Sweden

In 2009 Sweden was the world’s sixth largest humanitarian donor, with humanitarian expenditure reaching over US$570 million, and the ninth largest aid donor, with official development assistance (ODA) peaking at US$4.5 billion. Sweden is one of the most generous government donors. Its humanitarian aid as a proportion of gross national income reached 0.14% in 2009 and it has featured in the top three every year since 2007.

Sweden has long been an advocate of increased aid flows to developing countries and is heavily involved in issues relating to the quality of development cooperation, such as aid effectiveness, transition financing and the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD). It is an advocate of multilateral reform within the international system and it has championed new financing mechanisms, including pooled funds, in both development and humanitarian sectors.

Sweden’s humanitarian aid is managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). An evaluation of Sida’s humanitarian assistance was conducted in 2010 and its most recent policy document for 2010–2016, “Saving Lives and alleviating suffering”, outlines its overall humanitarian goals and direction, concentrating on:

• flexible, rapid and effective humanitarian response designed to meet the humanitarian needs of today and those of the future
• a strong and coordinated international humanitarian system
• improved interaction with development assistance and with other types of interventions and actors.

Sweden is a founding member of the GHD group, hosting the inaugural meeting in 2003. It co-chaired the GHD group in 2007/08 and continues to play an active role in the initiative and the implementation of the GHD principles.

In 2011 it was announced that Sweden would cut aid to 37 recipient countries (including China) reducing the number of recipient countries from 70 to 33.

Key references

OECD DAC Peer Review, 2009