OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews: Sweden 2019

✍ Scribed by Oecd

• Publisher: Org. for Economic Cooperation & Development
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 126
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Norway's commitment to spend 1% of gross national income on official development assistance is supported across the political spectrum. It increasingly uses multilateral channels to promote global public goods and address global challenges. This review looks at the changes to systems, structures and capabilities that would help Norway deliver on its shifting approach to development co-operation.

✦ Table of Contents

Conducting the peer review
Abbreviations and acronyms
Sweden’s aid at a glance
Context of the peer review of Sweden
Political and economic context
Development co-operation system
References
The DAC’s main findings and recommendations
Sweden is a strong development partner
Sweden is an adept, ambitious and influential actor on global sustainable development
Sweden is a generous donor with a comprehensive toolbox for leaving no one behind and promoting gender equality
Sweden is a long-term and valued partner to multilateral organisations and civil society
Decentralisation enables responsive programming, and Sweden takes a proactive approach to addressing corruption
Sweden is an effective and principled humanitarian donor
Sweden can build on its achievements
Sweden could better align Swedfund’s investments to its strategic priorities
Recommendation:
A new, more joined-up approach to addressing development, humanitarian and peace needs to be systematically applied
Recommendation:
To support Sweden’s pioneering approach to delivering long-term, sustainable results, capacity needs to be built up and systems reformed
Recommendation:
Sweden could further enhance its strong commitment to development effectiveness by working more directly with and through the systems of partner country governments
Recommendation:
Sweden should continue to ensure its development co-operation is guided by relevant and strategic independent evaluations
Recommendation:
Sweden needs to address ongoing challenges
Sweden’s broad policy framework requires consolidation and synergies among its numerous strategies could be better exploited
Recommendations:
Sweden’s development co-operation still lacks geographical concentration
Recommendation:
Sweden’s growing and increasingly complex set of programmes requires sufficient staff capacity
Recommendation:
Summary of recommendations
Secretariat’s Report
Chapter 1. Sweden's global efforts for sustainable development
Efforts to support global sustainable development
Support for global sustainable development is in Sweden’s foreign policy DNA
Sweden is focused on being a leader in implementing the 2030 Agenda
Policy coherence for development
Renewed political commitment and revamped processes for delivering policy coherence
Improved policy coherence in some domestic policies areas
Global awareness
Communication prioritised and innovative approaches adopted
Strong public support for ODA and growing recognition of the SDGs
Notes
References
Chapter 2. Sweden’s policy vision and framework
Framework
Sweden has established a coherent but broad policy framework
Sweden’s numerous strategies are aligned to the policy framework but the synergies among them are not sufficiently exploited
Principles and guidance
As a response to the 2030 Agenda Sida is using a new, multidimensional poverty analysis to help to leave no one behind
Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy has confirmed its global leadership on gender equality
Sweden is strengthening its approach to the environment and climate change
Greater use of conflict and resilience analysis has enhanced Sweden’s approach to working in fragile contexts
Basis for decision making
Sweden aims to engage in countries where it can make the biggest difference but its bilateral ODA is geographically thinly spread
Sweden’s rationale for selecting partners is based on who contributes most effectively to its goals but could take a more balanced approach
A strategic approach to selecting priority multilateral partners
Notes
References
Chapter 3. Sweden’s financing for development
Overall ODA volume
Sweden remains one of the most generous OECD donors
Spike in overall ODA as a result of high in-donor refugee costs
Sweden is a good reporter of ODA to the DAC
Bilateral ODA allocations
Sweden pays special attention to support the least developed and most vulnerable countries
Sweden’s bilateral ODA is geographically thinly spread
Sweden’s thematic allocations of ODA are coherent with its policy priorities
Sweden has a clear preference for aid channelled through multilateral organisations and civil society
Multilateral ODA allocations
The largest share of Swedish multilateral aid goes to the UN System
Sweden’s allocation of aid to multilateral institutions is strongly aligned to its strategic priorities.
Financing for development
Sweden is increasingly using its ODA to catalyse private finance flows
Sweden actively supporting building the capacity of its partner countries on taxation
Notes
References
Chapter 4. Sweden’s structure and systems
Authority, mandate and coordination
