Sweden’s right-wing government last month sent shock waves through the development community with an announcement that at the end of the year it will terminate all its funding agreements with Swedish NGOs — through which an important part of the country’s generous foreign aid budget is currently disbursed.
The move, announced on March 15, is part of an historic reform that the government has previously said will place more “focus on Swedish interests and humanitarian support.”
Other elements of that plan include an aid freeze that effectively means real terms cuts, a new focus on trade and immigration, and a shift away from funding the lowest-income countries. Several aspects of Swedish policy mirror shifts that have already taken place in the United Kingdom and are under way in Germany and France. But the biggest controversy has been caused by the most recent announcement — that at the end of the year all agreements to deliver aid through 17 strategic partner organizations, all Swedish NGOs, will be terminated.