Sweden cutting peace-building budget by 40%

The Swedish government is cutting its peace-building funding by almost 40%, in a major change for a donor that has long been considered a leader in the field. Peace-building NGOs expressed “great concern” at the move in a letter to Johan Forssell, Sweden’s minister for international development cooperation and foreign trade. “Sweden’s commitment to peace has long been a model to others and a core part of Sweden’s international leadership. Now is the time to strengthen that,” said the letter. Swedish government budget documents showed the 2023 budget allocated to sustainable peace was 260 million Swedish kronor (about $25.3 million), down from SEK 430 million in 2022. “New contracts or contract extensions must be avoided as far as possible,” added the document. The 2017-2022 strategy has also been extended until the end of 2023, “or until the government decides on a new strategy,” according to the same document. “These drastic cuts come as a real shock at a time when global conflict is on the rise,” said Nic Hailey, executive director of International Alert, who was a signatory to the letter. “Sweden has long been an international leader on conflict resolution and peacebuilding: that leadership is needed now more than ever.” Cuts to the budget of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, or Sida — which emerged just before Christmas — have been expected from the country’s new government, elected in September 2022. It is a right-wing coalition election which relies on support from the Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots, which has been critical of international development spending. In November 2022, the government abandoned the country’s 1% aid spending target, reducing the budget by SEK 7.3 billion ($721.4 million), and said it would make some aid conditional on countries receiving failed asylum-seekers, and deprioritize multilateral organizations. The country’s commitment to a feminist foreign policy has also been dropped. But the NGOs say they were still surprised by the extent of the cuts to funds designed to prevent conflict — particularly as Sweden mounts a bid to join NATO. There have also been steep cuts to spending for programming designed to inform the public about the benefits of international development work. “The focus of the government is Sweden first,” said Judy McCallum, executive director of the Life and Peace Institute in Sweden. “There’s more focus on the military, NATO, Ukraine — these are reasons given for the [aid] cuts. … they don't understand value of peace building or conflict prevention.” “[The 40% cut] would, we believe, be counter to Sweden’s interests including on Ukraine and European security, risk significantly weakening Sweden’s international leadership in this area, and run counter to the greater conflict focus of many of Sweden’s key international allies,” reads the NGOs’ letter. “We urge you to reconsider these decisions.” Another break with the past was the lack of consultation the government took, according to McCallum, who said it was the “first time such drastic changes have been made without consultation … it’s a departure from how governments have in the past worked closely with civil society.” The letter’s signatories are leaders of six peace-building organizations from around the world: Peace Direct, Conciliation Resources, Life and Peace Institute, International Alert, Saferworld, and Kvinna till Kvinna — a Swedish organization focused on women’s rights. But civil society organizations and communities across the globe would be affected by the cuts, the letter said. Experts told Devex Sweden has been a key donor of the flexible funding crucial to peace building, which sees projects operating in unpredictable and fast-moving environments, sometimes requiring quick adjustments without having to go through bureaucratic procedures. “Experience has shown that if we don’t have flexibility in what we’re doing, it’s very hard to be responsive to what we’re doing in the support we give. That is a big issue and the value [Sweden] brought to peacebuilding environment,” said Paul Murphy, chief executive at Saferworld and a signatory. The NGOs cited the benefit of Swedish funding to social cohesion in Somalia, to helping countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia “resist the ripple effects” of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and to containing conflict in Yemen. “Sweden has long been an example and an inspiration to others,” said the letter. “A world in which Sweden withdraws from this leadership role would be less cohesive and more insecure: that would be damaging for us all.” It was unclear why Sweden has focused its aid budget cuts on the peace-building budget, but there was speculation among experts that it was easier to justify humanitarian spending to voters. A spokesperson for Sida told Devex it was “too soon” to make a comment.