Development aid that eradicates poverty

The EU Commission, together with the member states, is the world’s largest development aid provider. The wealthier member states have pledged 0.70 per cent of their gross national income in aid by 2015 at the latest, while the goal of the new member states is 0.33 per cent. Several countries are far from fulfilling the goals and some member states are even planning to cut their development aid in 2009.

Sweden has a good reputation in development aid contexts and the EU Presidency offers an excellent opportunity to convince member states to uphold their pledges of a better quality increased aid; a prerequisite for fulfilling the millennium development goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015. Sweden must clearly show that it adheres to the 1 per cent of gross national income going to aid, and not to weigh down the aid with payments to other areas than poverty eradication.

For aid to be of greater benefit it has to be more demand-driven and emanate from the national democratic processes. Conditions set by donor countries must demand respect for democracy and human rights in recipient countries, but the stipulations governing how poor countries pursue their macroeconomic policies should be phased out.

Neither can the country ownership be limited to national governments alone, but must be broad-based, democratic and transparent, thus allowing parliament civil society and the media to assess and take part in planning processes, implementation and follow up of the priorities as determined in the development plans.

To enable developing countries to plan, development aid needs to be more predictable. Better donor coordination between EU member states is required so as to save on the recipient country resources. It is important for donor countries and partner countries to join forces over international human rights conventions and sustainable development.

Neither can effective aid be tied to buying goods and services from the donor country. Furthermore, aid must be climate-proof and support a sustainable use of resources and not finance investments in, for example, coal and oil, which give rise to greenhouse gases and global warming.

The majority of poor people live in rural areas. It is therefore vital that more resources are invested in agricultural and rural development in poor developing countries, with emphasis on the significance of small-scale farming for food security and poverty eradication.  We urge Sweden to take the initiative within the EU to raise the agricultural issues within development aid.

Sweden must work to fortify the children’s rights and gender perspectives of EU aid. A vast majority of the world’s poor are children and women. To achieve the goal of reduced poverty, children and women must be given increased powers and influence in political, social and economic spheres. One prerequisite is for girls and women to have control over their own bodies and sexuality.

Sweden must continue to pursue the issue of sexual and reproductive health and rights. In addition, as children and women will be hit extra hard by the global financial crisis, special initiatives are required to address the effects.