Many spoke favourably of the eminent qualifications of Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to lead the World Bank. Norway tried to mobilise support for her. In the end, the Nordic-Baltic vote went to the American.

Forestry aid portfolio under scrutiny

Finnish forestry aid, which accounted for EUR 35 million in disbursements last year, is under scrutiny as a result of the new focus on rights in aid.

Development Minister Gunilla Carlsson wants to scrap budget support. Sida is looking for ways to make this form of aid more palatable.

Few forest activists could dream of influencing government policy as profoundly as Lars Løvold has done. But he hasn’t been able to convince Foreign Ministry bureaucrats that the big forest prize - the Democratic Republic of Congo - is worth the enormous risks.

Culture of the brown envelope

Researchers at cmi, Christian Michelsens Institute in Bergen, have published a study of the phenomenon of per diem compensation - its uses and abuses - paid by donors in three highly aid-dependent countries, Malawi, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

OECD’s views on budget support

Budget support has grown in popularity among donors in recent years.

The best way to evaluate development

The swedish aid minister Gunilla Carlsson is making use of the services of Statskontoret, the Swedish Agency for Public Management, in two investigations of development assistance: one on how evaluations are managed; and the other on the framework NGOs.