Policy Updates

On November 26, 2024, the Swedish government approved an additional SEK50 million (US$5 million) in funding to the UNFPA for its operations in Ukraine, addressing the severe impact of Russia's invasion on SHRH.

Sweden's SEK50 million (US$5 million) contribution from the ODA budget will be channeled through UNFPA's Humanitarian Thematic Fund to support operations in Ukraine.

According to Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Benjamin Dousa, Russian attacks have compromised access to essential healthcare, particularly maternal care and safe abortion services in the regions affected by the war. The need for humanitarian assistance has risen during winter, with many forced to flee Ukraine. Dousa noted that the support will help to support safe maternity care by building birthing rooms that are better equipped to withstand Russia’s attacks.

UNFPA operates in 150 countries, focusing on family planning, maternal mortality prevention, combating GBV, and harmful practices such as genital mutilation and child marriage. The organization also offers psychosocial, medical, and legal support to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

On November 26, 2024, Devex wrote that the UK currently has no strategy to deliver assistance for children after years of spending cuts even larger than those inflicted on other sectors.

UNICEF criticized the UK and claimed the country had lost its position as a children’s rights and well-being leader since the decade of Conservative governments, before huge 2021 budget cuts.

The report stated that the share of UK bilateral assistance focused on children fell from 30% to 18% between 2016 and 2022, while the proportion spent on education over the same period plunged from 11% to 4%.

The study titled Leave No Child Behind: Analysing the cuts to UK child-focused aid stated that while children appear as beneficiaries within sectors such as leath and education there is no strategy for the UK’s work in this area.

The study warns of no forecast improvement in the years to come, unless the new Labour government rethinks its decisions to hold down the assistance budget and continue to divert billions of pounds to hosting asylum seekers.

On November 26, 2024, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa announced plans to end its bilateral development assistance to Yemen, and emphasized that the phasing out will be carried out responsibly, with Sida concluding operations in June 30, 2025.

Dousa expressed that the increasingly destructive security situation led to the decision to phase out development assistance. This hindered effective monitoring of the development initiatives.

The decision aligned with the Swedish government's ODA Reform Agenda, which emphasized long-term planning, transparency, and efficiency. Swedish development assistance to Yemen has totaled approximately SEK80 million (US$8 million) annually in recent years.

Sweden will remain a major humanitarian donor to Yemen, where millions continue to require urgent assistance. For 2024, Swedish humanitarian assistance to Yemen amounted to SEK287 million (US$28 million). Sweden provided substantial core funding to several UN agencies active in Yemen, including the UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, and WFP.

On November 25, 2024, the UK announced a new partnership with three new Women’s Rights Organisations in Kenya and South Africa to develop new preventative strategies to tackle online violence and abuse against women and girls.

The project, called Safe Online: Preventing Technology-Facilitated GBV, is to be backed by more than GBP27 million (US$35 million) of UK-government funding and will help to support survivors of online violence and abuse, gather data to strengthen our understanding of this emerging threat, and minimize women’s exposure to harmful content by working with national regulators.

The What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale program is a GBP68 million (US$88 million) program working to pioneer and scale-up effective approaches to ending GBV. The first phase of the program showed that UK can help reduce violence in homes, schools, and communities by 50% in under 3 years.

The program has recently awarded three new grants to women’s rights organizations:

• To CREAW in Kenya, in order to pioneer the use of media in preventing violence;
• To Soul City Institute in South Africa, to pioneer the use of mass media in preventing violence; and
• To Reach Digital Health in South Africa, to pioneer the use of technology such as chatbots in preventing violence.

On November 22, 2024, JICA signed a grant agreement with the Ethiopian government to provide JPY1.5 billion (US$10 million) for the development of secondary schools in the Sidama region in Ethiopia.

This initiative aims to enhance educational access and improve learning environments, particularly for girls, through gender-sensitive infrastructure and equipment.

The project involves constructing new secondary schools, procuring classroom furniture, educational tools, and providing consulting services. By addressing barriers to education and promoting gender equality, this program supports Ethiopia’s educational development and aligns with SDGs 4 (Quality Education) and 5 (Gender Equality).

