Aid in Headwinds: Can We Afford to Cut Back? (in Swedish)

On 23 April 2025, join the Swedish Development Forum (FUF) for a seminar titled ‘’ Aid in Headwinds: Can We Afford to Cut Back?’’ (In Swedish: Biståndet i motvind: Har vi råd att skära ner?).

Aid operations are under pressure in several countries. Most notably, the Trump administration’s sudden shutdown of USAID drew widespread attention. But several other countries—including Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany—are also reducing their aid budgets. The very foundation of aid—the idea of shared responsibility and cooperation to address global challenges—is increasingly being challenged by narrow national interests. Aid budgets are now often seen as cash cows for military spending, and it’s estimated that total international public aid may shrink by 30 percent as early as this year.

The seminar will address the following questions:

How can this trend be understood in a broader and longer-term perspective? Can it be reversed, perhaps through alternative forms of financing? Is there public support for these cutbacks, or are politicians out of sync with voters?

Participants

Göran Holmqvist, affiliated with the Secretariat for Futures Studies, will lead the seminar. He has previously held several senior positions at Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), most recently as Head of the Department for Asia, the Middle East, and Humanitarian Aid. The seminar is based on a recently published article in the journal Respons.

The discussion will be moderated by Rolf Carlman, a board member of FUF.