Background Reports

2023:September

Organisation and Management of Aid

Patrick Guillaumont, Matthieu Boussichas, Andrea Dsouza

Official Development Assistance is never provided free of conditions, and the provision of aid is ultimately at the donors’ discretion. However, aid relations often contain other, more extensive demands on recipient organisations, and...

2022:december

Organisation and Management of Aid

Mapping

Jan Pettersson, Henrik Malm Lindberg, Mats Hårsmar

Since the 1990s, Sweden has reported costs for asylum reception in the home country as aid. As Sweden budgets for total aid to amount to a specific volume (previously in the form of a target of one per cent of GNI, now a fixed sum),...

2023:July

Organisation and Management of Aid

Mapping, Other

Isabella Strindevall, Magnus Lundgren

Sweden is an important donor to the multilateral system, working to achieve its aid and development goals through significant financial support to multilateral organisations, such as the European Union, the United Nations and the World...

2023:May

Education and Research, Health and Social Protection, Organisation and Management of Aid

Analysis

Geske Dijkstra

The evidence on the effectiveness of Payment by results for outputs, outcomes and impact is mixed, especially when taking into account the quality of studies. To the extent there is evidence on improved transparency and accountability, and...

2022:June

Organisation and Management of Aid

Other

Suvi Virkkunen, Alva Bruun

This working paper is one of the contributions to the EBA anthology on theories of change (ToC) in development cooperation. The authors, Suvi Virkkunen and Alva Bruun (both formerly with the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs) describe...

2022:June

Education and Research, Organisation and Management of Aid

Description of method

Adam Pain

This working paper is one of the contributions to the EBA anthology on theories of change (ToC) in development cooperation. The author, Adam Pain, discusses ToCs for a common type of intervention in Swedish development cooperation: support...

2022:February

Democracy and Human Rights, Organisation and Management of Aid

Description of method

Joakim Molander, Wolfgang Biersack

In this text, Joakim Molander and Wolfgang Biersack describe the theory of change that International IDEA has established to guide the organisation towards its objective of promoting and advancing sustainable democracy. IDEA’s theory of...

2022:June

Organisation and Management of Aid, Public Administration

Other

Thomas Larue

Published in Swedish...

2022:April

Humanitarian Assistance

Other

Emma Öståker

This study shows that Ethiopia at regular intervals during the last decades has suffered from disasters and emergencies during which Sweden contributed relatively large sums of humanitarian aid. The study raises vital questions about how...

2022:April

Economic Development

Analysis

Mats Hårsmar

A key question that continues to face policymakers and practitioners in development is: What are the most effective ways of reducing poverty in low-income countries? A debate that has long been waged relates to the role of agriculture and...

2022:January

Evaluation of Aid

Evaluation

Elliot Stern, Ole Winckler Andersen

This report assesses a portfolio of five country evaluations (CEs) commissioned by EBA between 2015 and 2017, and published between 2016 and 2018. These CEs, in Tanzania, Uganda, Cambodia (the site of 2 studies) and Bosnia-Herzegovina took...

2021:November

Organisation and Management of Aid

Mapping

Pranvera Muçaj

The issue of ownership has been at the heart of the international development debate for several decades. While the Paris Declaration from 2005 contributed to (at least an alleged) consensus on the centrality of ownership – or partner...

2021:November

Organisation and Management of Aid

Other

Jens Andersson

Published in Swedish...

2021:November

Organisation and Management of Aid

Other

Erik Bryld, Julian Brett, Léonie Borel

Swedish development assistance needs to be able to adapt to changing circumstances, particularly in fragile and conflict affected states, where contexts can change rapidly. This is true not only for individual projects or programmes, but...

2021:August

Evaluation of Aid

Analysis

Adam Pain

This working paper reviews the lessons that can be drawn from Sweden’s development cooperation with Afghanistan from 2002–2020, and the implications of these for Sweden’s future engagement with the country. The analysis is based on...

