Can Sweden's aid become more effective?

After the budget bill 2021 was presented, there has been extensive discussion about how Sweden's development assistance can be improved and whether the climate issue should be given more priority. Human rights in Belarus and Myanmar have also been raised during the week.

The budget bill for 2021 was recently presented, where approximately SEK 52 billion is intended to go to development assistance. Sweden's international development assistance is exposed to several risks, primarily financial and costs that may reduce the effectiveness of development assistance.

Related to the budget bill Nooshi Dadgostar (V) and Ulla Andersson (V) in DN argue that the government should prioritize the climate more in the budget. Above all, they propose that cities should be climate-adapted. They want to see four billion a year for climate-adapted and equal cities and invest in energy-efficient investments.

In an article in SVD Jan Petterson, Chief of Staff of the EBA (expert group for development assistance analysis) and Númi Östlund, investigative secretary at the EBA, propose three measures for how to make development assistance more effective. Among other things, this means that the government needs to communicate more clearly how large changes in the budget are to be handled in order to increase the predictability of future development assistance budgets. It is also about looking at the tools that are available to reduce the currency risks in development assistance, such as the Swedish Debt Office. Swedish banks are also proposed to be involved in the work of ensuring that Swedish development assistance reaches its recipients. The authors write: “ensuring a maximum value for every krona of development assistance is therefore important - every penny must contribute. Demonstrating the effects of aid is also important in order to continue the public's support for ambitious aid. "

Elsewhere in the world we find, among other things, analysis on human rights Myanmar. The researcher, Niklas Foxeus, writes about the first testimonies from deserted soldiers in Myanmar regarding human rights violations that have been repeatedly denied by the country's leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the army and the country's media. But Foxeus is hesitant about whether the data will contribute to any difference in the future. "Probably the information from the deserted soldiers will not get much attention in Myanmar," he writes.

A selection of the last week's editorial and debate articles about Sweden's role in the world.

Aid work

"Then Sweden's aid can become more effective"

Jan Petterson & Númi Östlund, Svenska Dagbladet

How can Swedish authorities make a greater difference to development assistance?

Numi Östlund, Development magazine

It is unreasonable to spend twice as much money on aid as on the police

Hans Wallmark, Magdalena Schröder & Hans Rothenberg, Göteborgs-Posten

Climate

Climate justice instead of the government's tax cuts

Nooshi Dadgostar & Ulla Andersson, Dagens Nyheter

The Nordic countries must unite - form an alliance for the climate