The Danish NGO MS ActionAid, the recipient of the largest Danida annual NGO grant, had its funds for 2012 cut by DKK 7 million in the budget presented by the out-going centre-right government.

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Blasts Gunilla Carlsson’s aid reforms

Sida is drowning in the reports it is required to deliver to the government. The Swedish public agency that scrutinises government activities has delivered a withering assessment of Development Minister Gunilla Carlsson’s way of managing the development aid portfolio.

Development Minister Erik Solheim will soon have on his table a proposal for abolishing tax exemption on Norwegian-funded aid projects.

Donors should be much more active in raising the issue of restrictions on human rights in Ethiopia, says Heidi Hautala, Finland’s Development Minister on her return from Addis Ababa.

The Danish Social Democrat-led government will increase the budget for development aid by DKK 834 million over the coming two years as compared with plans set by the out-going administration.

In the largest-ever approval of grants for vaccines announced by the GAVI alliance this fall almost two-thirds of the funds are to be spent on one disease: pneumonia.

DAC spreads aid activities ‘too thinly’

A Finnish top official wants the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to narrow down its focus and work more strategically.

Norway is hoping to disburse USD 6 million to Guyana for the first project in a bilateral forest carbon deal before year’s end. This is far short of the USD 110 million that Guyana originally hoped to receive during 2010 and 2011.

A group of donors is negotiating the establishment of a secretariat hosted by the Paris-based OECD, that would manage annual assessments of UN agencies, the World Bank and the EU.

Web awards for openaid.se

The web site of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) - openaid.se - has been awarded two Swedish Web Awards.

In an interview last month, State Secretary at the Foreign Ministry Ingrid Fiskaa said to Development Today that Norway is in favour of tax being paid on aid projects.

The Danish veteran of international aid Poul Engberg-Pedersen does not agree with the new government’s idea of splitting the aid budget into two main categories of spending; one for poverty eradication and one for climate and security.