2021:July

Organisation and Management of Aid

Review

Helena Hede Skagerlind

Corruption in development aid is a recurring issue of debate. Within this background report, the author  compiles conclusions from academic and grey literature on the extent of corruption in development assistance. The focus is primarily...

2021:June

Humanitarian Assistance, Migration, Organisation and Management of Aid

Other

Alexander Burlin, Jason Gagnon, Karen Jacobsen, Kim Wilson, Mona Ahmed, Sarah Miller

This Working Paper summarises three roundtable discussions arranged by EBA during Spring 2021 under the theme “Forced Displacement and the Humanitarian‐Development Nexus.” The three roundtables looked at challenges and opportunities...

2021:May

Evaluation of Aid

Joel Samoff

Evaluations of development cooperation interventions are almost always based on the evaluation criteria developed by OECD/DAC, one of which relates to the relevance of an intervention. One observation related to the evaluation criteria...

2021:May

Organisation and Management of Aid

Jonas Tallberg, Olof Karlsson

Together, the EU and its 27 member states constitute by far largest provider of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the world. Several member countries have been important donor countries for a long time, while others are emerging....

2021:May

Equality, Health and Social Protection

Mapping

Elin Bergenlöv

In the last ten years the issue of menstruation has received increasing attention in Swedish development cooperation. However, an overall picture of the extent to which menstruation is addressed in Swedish aid is absent. This study...

2021:May

Climate and Environment

Daniel Slunge, Ida Andersson, Petter Wikström, Thomas Sterner

Circular economy is increasingly discussed in Swedish, European, and international public policy making. This report provides a review of the circular economy concept and discusses its potential implications for Swedish development...

2020:November

Climate and Environment

Analysis

Lisa Hjelm, Mats Hårsmar

The study contains assessments of 25 multilateral organisations receiving support from Swedish ODA. To what extent are their work aligned with the Paris Agreement in terms of climate mitigation, adaptation to adverse effects of climate...

2020:juli

Equality, Organisation and Management of Aid

Mapping

Anna Schnell

Gender budgeting means a systematic integration of the causes to gender inequality and design of measures for increased gender equality in both budgets and budget processes. It is clearly written in the Sustainable Development Agenda as an...

2020:April

Education and Research

Mapping

Cecilia Strand, Elin Bjarnegård, Flora Hajdu, Henning Melber, Janet Vähämäki, Jonas Ewald, Magnus Jirström, Rickard Lalander

This study was initiated and conducted by the newly established Swedish Development Research Network (SweDev) with support from the Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA). The study has sought to map the Swedish development research community,...

2019:May

Humanitarian Assistance

Review

Anna Bäckman

The existing initiatives using blockchain technology in humanitarian aid are few and at an early stage. The potential of blockchain should nevertheless be considered seriously. It can, for example, be used within financial means, reducing...

2018:December

Organisation and Management of Aid

Review

Arne Tostensen

Increasing emphasis on capacity-building and training activities as a proportion of donors’ country programmes has drawn attention to per diem practices. This report discusses the uses and abuses of per diem payments, predominantly by...

2018:oktober

Organisation and Management of Aid

Review

Expertgruppen för biståndsanalys

Information and communication technology (ICT) has long been an important part of Swedish development assistance both at the bilateral level and via multilateral organizations. This report aims to map the Swedish ICT assistance during...

2018:October

Public Administration

Analysis

Karl-Anders Larsson

Budget support is the aid modality that best complies with the principles for aid effectiveness and it has been stated in several Swedish government documents since 2000 that its share of total Swedish aid should increase. It increased up...

2018:June

Climate and Environment

Monir Elias Bounadi

This Working Paper combine high-resolution data on temperature and precipitation with georeferenced data on conflict events to explore the link between local weather variations and conflict incidence for all districts of Afghanistan...

