The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has had to make some tough choices as a result of the goverment’s decision to slash the framework NGO information budget from SEK 130 million to SEK 60 million.

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GAVI enters its second decade with multi-billion dollar funding gap

The Geneva-based GAVI vaccine alliance plans a huge expansion of its programmes amid financial uncertainty among government donors. To pay for new activities over the next five years, GAVI will have to raise up to USD 4 billion - an amount equivalent to its total spending over the last decade.

Norwegian aid policy is strongly marked by efforts to compensate for the fact that Norway is not an EU member. This has resulted in Norwegian aid becoming fragmented and thinly spread.

In Copenhagen last month, rich countries agreed to provide USD 10 billion a year between now and 2012 in new and additional climate aid resources. The question is: additional to what? Now it is up to the OECD, which monitors aid disbursements, to set the rules for how “additionality" is to be measured.

Finland pledges more Afghanistan aid

Finland was the only Nordic country to pledge new funds and troops to Afghanistan at the donor conference in London.

While the public’s interest in supporting the victims of the Haitian earthquake continues, the Danish branch of MSF is raising money for its Haiti operations through a new unearmarked emergency fund. MSF is seeking to avoid the over-commitment of funds it experienced with the tsunami five years ago.

In January 2000 in Davos, Bill and Melinda Gates stunned traditional donors by putting up an initial USD 750 million that launched the GAVI vaccine alliance.

In its fourth year, the Danish fund-raising telethon, Danmarks Indsamling, almost doubled its result from 2009, taking in more than DKK 130 million in contributions from the public.

Sida has received some 2,000 project proposals for a new democracy programme worth SEK 340 million over three years (2009-2011).

Lomøy of Norway to be Director at OECD

Norway’s Ambassador to Tanzania Jon Lomøy has been appointed Director of the OECD’s Development Cooperation Direct-orate. He takes up the post in April.

The University of Copenhagen has created a new Chair in International Development Law.

Henrik Malmquist has taken over as Head of the EU Police Mission in the Palestinian Territories.

New Swedish embassies

Swedish representative offices in Kigali, La Paz and Phnom Penh are being upgraded to embassies, the Foreign Ministry announces.