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has a clear mandate to manage development co-operation and executes leadership
Co-ordination between the MFA and Sida has been strengthened
Opportunity to further align Sweden’s development finance institution with its strategic priorities
Scaled-up use of a whole-of-government approach for delivery
Systems
Programme reforms aim for a better balance between efficiency, quality control and risk management
Sweden prioritises tackling corruption and has a comprehensive and proactive approach
Sweden is promoting sustainable public procurement to support the 2030 Agenda
Sweden’s efforts to foster innovation have focused on partnerships and financial instruments
Capabilities throughout the system
Sweden needs to ensure staff capacity in light of a growing and increasingly complex programme
Sweden has continued to decentralise its development co-operation staff
Notes
References
Chapter 5. Sweden’s delivery modalities and partnerships
Partnering
Sweden is a flexible and responsive partner
Joint approaches and complementarity with other donors are sought
Sweden has a strong commitment to transparency
A highly-valued partner to well-established civil society organisations but with a multitude of funding channels
Sweden partners with the private sector to mobilise its expertise but could seek further opportunities
Country-level engagement
A focus on ownership and capacity building
Sweden is committed to the development effectiveness principles, but struggles with performance against some indicators
A new way of programming in fragile contexts can now be systematised
Notes
References
Chapter 6. Sweden’s results, evaluation and learning
Management for development results
Sweden is embracing a pioneering approach to results-based management
The new approach offers an opportunity to focus more on impact, but staff capacity building and systems change are required
Sweden monitors and communicates transparently the results of its development co-operation
Sweden helps to build partner countries’ statistical capacity, but struggles to use their results systems for programming
Evaluation system
Sweden’s evaluation system adheres to the DAC principles
Steps are being taken to improve the relevance of Sweden’s strategic independent evaluations
Sweden is struggling to use partner country evaluation systems
Institutional learning
Programme evaluations are used to inform decision making and there is a strong focus on building partner countries’ research capacity
Knowledge management remains a challenge for Sweden
Notes
References
Chapter 7. Sweden’s humanitarian assistance
Strategic framework
Sweden’s policy framework and humanitarian strategy seek to deliver on the World Humanitarian Summit’s outcomes
Policies and strategies support coherence among Sweden’s humanitarian, development and peace building work
Humanitarian aid budget is increasing
Effective programme design
Sweden’s needs-based allocation model allows it to engage in forgotten crises
Localising aid
Effective delivery, partnerships and instruments
A strengthened effort to tackle protracted crises and recovery
An array of rapid response tools and mechanisms are in place
A mature partnership with the humanitarian community
Sweden is actively engaged in co-ordination with other donors, UN and local systems
Organisation fit for purpose
Enhanced structures for co-ordination
Humanitarian assistance could be better reflected into upcoming country strategies
Results, learning and accountability
Field presence and evaluations increase Sweden’s knowledge base
Notes
References
Annex A. Progress since the 2013 DAC peer review recommendations
Sweden’s humanitarian assistance
Sweden’s global efforts for sustainable development
Sweden’s policy vision and framework
Sweden’s financing for development
Sweden’s structures and systems
Sweden’s delivery modalities and partnerships
Sweden’s results, evaluation and learning
Annex B. OECD DAC standard suite of tables
Annex C. Field visit to Liberia
Development in Liberia
A peaceful transition of power in Liberia marks progress, but significant development challenges remain
Towards a comprehensive Swedish development effort
Sweden has contributed to peacekeeping and peace building in Liberia
Sweden’s policies, strategies and aid allocation
Conflict-sensitive and poverty-focused strategy
Sweden’s strong focus on gender equality and women rights includes tackling sensitive issues
Increased attention to environment and climate change, but further work is needed to fully integrate this across the whole portfolio
Opportunity to improve synergies with Sweden’s other development strategies
Organisation and management
There is scope for Sida and the Folke Bernadotte Academy to move from co-ordination to collaboration
Sweden’s whole-of-government approach highly evident in Liberia
Focused approach to managing risk
Empowered and capable staff are a major asset
Partnerships, results and accountability
Sweden is engaged in donor co-ordination, aligned with partner countries priorities and is building government capacity
Constructive, reliable and generous partner to civil society and multilateral organisations
Sweden supports long-term results in Liberia and uses programme evaluations, research and reviews to inform its programming
Notes
References
Annex D. Organisational charts