An overview of official aid provided by donors that are not members of the Development Assistance Committee in the OECD shows an overall increase of more than 70 per cent in 2008, the largest donor being Saudi Arabia.

Development Today is a subscription-based journal published with 20 issues a year. To subscribe click here.

If you are already a subscriber to Development Today please log in.

Would you like to know more about Development Today? Click here.

Print this article

News

UN channels Norwegian funds through corruption-tainted ministry

The UN REDD Programme is channelling millions of Norwegian aid crowns into a ministry in Tanzania to which Norway has for the last two years halted all aid disbursements due to widespread corruption.

Denmark has the strongest focus on Sub-Saharan Africa in its bilateral aid. Finnish aid to Africa is growing at the fastest pace, while Norway has the weakest focus on the region. Development Today has reviewed Nordic aid, based on updated OECD statistics.

American researcher Andrew Wilder warns against expansion of Nordic aid into the border areas of Pakistan. His research project, financed by Norway and Sweden, questions the assumption that aid is an effective counter-insurgency tool.

The government instructs Sida to establish an in-house mechanism where staff can report safely on suspected corruption related to Swedish aid.

In the wake of the Southeast Asian tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004, the Red Cross movement received the equivalent of about USD 3 billion in an unprecedented outpouring of donations from the public. Five years on, most of this money is spent, but USD 300 million remains on the books.