All published articles in this category.
Of: Joachim Beijmo
As editor-in-chief, how have you reasoned about columnist Elisabet Höglund's claims that poor countries have received "billions" in aid, that Africa has "boundless poverty and misery" and that it stands still in countries that are actually moving in the right direction? Sida's communications manager Joachim Beijmo asks that question in an open letter to Aftonbladet's editor-in-chief Jan Helin.
October 22, 2013, Debate
Of: By Byman
The concept of fundraising galas is not without its problems and it may seem strange to arrange a glamorous event focusing on other people's misery, but tonight's gala "Children of the World" is a tool for fundraising and education. The purpose is not to convey an image that "we" are before "them" or to arouse feelings of guilt by portraying helpless children, writes Radio Aid's general secretary Per Byman in a reply.
October 11, 2013, Debate
Of: Alma Wallengren
TV viewers should be critically aware of how fundraising galas such as SVT's "Together for the Children of the World" depict poverty and the development of countries. Images of starving, helpless children are used for commercial purposes and are based on a colonial notion of the white man's burden and the superiority of the Western world. It writes Alma Wallengren, who recently wrote an essay on the subject at the University of Gothenburg
October 11, 2013, Debate
Of: Anna Hägg-Sjöquist, Carolina Ehrnrooth, Elizabeth Stahlenius, Roland Håkansson and Véronique Lönnerblad
During the current ministerial meeting in New York, Sweden should demand that children's protection against violence and abuse be included in the new goals that will replace the millennium goals after 2015, write representatives of five Swedish children's rights organizations.
October 4, 2013, Debate
Of: Anna Liljelund Hedqvist, Ian Christoplos and Jessica Rothman
Evaluations should focus on what works, why and what lessons can be learned from it, instead of just checking what Swedish development assistance achieves. When evaluations have not been used for more than listing results, opportunities for learning are lost. It writes three employees to Indevelop, who in a new report has compiled lessons from 71 evaluations that the organization has conducted over the past two years.
August 30, 2013, Debate
Of: Kajsa Johansson
Two lead writers have taken the lead in the development aid debate recently. DN's Carl Johan Von Seth asked the question whether the government and the opposition really want to know what development aid leads to and Minister for Development Aid Gunilla Carlsson's turn in the question of the one percent target was criticized by SVD's Siri Steijer. Kajsa Johansson is now replying to the Swedish Afghanistan Committee with two counter-questions: Why would we not want to know what the aid leads to and are there occasions when SVD's employees are also prepared to change their minds?
August 23, 2013, Debate
Of: Göran Hyden
The importance of the evaluations that lead writer Carl Von Seth calls for more of has been exaggerated in Sweden and other donor countries in recent years. It is not possible to circle all the factors that determine the effects of development assistance, writes Professor Göran Hydén in a reply.
August 21, 2013, Debate
Of: Per Karlsson
The Government's focus on results risks leading to the aid organizations' legitimacy being assessed only on the basis of their ability to achieve short-term and easily measurable results rather than the ability to give the recipients influence and thereby contribute to long-term results. In addition, it leads to increased administrative costs, something that Minister for Development Aid Gunilla Carlsson (M) herself has criticized. It writes Per Karlsson, a recent graduate student at the University of Gothenburg.
August 19, 2013, Debate
The broad consensus behind the Post15 panel's conclusions that well-functioning institutions really produce results for poor people is in a way treacherous. Now we who work with development assistance should seriously ask the question of what can be done better to support domestic institutions for good and effective governance, writes SIPU consultant Karin Metell Cueva
June 24, 2013, Debate
While Minister for Development Aid Gunilla Carlsson (M) is preparing for the abolition of development aid policy, the Social Democrats want to pursue an active development policy that goes beyond the goal of absolute poverty reduction. This is one of ten differences between the Social Democrats' and the government's policy, according to the party's development policy spokesman Kenneth G Forslund.
June 20, 2013, Debate