Nordic combat units will be pulled out of Afghanistan over the next two years and annual military costs will be slashed by hundreds of millions of dollars. Sweden, Denmark and Finland have pledged sharp increases in bilateral aid to Afghanistan, while Norway, the largest Nordic Afghan donor, will keep its aid at the current level. Nordic aid to Afghanistan amounts to USD 350 million.

Cautious donor reactions to plight of Swedish journalists in Addis

Amid calls for use of the aid weapon as a means of presssuring Ethiopia to release two jailed Swedish journalists, donors are expressing cautious concern. Deputy chief of Human Rights Watch Jan Egeland chides donors for going to bed with the authoritarian regime in Addis.

Danes aim to influence EU aid policy

From January Denmark assumes the Presidency of the European Union. Key aid policies are up for discussion, and Development Minister Christian Friis Bach aims to leave clear Danish fingerprints.

Local judge says municipality’s support for SEKAB was ‘illegal’

An administrative court in Northern Sweden has ruled that Örnskjöldsvik Municipality’s decisions to give millions of crowns in financial support to the Swedish biofuel company SEKAB were invalid.

Nordics hold fewer UN jobs at lower levels

A Development Today survey showed a dramatic drop in the number of Nordics in UN top jobs. Officials now say that at lower levels, there are also fewer Swedish and Norwegian nationals working in the UN system.

Swedish Mekong chief faces growing conflicts over dams

The Swedish fisheries experts who takes the helm of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat faces growing conflicts over construction of hydropower dams.

Danida procurement in 2011: Grontmij is back

2011 was a fairly actively year for Danida’s procurement of consultancy services. NIRAS continued to be a major player in the Danish aid market. Grontmij, formerly Carl Bro, made a comeback after many years’ absence.

EcoEnergy to ask Sida for guarantee

The Swedish-owned biofuel company EcoEnergy is about to submit an application to Sida for a guarantee for its sugar cane project in Bagamoyo, Tanzania.

Opinions

Astri Suhrke

The perils of Afghanistan’s near-total aid dependence

At the Afghanistan conference in Bonn, donors committed to another ten years of economic and military aid beyond 2014 when NATO combat troops are scheduled to be out. The real challenge is not to maintain current aid levels, but to change the patterns of assistance and decrease the dependence on aid.

Bo Forsberg

More openness in Swedish private sector aid

The government has given the Swedish private sector an increased role in aid. A new report commissioned by Diakonia and Church of Sweden reveals some of the shortcomings of this approach, and calls for more transparency when companies engage in development cooperation.

Editorial

Giving biofuel a bad name

Sida will soon receive an application from the Swedish-owned biofuel firm EcoEnergy for a guarantee for its sugar cane and ethanol production facility in Tanzania

Uphill battle to place Nordics in top UN jobs

There is no short cut to more Nordic top jobs in the UN, according to officials working close to the process. A DT review published in the last issue shows that the number of top UN positions will soon drop to half the level of four years ago.

DT Archive

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Quote: Favoured by donors

“Just because the repressive behaviour of the Ethiopian government affects Scandinavians shouldn’t mean a change in the assistance. Donors should have been much more careful about the way their assistance seems to bolster an authoritarian government.”

- Jan Egeland, Deputy Executive Director of Human Rights Watch.

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