On November 22, 2024, the Norwegian government allocated NOK26 million (US$2 million) to the Crop Trust’s Endowment Fund to support the long-term preservation of crop seeds.

This initiative underlines the critical role seed conservation and development play in ensuring global food security, safeguarding crops against climate change, disease, and other challenges.

The Crop Trust, an international organization dedicated to protecting seed diversity, ensures farmers worldwide have access to resilient seed varieties. Norway’s contribution supports the maintenance of vital infrastructure, including the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which acts as a backup for global crop diversity, and international gene banks operated by the CGIARs research network.

According to Norweigan Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, the Crop Trust plays a pivotal role in securing the global system for preserving agricultural biodiversity, with Norwegian leadership also represented on its board by Dagfinn Høybråten.

On November 22, 2024, USAID announced a number of new commitments and a progress report on its climate work at COP29.

USAID announced a pledge of US$54 million for blended finance partnerships to provide catalytic investments for climate finance vehicles and investment funds in coastal and marine natural capital. The blended finance package also included US$28 million for Columbia Invest for Climate and US$6 million for a green partnership in Southeast Asia. Further investments supported climate-resilience and reduced emissions in agriculture and food systems in Africa.

Adding to the investments in the US president's Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience, USAID invested a total of US$83 million for early warning systems in 30 countries.

Other investments included:

• US$12 million for the Climate Smart and Disaster Ready program in regions across the globe;
• Efforts to provide more green energy transitions in Asia;
• A joint USAID and NASA investment in Central America to help manage and prepare for climate risks;
• A contribution from Power Africa of US$410 million to the Africa funding window toward green value chains; and
• An US$11 million commitment from USAID to champion women decision-makers in responding to climate crises.

On November 22, 2024, the Norwegian government proposed a NOK1.5 billion (US$137 million) increase to the international development budget for the Nansen Program, focused on supporting Ukraine.

This adjustment ensures that the country meets its target of allocating 1% of GNI to ODA in 2024. According to Norweigan Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Ukraine remains the largest recipient of Norwegian ODA, with the funds primarily aimed at bolstering critical energy security and preparing for the winter season.

Additionally, lower refugee-related costs in Norway have made NOK930 million (US$85 million) available for other global development initiatives. Of these funds, NOK176 million (US$16 million) is allocated to the Middle East.

Increased funding is earmarked for sectors such as health and education, each receiving NOK100 million (US$9 million). Additional priorities include renewable energy, food security, and development efforts in Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar, Haiti, and Colombia.

On November 21, 2024, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed the UK as a founding member of the Brazil-led Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and announced a GBP70 million (US$90 million) package to support tackling global food insecurity and poverty.

The UK is a founding member of the Brazil-led grouping, which has attracted over 80 countries so far, each making important commitments to accelerate action on global food insecurity. Members will share expertise to deliver interventions that work at scale and work together to unlock the crucial finance needed to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty.

The UK will sit on the Alliance’s steering group, the Board of Champions, and invest GBP70 million (US$90 million) over the next 18 months to enable food-insecure households to withstand shocks, drive green growth in the agriculture sector, and improve social protection for those in need.

The announcement included up to GBP50 million (US$64 million) for the new Resilience and Adaptation Fund, which will harness climate finance to ensure that food-insecure households in countries like Ethiopia, Chad, and Bangladesh can withstand shocks and extreme weather.

On November 21, 2024, the Lowy Institute published the annual Pacific Aid Map which saw Australia remain the major donor to the Pacific.

The 2024 Pacific Aid Map provided complete data from 2008-2022, and indicated that the second major donor in the region was China, overtaking the US. Other Western donors reduced their ODA budgets to the Pacific largely due to tighter budgets and redirected funding to Ukraine.

In 2022, Australia provided AUD2.2 billion (US$1.5 billion whilst China provided US$256 million. The map indicated that China has continued to revise its approach, including shifting towards grants and away from lending programs.

In general, loans to the Pacific in 2022 accounted for 40% of ODA, compared to only 12% in 2009. This was a result of an increased focus on infrastructure in the region.