How has little Norway in the aftermath of 9/11 become one of the biggest bilateral donors in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Sudan, all conflict zones shaping world politics?

Development Today asked former State Secretary Vidar Helgesen, a key player in shaping this aid policy.

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Green bonanza for Swedish private sector, state agencies, NGOs

Sweden is sharpening the green profile of its development assistance. Swedish state agencies, NGOs, institutes and not least the private sector should prepare for a bonanza as SEK 330 million are to be spent on environmental projects within the next nine months.

A group of like-minded donors, dominated by Sweden, has streamlined aid to Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations. In the name of efficiency, a secretariat has been given the task of reducing the number of NGOs receiving support from around 30 to just five this year. The Swedish NGO Diakonia withdrew from the tender process for the contract to manage the new joint donor secretariat, warning that the set-up will favour a few “mega NGOs”, while silencing innovative voices. Norway was originally part of the donor group, but was critical of the high transaction costs and pulled out of the initiative.

Norway’s Development Minister Erik Solheim announced this week a grant of at least NOK 10 million to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to support its efforts to promote safe abortion.

While Nordic donors have in recent years criticised the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for being too isolated and reluctant to engage in UN reform, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is quickly becoming the Nordic donors’ favorite.

Barring a breakthrough in upcoming negotiations with the Finnish Finance Ministry, Finland looks set to take on the EU Presidency in July with an aid level of 0.42 per cent of GNI. In spite of the government’s stated intention to substantially increase Finnish aid, it remains at half the level of the three other Nordic countries.

NGOs: ‘plenty of uses of aid’

Finland’s development NGOs are dismayed by the Foreign Ministry’s concerns about Finnish NGOs’ capacity to absorb the extra funding planned by Ministry. (See DT 2/06) ...

Utstein Alliance comes to an end

The influential Utstein Alliance has come to an end. Like-minded donors have found new and more flexible fora for cooperation linked more to joint political ...