Organisation: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)

Sida works according to directives of the Swedish Parliament and Government to reduce poverty in the world. The overall goal of Swedish development cooperation is to contribute to making it possible for poor people to improve their living conditions. Sida's organization has three main pillars:

• Policy, which is responsible for global dialogues and reaching consensus, knowledge development and advice, quality assurance and competence;
• Operations, which is responsible for the implementation of the development co-operation;
• Management, which is responsible for control and planning functions as well as service to the rest of the authority.

How we operate

Swedish development cooperation is part of a global cooperation in which Sweden is one of many international participants. In order to carry out its work Sida cooperates with Swedish government agencies, organisations and associations and international bodies like the UN, the EU and the World Bank.

It is the responsibility of each country to adopt its own strategies for economic development and for combating poverty. This strategy forms the basis for the cooperation strategy that Sweden and respective countries or regions form together.

In order to implement strategies and carry out its work Sida cooperates with a large number of organisations, associations, agencies, companies and cooperatives. A total of 16 Swedish organisations currently have framework agreements with Sida, which means, for example, that they contribute 10 percent of the costs of joint projects. This includes organisations such as Africa Groups of Sweden, Diakonia, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Save the Children Sweden, the Church of Sweden and the World Wildlife Fund for nature.

In addition, Sida also has agreements with a number of Swedish government agencies. The aim is for their expertise and experience to be of use in partner countries.

Sida also cooperates with other countries’ development aid agencies. In addition, Sida cooperates with international agencies like the UN, the EU and the World Bank.

Combating corruption is an important issue in the cooperation and dialogue between Sweden and our partner countries. Corruption is not only a significant threat to combating poverty and development cooperation. It is also a serious threat to all forms of economic, social and democratic development. If money disappears from a project or if there are deficiencies in a project’s auditing Sida demands that the funds be returned. Payments are suspended while an ongoing investigation is conducted until the deficiencies have been addressed.