On 10 February 2025, Sida’s Director-General, Jakob Granit, organized a roundtable discussion on the role of research in Swedish development cooperation. Read more to learn about the key takeaways.
Photo: Andrew Moca/Unsplash
On 10 February 2025, Sida’s Director-General, Jakob Granit, organized a roundtable discussion on the role of research in Swedish development cooperation. The meeting explored possible support for research in development aid given the new conditions and to examine how research perspectives could be integrated into Swedish development cooperation. Attendees included researchers, representatives from government agencies, and university leaders. SweDev’s chairperson, Jesper Sundewall, was also present.
Sida’s current situation
The Director General emphasized Sweden’s and Sida’s long-standing commitment to development research, highlighting strong partnerships and expertise. However, it was also noted that Sida’s Scientific Advisory Council will not have its members renewed for 2025. The government also expects Sida to find alternative ways to ensure research engagement in development aid.
Currently, there are around 60 ongoing projects funded under the Sweden’s research strategy for poverty reduction and sustainable development (2022–2028), but collaborations in Uganda, Tanzania, and Cambodia are being phased out. Additionally, Sida’s research budget was cut in half in 2023, thereby limiting new initiatives.
The roundtable also addressed evidence-based development cooperation. Sida is introducing a new development analysis model to integrate research into decision-making and evaluations. The agency is also improving how it documents lessons learned and explains its choice of partners.
Key takeaways from the roundtable
The roundtable emphasized that Sweden must adapt its approach to development research. With USAID’s changing role, Sweden has new opportunities to lead in certain areas. However, reduced research funding limits international engagement, making stronger coordination among Swedish funders and alternative financing sources, such as EU grants and private foundations, increasingly important. It was also noted that development research can enhance Sweden’s global influence and business ties, with potential to link research funding with both trade and development cooperation.
On evidence-based cooperation, Sida was encouraged to engage Swedish researchers more strategically and establish a structured dialogue, similar to models used by FCDO (UK) and Norad (Norway). Improving conditions for researchers to evaluate projects was also seen as essential. Expanding the use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was also recommended to strengthen Sida’s evidence-based decision-making and maximize development impact.