On 19 February, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA) arranged a one-day conference on the role of evidence in promoting effective development cooperation. Benjamin Dousa, Minister for Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, opened the conference, which was followed by featured presentations and panel discussions by international experts and scholars.
Photo: Caisa Rasmussen/Utrikesdepartementet
On 19 February, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Expert group for Aid Studies (EBA) arranged a one-day conference on the role of evidence in promoting effective development cooperation. The conference was opened by Benjamin Dousa, Minister for Foreign Trade and International Development Cooperation, and sought to strengthen capacity and interaction around this theme within Team Sweden (a broad set of Swedish public sector organisations, agencies, and companies working on international development cooperation and trade), notably including Sida, Folke Bernadotte Academy and other key agencies.
The day featured presentations and panel discussions by international experts and scholars, including Nobel laureate Simon H. Johnson, Professor Rachel Glennerster who leads the Center for Global Development, and former Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya Njuguna Ndung’u. Among key insights from the discussions was the major achievements reached through aid over the past decades, the importance of different forms of evidence at different stages in development policy and implementation, and how different methodological approaches and forms of data – such as randomized trials, comparative studies, and in-depth contextual knowledge – are complementary and play different functions in this broader work.
SweDev was represented at the event by the Chairperson, AnnaMia Ekström and the Director, Emma Elfversson, as well as steering committee member Janet Vähämäki. During the interactive sessions, AnnaMia raised a question about the evidence base underlying the decision to terminate bilateral agreements with e.g. Tanzania during the end of 2025. Emma asked how the current emphasis on strengthening the evidence base of development cooperation can be reconciled with the large decrease in funding for development research in recent years.