billion) according to the OECD. Together with Norway, this represents the highest share of GNI going to development co-operation for any country. The Swedish government expects to increase this share to 1% in 2006.

SIDA is co-operating with approximately 120 countries selected by the Swedish parliament to receive development aid. Sweden’s bilateral development assistance is guided by the principle that it will co-operate with all countries where it believes it can make a meaningful contribution towards poverty reduction. Therefore, SIDA’s operations are not limited to a number of partner countries, as increasingly practised by other donors in recent years.

SIDA’s bilateral development activities are targeted at different levels, focusing either directly on improving the living conditions of poor people or supporting overall processes of structural change. Increasingly, SIDA has supported democratisation, respect for human rights and governance reform as prerequisites to fair and equitable development.

Usually countries’ own poverty reduction strategies are taken as the underlying framework for Sweden’s bilateral development initiatives. It aims to make its co-operation more demand-driven, with decisions on priorities and actions more frequently taken by the recipient countries themselves (the ‘ownership principle’). SIDA’s contribution is, therefore, seen as supplementary to the developing countries’ own poverty reduction efforts.

Under the overall goal of poverty reduction, Sweden has selected specific areas for co-operation for each region in which it is operating. In Africa, SIDA focuses its efforts on regional development co-operation, conflict management, health (especially HIV/AIDS prevention), natural resources, economic co-operation, infrastructure, and education and research. Development co-operation with Asian countries centers around the issues of democracy and human rights, HIV/AIDS, environmental protection, and scientific co-operation. In Latin America, SIDA especially aims to promote good governance and human rights to create conditions for further social and economic development. The objective of Swedish development co-operation with countries in Europe and central Asia is to support democratic institutions and governance reform and to further harmonise institutional frameworks in future European Union (EU) accession countries.

The top recipient countries of Swedish ODA in 2004 were the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Mozambique. Compared to other donors, Sweden has a high share of bilateral aid (78% of its total aid in 2004).

The Swedish government has strong relations with a range of multilateral organisations such as the UN, the World Bank, the IMF, and regional development banks. Its co-operation with multilateral development institutions has been further strengthened since its new policy for global development was adopted in 2003. Sweden’s multilateral policies attach great importance to aid effectiveness, the alignment and harmonisation of donor procedures, and to increasing the influence of developing countries in international institutions. Within the EU, Sweden sees its role as a driving force for reform to enhance the quality and impact of the EU’s development co-operation. In 2004, Sweden spent US$ 646 million on multilateral ODA, of which US$ 290 million went to the UN system, US$ 225 million to the EU’s development programmes, US$ 48 million to regional development banks and US$ 25 to the World Bank.

 

Sweden is one of the most vocal supporters of the ICPD agenda and the implementation of the Cairo Plan of Action. A special emphasis is placed on the goal of universal access to reproductive health education and services. Two important features of Sweden’s SRHR policy are that SIDA works to improve the choices available to women and girls to obtain free, safe and accessible abortions and that it aims to strengthen the perspective of homosexual, bisexual and transsexual persons. Moreover, SIDA is supporting efforts in the area of maternal mortality, female genital mutilation (FGM), fistula, and care for AIDS orphans.
As an example of Sweden’s international efforts in the field of SRHR, in 2005 SIDA pursued the issue of universal access and safe abortion for young people at international organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and held training courses on SRHR and women’s health for nurses from developing countries.
SIDA is also supporting a range of international SRHR NGOs such as IPPF, IPAS, the International Consortium for Medical Abortion (ICMA), the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Actions (WABA).
HIV/AIDS is another strategic priority for Sweden’s development co-operation. In 1999, a new HIV/AIDS strategy (‘Investing for Future Generations’) was approved which aims to mainstream HIV/AIDS in all policy sectors as well as in international organisations. Sweden’s approach to fight the pandemic focuses on prevention, care and treatment, emphasising the close link between HIV/AIDS and SRHR. Especially in Africa, SIDA aims to enhance reproductive rights, access to contraception and gender equality as a strategy to halt the disease from spreading.

Multilaterally, SIDA has been involved in the development of a new prevention strategy which was adopted by UNAIDS in 2005, and by participating in board meetings of WHO and UNAIDS.
With US$ 35.9 million, Sweden was the third largest contributor to the UNFPA budget in 2004. Total assistance for population and HIV/AIDS activities amounted to US$ 80 million in 2003, according to estimates by the Resource Flows Project.

Swedish civil society organisations have participated as important actors ever since Sweden started its bilateral development programmes. Historically, Sweden has always had a strong popular movement, and thus the formulation of Sweden’s development policy has been influenced by all parts of civil society. From the mid-1970s, SIDA funds allocated to NGOs increased for the first time to above 1% of the total budget. Since the 1980s, budget support for NGOs has comprised about 10% of SIDA’s total.

The objective of Swedish civil society co-operation is to contribute to the overall goal of poverty reduction and to promote the development of a vibrant and democratic civil society in developing countries. SIDA’s co-operation with NGOs is unique in that it centers around a number of umbrella organisations (e.g. Forum Syd), which in turn co-operate with local civil society partners. The umbrella model was established to give the NGOs greater freedom and a long-term perspective in the planning and implementation of their activities and to provide an opportunity for the reallocation of resources. It was intended that this model should contribute to enhancing the quality and impact of Sweden’s NGO co-operation activities. However, a lack of criteria for the selection of umbrella organisations and the allocation of funds has led to concerns that they can appear to be arbitrary. As a result, criteria for the selection of umbrella organisations – as well as detailed audit instructions – have been drawn up in recent years.

 

With this umbrella system, SIDA aims to achieve:

• high-quality development co-operation in support of civil society in the South and North;
• a broad interface with Swedish organisations and their partners;
• a platform for shaping public opinion in Sweden;
• a structured dialogue on methods and policy issues with Swedish NGOs; and
• a rational and effective way of administering civil society support.

In 2005, SIDA supported around 1000 Swedish NGOs and 2000 civil society organisations in approximately 100 developing countries through its 14 Swedish umbrella organisations.  The volume of all approved grants in 2005 was SEK 1.06 billion (approximately US$ 148 million), with the largest share going in support of democracy and human rights, education, environmental and health projects.

pdf download

SIDA: Annual Report 2005.

SIDA: A force for change. Supporting cooperation between civil society organisations (2006).

SIDA: Investing for Future Generations – Sweden’s International Response to HIV/AIDS (1999).

SIDA: Sida’s Policy for Civil Society (2004).

SIDA: Strategy for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (1997).

OECD Development Assistance Committee: Donor Aid Chart Sweden (2004).

UNFPA: Donor payments and pledges for 2004

UNFPA/UNAIDS/NIDI: Projections of Funds for Population and AIDS Activities, 2004-2006

Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)

Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs

OECD Development Assistance Committee