What can Swedish development cooperation learn from the Budget Support era?

15 oktober, 13:00-14:40, Hörsalen, Medelhavsmuséet, Fredsgatan 2, Stockholm

Registration from 12.30. Coffee is served after the seminar.

General Budget Support (GBS) is a form of programme aid, not linked to specific projects. The resources flow directly to the Ministry of Finance and are usually accompanied by a policy dialogue in which donors discuss preferred policies with the governments of recipient countries.

Around the year 2000, GBS was seen as the more effective aid modality, but in recent years the volume of GBS provided by all donors has decreased. By 2016, Sweden gave no Budget Support.

During this seminar we will discuss experiences from the budget support era: What has been the contribution of budget support to poverty reduction? Has budget support increased corruption in poor countries? Why was it phased out?

We will also discuss what Swedish development cooperation can learn from this: What is the future role of programme based approaches? What is the future role of dialogue with recipient Governments and the use of aid as leverage for improving governance? Can budget support regain political support in Sweden and other donor countries?

 

PROGRAMME

12.30 Registration

13.00 Welcome and introduction

Budget Support, Poverty and Corruption: A review of the Evidence, presentation of the EBA report by Geske Dijstra

The Rise and Fall of Budget Support in Swedish Development Cooperation, presentation the Working Paper by Karl-Anders Larsson

Comments from the panel and discussion

Moderator: Torgny Holmgren, The Expert Group for Aid Studies

14.40 The discussion continues over coffee

 

SPEAKERS AND DISCUSSANTS

Geske Dijkstra, Professor at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam

Karl-Anders Larsson, Independent Consultant

Sven Olander, Head of Evaluation Unit, Sida

Torgny Holmgren, EBA and Executive Director, SIWI

Further speakers TBC

 

REGISTRATION

Please register at www.eba.se or by e-mail ud.eba.seminarium@gov.se