Sweden’s International Development Cooperation Sweden’s This yearbook provides an overall presentation of Swedish international development cooperation and assistance channelled via Sweden’s direct bilateral coo- peration and via multilateral bodies. The yearbook ans- Sweden’s International wers some questions – for example what countries does Sweden cooperate with, how much assistance does Sweden provide, and what sectors, institutions and types Development Cooperation of initiatives are involved. The yearbook also covers EU/EC development cooperation, Swedish cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe and the role played by non-governmental organisations in Swedish development YEARBOOK 2000 cooperation. The yearbook may be ordered from: Ministry for Foreign Affairs Information Division 103 39 Stockholm Tel: +46-405 10 00 Fax: +46-723 11 76 www.utrikes.regeringen.se YEARBOOK 2000 Ministry for Foreign Affairs Sweden’s International Development Cooperation YEARBOOK 2000 Ministry for Foreign Affairs Table of contents Contents Page Contents Page The new agenda for development . .5 The Inter-American Development Focus on poverty reduction . .6 Bank (IDB) . .62 Power and influence . .8 The International Fund for Agricultural Security . .11 Development (IFAD) . .64 Economic opportunities . .17 African Capacity Building Fund (ACBF) . .64 Nordic Development Fund (NDF) . .64 Democracy and human rights in NORSAD . .65 development cooperation . .21 International IDEA . .66 Multilateral development cooperation . .32 Development cooperation within the United Nations framework of the European Union . .67 Development programme (UNDP) . .38 United Nations International Bilateral development cooperation . .76 Children’s Fund (UNICEF) . .39 Evaluation and quality assurance . .78 United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) . .41 Africa . .80 UN Higher Commissioner for Refugees Angola . .83 (UNHCR) . .42 Eritrea . .85 UN Relief and Works Agency Ethiopia . .86 for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) . .43 Kenya . .87 UN World Food Programme (WFP) . .44 Mozambique . .89 UN Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) . .45 Namibia . .91 Joint United Nations HIV/AIDS South Africa . .92 Programme (UNAIDS) . .46 Tanzania . .94 United Nations Development Fund Uganda . .96 for Women (UNIFEM) . .48 Zambia . .97 United Nations Environment Zimbabwe . .98 Programme (UNEP) . .49 Other African countries . .99 World Health Organization (WHO) . .50 Regional support for Africa . .105 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) . .51 The Middle East and North Africa . .106 United Nations Educational, West Bank and Gaza . .107 Scientific and Cultural Organization Iraq . .110 (UNESCO) . .52 International Labour Organization (ILO) . .53 Asia . .111 United Nations Industrial Development Bangladesh . .115 Organization (UNIDO) . .54 Cambodia . .117 Global Environmental Facility (GEF) . .55 Laos . .118 Montreal Protocol multilateral fund . .57 Sri Lanka . .119 World Bank Group . .58 Vietnam . .121 African Development Bank (AfDB) . .60 Other Asian countries . .123 The Asian Development Bank (AsDB) . .61 Regional initiatives in Asia . .136 Contents Page Contents Page Latin America . .137 Ukraine . .186 Bolivia . .143 Belarus . .188 Colombia . .145 Central Europe . .189 Guatemala . .148 Channels for cooperation in Central Honduras . .150 and Eastern Europe . .189 Nicaragua . .151 Cooperation via the European Union . .191 El Salvador . .153 Regional cooperation in Central and Peru . .154 Eastern Europe . .191 Multilateral cooperation . .194 Europe . .155 Moldova . .159 The civil society and non-governmental organisations . .196 Southern Caucasus and Central Asia . .161 Table: Swedish bilateral development Sida’s areas of operations . .163 cooperation . .202 Democracy, human rights and good governance . .163 Table: Swedish multilateral Social sectors . .165 development cooperation . .206 Infrastructure and the private sector . .167 Utilisation of natural resources . .168 List of acronyms . .208 Research . .169 Economic reforms . .169 Humanitarian assistance . .170 Support for development cooperation conducted by non-governmental organisations . .171 Information, recruitment and development of the resource base . .172 Swedfund . .174 Other bilateral assistance . .175 Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) . .176 Swedish Cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe . .177 Estonia . .181 Latvia . .182 Lithuania . .183 Poland . .184 Russia . .185 The new agenda for development Development cooperation is about creating conditions to enable the poor to free themselves from poverty. As we enter a new millennium, we can look back on a development cooperation tradition which is both firmly rooted in this fundamen- tal conviction