A large part of Sweden’s foreign policy takes place within – and through – multilateral organisations, such as the UN, the EU or the various development banks. Sweden is also one of the largest donors to the multilateral system: the majority of Swedish aid goes to multilateral organisations, either in the form of core support or so-called ’multi-bi’ support. That Sweden is able to realise its policy priorities when cooperating with multilateral organisations is therefore important.
This evaluation highlights how Sweden works with one of the many tools available to cooperate with and influence multilateral organizations, namely secondments. The report focuses on the secondment of senior personnel to the UN and the EU, which aim to increase the impact of Swedish development policy priorities.
The overall conclusion of the evaluation is that senior secondments can be an effective instrument for supporting Swedish policy influence, but only under the right conditions and circumstances. The authors show that solid preparatory work is required for secondments to achieve their strategic potential, and that there are opportunities for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Sida to improve this area of work.