Who are the top recipients of Swedish aid?

Swedish official development assistance has experienced a renewed surge in outgoing aid flows. Following a peak in 2015 — largely attributed to heavy investments in the internal management of refugees in Sweden — the data shows that 2018, the last complete year, was a strong moment for Swedish aid, encompassing $5.8 billion across 4,461 individual disbursements. Bilateral development cooperation agencies can face difficulties with partner diversification and shifting their funding toward local partners. To help, Devex Analytics explored recipient organizations’ data to look at underlying trends of the partner landscape for Swedish aid. Since the last analysis on Swedish aid flows in the past decade, based on the Swedish information service Openaid.se, Devex has broken down generic categories, such as “donor country-based NGOs,” based on disbursement titles and descriptions, to provide a more accurate and in-depth analysis of the partner data. All reported figures in this article are based on the 2019-constant US dollar amount to allow a comparative perspective with the 10-year analysis article. Half of Swedish aid goes to multilateral organizations Approximately 54%, or $3.1 billion, of total Swedish aid in 2018 was allocated to multilateral organizations. The majority of top multilateral recipient organizations include the usual suspects: United Nations agencies, European Union bodies, and organizations in the World Bank Group. The European Commission, a top recipient multilateral organization, received $294.1 million in aid from Sweden, all of which was channeled through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ministry was also the primary agency contributing to the International Development Association, with $292.3 million, and the European Development Fund, at $155.4 million. The Swedish International Development Coordination Agency, or SIDA, on the other hand, was the main funder behind many U.N. thematic funds and programs, such as UNDP and UNICEF, while many humanitarian-oriented U.N. agencies, such as UNHCR and WFP, see more funding from the ministry. The top 10 multilateral organizations alone account for nearly $2 billion, which is roughly two-thirds of the total multilateral organization funding. Beyond the three main institutions — U.N., EU, and the World Bank — there are multiple prominent funds that received a sizable share of aid in 2018, including The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with $99.6 million, and the Green Climate Fund with $70.3 million. According to Openaid.se, the other half of Swedish aid has been disbursed beyond multilateral organizations. For instance, around 18%, or $1.1 billion, went to public sector institutions, out of which over $600 million was re-invested in the donor government — Sweden — for internal refugee management-related costs. Recipient governments in other countries, on the other hand, only received approximately $100 million in 2018. Top recipient NGOs Approximately 17%, or $971 million, of total Swedish aid in 2018 was allocated to NGOs and other civil society organizations. As diversifying the implementer base and bringing local partners to the table intensifies, it is not easy to gain an in-depth understanding of how Swedish aid fares in this aspect. SIDA’s support often reaches local partners indirectly, whereby reported funding is channeled through 16 framework organizations — all of which are Swedish — which then work with local implementation partners on the ground. The Strategy for Support via Swedish Civil Society Organisations for the Period 2016–2022, the overarching approach that regulates these frameworks, stresses the long-term cooperation between SIDA and framework organizations and the role of these organizations in channeling SIDA’s support to local partners. Out of the top 20 NGOs, 14 were Swedish — including Save the Children, which had some disbursements channeled through Save the Children Sweden specifically. And 10 were identified as SIDA framework organizations, such as Save the Children, again, which received $51.7 million in 2018, Diakonia, at $46.9 million, and Forum Syd at $39.8 million. The top NGO with the highest volume of received funds, at $74.4 million, was the International Committee of the Red Cross. There are 6 SIDA framework organizations that did not make the top 20 list in 2018, including the Olof Palme International Center with $11.5 million, and World Wide Fund for Nature with $11.2 million. In total, all 16 framework organizations constituted more than one-third, or $354 million, of all funding toward NGOs in 2018. <div class="flourish-embed flourish-cards" data-src="visualisation/1611046" data-url="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/1611046/embed"><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script></div> 1. International Committee of the Red Cross The top NGO recipient of Swedish aid in 2018, ICRC received just over $74 million — all of which was core support, covering operations costs. Similar levels of funding are expected to be maintained in the next couple of years, as the majority of funds are tagged for the period 2018-2020. The most prominent locations for fund allocation were Palestine and Yemen. 2. Save the Children Nearly $52 million was distributed across various Save the Children branches, including Save the Children Sweden and Save the Children EU. The biggest disbursements were for core contributions, more than $30 million, however, there were also a number of project-specific funded interventions, for instance, a project addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights in Eastern and Southern Africa or strengthening the health sector in Somalia. 3. Diakonia Diakonia is a faith-based organization working with over 350 local partners in long-term development work. As the top solely Swedish NGO, Diakonia received just under $47 million in 2018. Roughly $18 million of that was given as core support underpinning the framework agreement 2016-2020. The biggest project-related disbursement, worth nearly $6 million, was to support civil society in Mozambique in collaboration with Oxfam and We Effect. 4. Norwegian Refugee Council Approximately $36 million of the total $41 million allocated to NRC were core contributions to support its humanitarian programs across 21 conflict-affected countries. Its neighboring counterpart, the Danish Refugee Council, on the other hand, only received around $2 million in 2018, after SIDA discontinued further support due to an unsatisfactory organization assessment. 5. Forum Syd Forum Syd is the largest civil society platform in Sweden, leveraging a network of around 140 member organizations. The majority of funding to Forum Syd, $29 million out of $40 million, falls under the 2018-2022 framework agreement, with minor funding targeting specific projects, for example strengthening democracy and human rights in Kenya, and empowering civil society in Liberia. 6. Oxfam Funding to Oxfam has been distributed across a variety of branches, including Oxfam GB, Oxfam IBIS (Denmark), and Oxfam Novib (Netherlands). According to Devex analysis, up to $10 million of the total $37 million was given in core funding, while the remaining funds were given to specific projects. For instance, nearly $8 million was given to the same civil society project in Mozambique, also implemented by Diakonia. 7. Plan International Sweden Plan International Sweden received $32 million of the total $37 million under numerous framework agreements. The largest framework agreement, in terms of allocated funding, was a 3.5-year program for child rights across 19 country programs. Another big framework agreement is related to Plan International Sweden’s humanitarian work, with prominent funding flowing to Nigeria at $2.2 million, and Cameroon at $1.5 million. 8. Swedish Mission Council Swedish Mission Council is a Swedish platform for faith-based organizations working internationally with human rights and poverty alleviation. Only $1 million of the total $35 million were given to specific projects, whereas the remaining funds were allocated under numerous framework agreements. The biggest disbursement, worth $22 million, supports 17 of the organization’s members, which in turn support local partners in over 50 countries. 9. We Effect Working directly in over 20 countries, We Effect focuses primarily on rural development and inter-related topics, such as adequate housing, land rights, financial inclusion, and climate change. Around $21 million of the total $31 million was allocated to core contributions underpinning framework agreement 2018-2022. The remaining funds were for specific projects in countries such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Guatemala. 10. Swedish Committee for Afghanistan Afghanistan is the top recipient country of Swedish aid in the past decade, so it is not surprising that one Swedish NGO is solely dedicated to development programming in that country. With an exception of a $258,000 disbursement for the purpose of communications and advocacy, the whole $24 million was given as core support for the organization’s operations. For access to in-depth analysis, insights, and funding opportunities from over 850+ sources — combined with Devex Pro news content — sign up to a Pro Funding subscription online today or get in touch to learn about our Pro Funding group options.