Sida's choice of partners and forms of development assistance are unclear and the government's target images more difficult. This is the opinion of the National Audit Office after examining Sida and the government's work with Swedish development assistance.
In May this year published The National Audit Office their review of the government and Sweden's development assistance authority Sida regarding Swedish development assistance and whether they have created the right conditions for effective choice of partners and forms of development assistance.
In 2020, Sida provided around SEK 26 billion in international development assistance, of which the majority of the money went to development assistance initiatives carried out by other actors. Sida's choice of partner is thus central to how Swedish development assistance is distributed and used.
The National Audit Office's review shows secondly, that there are shortcomings in the government's comprehensive strategies that Sida works according to. For example, a goal can consist of several different goals and different support areas often consist of different themes. The National Audit Office believes that the government is currently complicating Sida's work and should delimit their areas of support, reduce the number of goals in the strategies and formulate the goals at an overall level.
Furthermore, the review shows that it is unclear what overall motives and priorities are behind a large part of Sida's choice of forms of development assistance and partners. The National Audit Office believes that Sida should clarify and document its choices in order to ensure effective and well-founded choices in the future.
- It is not possible to see in retrospect why Sida has chosen precisely these initiatives, partners and forms of development assistance. Many of Sida's choices have therefore not been sufficiently substantiated, says project manager Vanessa Liu in a press release.