The 75-year-old sexual rights organisation RFSU and the Swedish branch of Worldwide Fund for Nature, WWF, have become Sida framework NGOs, thereby entitling them to potentially large multi-year grants.

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Donors want more facts before finalising USD 1.5b subsidy for vaccine industry

A decision to commit USD 1.5 billion for the Advance Market Commitment, a subsidy package that aims to stimulate production of vaccines for poor countries, is just weeks away. Yet the six donors, including Norway, are still waiting for key facts about how the subsidy will work. MSF has asked for background information about AMC to be put in the public domain to allow for informed debate. This has been promised, but has not yet materialised.

Norway has bypassed Sweden and was last year the world’s top aid performer. This is mainly a result of an aggressive strategy of buying up hydropower plants in emerging markets funded by aid.

The Swedish government is tightening the guidelines regarding disbursement of Swedish general budget support, and taking back some of the control over this form of development assistance from the aid agency, Sida.

Countries in the Mekong region are pressing ahead unilaterally with plans to build dams on the lower mainstream. The new CEO of the Mekong River Commission Jeremy Bird talks to Development Today.

In its annual report on Sida, the Auditor General points to weaknesses in the aid agency’s financial control systems. This report follows a string of earlier investigations that point in the same direction. Conclusion: problems have gone uncorrected for many years.

Sida’s new Director General Anders Nordström defends his agency’s response to criticism from the Auditor General. At the same time, he is setting in motion the most comprehensive reform since 1995.

Donors will meet at Foreign Minister level in London May 2 to discuss future support for the Palestinian territories. They will try to keep the momentum behind the USD 7.7 billion pledge made when they last met in Paris less than five months ago.