and adapted to changing circumstances, related to globalisation. In the beginning of 2000, a parliamentary summarises some of the insights we are commission was appointed to consider the taking with us into the new millennium. future course of policies for global develop- One of the conclusions drawn is the need ment. In addition to addressing the chal- for further clarification of the integrated lenges of development cooperation, a key development agenda. Democratic and aspect of the commission's assignment is to responsible governance, respect for human investigate how various other policy areas rights and the rule of law are required if the can promote development. The ambition to goal of development cooperation is to be achieve this coherence guides Sweden’s achieved. These issues are discussed in a endeavours in international forums – for separate chapter in this yearbook. instance in the WTO, the UN and the The focus is on the EU/EC. Examples include drawing up trade interests of the poor, rules which benefit the poorest countries, as Sweden examines supporting conflict-prevention processes its policies for global and promoting discussion of environmental development. Swe- issues. den will continue to The need for coherence and clear policy be an active force in lines necessitates a broad understanding of the struggle for development problems, as elaborated in a poverty reduction, Swedish Government report entitled The and in establishing Rights of the Poor – Our Common Responsibi- global responsibility lity. Poverty is more than lack of economic for development. resources. It also involves lack of security, opportunity and empowerment. This per- spective calls for an agenda for development in which economic growth and an ambition to achieve a fair and just distribution of power and resources are both given priority. Maj-Inger Klingvall, The multi-dimensional concept of pover- Minister for International ty reflects the situation expressed by poor Development Cooperation people themselves. The Voices of the Poor study, based on interviews with 60,000 poor people in 60 countries, makes it clear that a sense of disempowerment – vulnera- bility in the face of power exercised by others – is one of the intrinsic features of poverty. This yearbook starts with a chapter which 5 Focus on poverty reduction Increasing the standard of living of the poor is es of the future. The international develop- the overall objective of Swedish develop- ment goals are also in focus in the context of ment cooperation. This objective has been the follow-up of the Rights of the Child interpreted and supplemented by six sub- Summit due to take place in the UN General objectives, designed to highlight the com- Assembly in the autumn of 2001. plexity of poverty issues. These sub-objecti- Swedish policies outlined in the Swedish ves, which are mutually reinforcing, are not Government’s report to Parliament entitled ranked in any specific order. As the 21st cen- The Rights of the Poor – Our Common Respon- tury gets into its stride, there is a renewed sibility (skr. 1996/97:169) cover all these and stronger emphasis on poverty reduction dimensions, and also regard democracy and in international development cooperation. human rights as fundamental elements in the One of the starting points is a strategy docu- development process. In addition, a systema- ment, Shaping the 21st Century – The Contri- tic children’s approach is being developed in bution of Development Cooperation, which has been adopted by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), representing all major donor countries. This strategy, whi- ch is based on the major UN conferences of the 1990s, puts the elimination of poverty as the overarching objective and is, in addition, operationalised into a number of quantifiable international development goals, with the overall aim of reducing the proportion of people suffering from extreme poverty by at least half by the year 2015. The European Commission is also basing its recently laun- Foto: Victor Lenson Brott/Global Reporting Sweden ched overall policy for joint EC assistance on this strategy. The goals for international development are the result of a process involving broad participation, which has contributed to giving them greater impact as international guidelines for development policy. These goals reflect an approach involving the integ- ration of economic and social development, equality, and environmentally sustainable development. Prior to the UN’s “Millennium Assembly”, the Secretary General presented a report on the UN’s role in the 21st century The elimination of poverty is one of the prioriti- which emphasised and strengthened the es for the government in the Philippines, but international goals for development. This there are many problems to be solved for