2018:April

Evaluation of Aid, Public Administration

Mapping

Matilda Svedberg

Looking specifically at the case of Sweden, this working paper aims to provide insight to research and policies concerning aid volatility and generate comparable estimates of volatility in foreign aid. The paper uses the...

2018:April

Public Administration

Mapping

Klas Markensten

More financing, including taxes, is needed to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. At the Addis Ababa conference 2015 the Addis Tax Initiative was launched, in which donors were asked to double their technical assistance to...

2018:april

Democracy and Human Rights

Mapping

Anna Jonsson Cornell

The purpose of this report is to present the current policy framework, and provide an introduction to how Swedish actors work and have worked with the rule of law principles within the framework of Swedish development cooperation. The...

2018:April

Equality

Evaluation

Elin Bjarnegård, Fredrik Uggla, Hanna Barvaeus

EBA decided in 2016 to initiate "on-going evaluation" on the efforts to strengthen gender mainstreaming at Sida until 2018. This is the second report from the evaluation. This report presents updates and extensions of findings and...

2017:December

Evaluation of Aid

Description of method

Annika Nilsson, Johanna Lindgren Garcia

This study is based on an expressed need at EBA to supplement its research reports with portfolio analyses that describe what Swedish development cooperation does in a specific country or sector. In addition, there is a need to...

2017:September

Climate and Environment

Other

Nicklas Nordfors

The aim of the thesis is to answer the question: does foreign aid have an impact on local environmental degradation, specifically deforestation, in recipient countries? The study link geocoded data on aid projects in Uganda to high...

2017:September

Health and Social Protection

Other

Evelina Linnros

For many households in developing economies climate shock, economic instability, illness and conflict are part of everyday life. Without access to formal insurance and credit markets, this means a limited ability to smooth...

2017:April

Equality

Evaluation

Elin Bjarnegård, Fredrik Uggla

The Expert for Aid Studies decided in 2016 to initiate “on-going evaluation” on the efforts to strengthen gender mainstreaming at Sida until 2018. In total, two interim reports and a final EBA report will be presented. This first...

2016:December

Organisation and Management of Aid

Mapping

Ulrika Ahrsjö

The question posed in this paper is in whether re-formulated political goals for development assistance lead to reclassifications of individual aid projects, rather than actual reallocations of funds. The study compares...

2016:October

Economic Development, Public Administration

Mapping

Anton Ståhl, Arne Bigsten, John Åke Andersson, Per-Åke Andersson

Sweden’s bilateral aid to Uganda over the period 2000-2015 was fairly extensive, amounting to around 335 million Swedish Kronor (SEK) per year (Openaid 2016). This explorative study aims to map commercial and other economic...

2016:June

Economic Development, Public Administration

Other

Ulrika Ahrsjö

Can foreign aid contribute to attracting private investment to developing countries? This paper applies an instrumental variable strategy developed by Galiani et al. (2014) to data from 35 countries that traversed the middle income...

2015

Organisation and Management of Aid

Mapping

The Expert Group for Aid Studies

The study Svenskt statligt internationellt bistånd i Sverige – en översikt (2014:05) maps out how Swedish international aid has been evaluated during 2013. The data used in the report is available here. The findings were presented...

2014:August

Economic Development, Organisation and Management of Aid

Analysis

Mats Hårsmar

The aim of Swedish international development assistance is to help reduce poverty. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether projects and programmes in a selected number of Swedish partner countries focus on what research have...

2014:August

Economic Development, Organisation and Management of Aid

Analysis

Bob Baulch

The Development Assistance Committee’s peer review of 2013 notes that “Sweden’s aid remained largely as it was at the time of the last peer review: thinly spread across a wide range of countries and sectors”. The review...

2013:December

Organisation and Management of Aid

Mapping

Mapsec

The purpose of this study was twofold. One task was to find out how Swedish support to multilateral organisations has evolved over the last 15 years. Another purpose was to investigate what information could be found in publically...