Sweden has a long history of development cooperation with Africa. Bilateral and regional support to sub-Saharan Africa still constitutes a substantial part of Swedish aid. But what do we know about the results of Sweden’s engagement? How should the partnerships be formulated and how best to evaluate them in order to learn lessons for future collaboration?
During this seminar, three new EBA studies on Swedish development cooperation in an African context will be presented and discussed:
- Exploring donorship – Internal factors in Swedish aid to Uganda
A report on the internal factors that have influenced the effectiveness of Sweden’s support to Uganda over the period 2009-2015. Stein-Erik Kruse. - Swedish Development Cooperation with Tanzania – has it helped the poor?
A report on Sweden’s collaboration with Tanzania over the past 50 years which seeks to explain to what extent Sweden has contributed to poverty reduction in Tanzania during this period. Mark McGillivray, David Carpenter, Oliver Morrissey and Julie Thaarup - Support to Regional Cooperation and Integration in Africa – what works and why? A report on the lessons that can be learned from previous support to regional cooperation and integration in Africa and how to do better. Fredrik Söderbaum and Therese Brolin.
The reports will be the starting point for a discussion on what lessons may be learned from Sweden’s experiences. There will also be room for reflections on how the results of development cooperation with individual countries may be evaluated. Both these dimensions, as well as coordination issues more broadly, will feature as separate issues for discussion in three parallel break-out sessions.
The day will conclude with a panel discussion on issues arising from the reports around aid effectiveness. Aspects such as ownership will be addressed as well as the broader question of what happened to the international agreements (in Paris, Accra and Busan) on aid effectiveness.
PROGRAM
09.00 Welcome and introduction
Lars Heikensten, Chairman of EBA
09.10 Exploring donorship – Internal factors in Swedish aid to Uganda
Stein-Erik Kruse, Nordic Consulting Group
Panel:
Robert-Jan Scheer, Strategic Advisor, Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Elliot Stern, Professor, University of Bristol
10.30 Swedish Development Cooperation with Tanzania – has it helped the poor?
Mark McGillivray, Professor of International Development, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University
Panel:
Tausi Mbaga Kida, Executive Director, Economic and Social Research Foundation
Kjell Havnevik, Professor, University of Agder
11.30 Break-out sessions
- Lessons on how Sweden’s development cooperation with individual countries can contribute to sustainable poverty reduction
Torbjörn Pettersson, Assistant Director General and Head of Africa Department, Sida - How to evaluate long-term development cooperation
Riitta Oksanen, Senior advisor at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Development Evaluation Unit - Coordination challenges for Sweden’s development collaboration with individual countries (TBA)
13.30 Support to Regional Cooperation and Integration in Africa – what works and why?
Fredrik Söderbaum, Professor of Peace and Development Research, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg
Therese Brolin, PhD student in Human Geography, University of Gothenburg
Panel:
Harry Hagan, Senior Economic Adviser, DFID
Elling Tjönneland, Senior Researcher, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen
15.20 Panel discussion on lessons for the effectiveness of aid
Göran Hydén, Professor, University of Florida
Tausi Mbaga Kida, Executive Director, ESRF
Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Chair of OECD-DAC
Elliot Stern, Professor, University of Bristol
16.25 Closing words