The government’s letter of appropriation sets out how much money Sida can use and how the funds should be allocated among the organisation’s various activities. Sweden’s total development aid budget for 2010 is about SEK 31,4 billion.
About SEK 16 billion of this is administered by Sida. The letter of appropriation also sets out how Sida is to carry out its work, for example, the size of budget support that a particular country should receive.
It is important to check how taxpayers’ money is being used in combating poverty and that the work funded by Sida is of high quality and achieves results. It is the responsibility of Sida, partner countries and cooperation partners to report on how funds are being used.
Scrutiny of Sida’s work
Sida has a Secretariat for Evaluation and Internal Audit. At the head of this Secretariat is Sida’s Board, to which the Secretariat regularly reports.
In addition to internal scrutiny carried out by this Secretariat, Sida’s operations are also reviewed by the National Audit Office and the Swedish Agency for Development Evaluation, SADEV.
The National Audit Office has the task of reviewing the operations of all government authorities and ensuring that funds are used efficiently and effectively. Sida is required to develop remedial plans for any deficiencies found by the National Audit Office.
SADEV is a government agency that initiates, performs and distributes analyses and evaluations of international development cooperation work.
