All Swedish governments since the collapse of the Soviet Union have agreed on the importance of supporting Russia’s reform process. Security and good relations with our big neighbour to the east and hopes of mutual benefit have been the fundamental ideas behind this.
We have common environmental problems and a democratic Russia is less threatening to Sweden.
Russia has been called a “country in transition” following the fall of the Berlin Wall and represented a new category of development assistance. Support grants to Russia have not been the same as traditional development assistance.
We have contributed experts in areas where we have experience: the social sector, the environment, governance and democracy.
Large and broad cooperation within many areas
Our development assistance has been concentrated geographically in the northwest of Russia, often in the form of local and regional cooperation projects between Swedish municipalities, county councils or universities and their counterparts in Russia.
Altogether, we have invested SEK 3.8 billion in Russia as of 2007. Although our development support is now coming to an end, some of the cooperational projects will continue as regular regional cooperation projects.
We have had broad and large-scale cooperation with Russia. Below is a small selection of the projects we have been involved in.
A safer and cleaner Baltic Sea
Many contributions have been aimed at the Baltic region. Nuclear power, migration and border control have been some of the security areas in our cooperation.
Major environmental investments have been made within water purification with the goal of making the Baltic Sea cleaner. Sweden is a member of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), a cooperation between countries around the Baltic Sea, whose goal is to protect the Baltic Sea environment. The Baltic Sea Action Plan describes the targets.
The current Neva programme is one example which, when it ends in 2013, will have made the wastewater from Saint Petersburg meet international requirements.
Efforts to promote human rights
The lack of respect for human rights and principles of law is a major problem in Russia.
Through our support, we have contributed to efforts that mainly focus on the northern Caucasus region, because of the difficult situation there. Contributions will continue in this region even after the planned phase out of contributions by 2010.
Some support has been given to Russian non-governmental organizations, while other support has been channelled through Swedish organizations such as the Swedish Helsinki Committee and the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (SPAS). For example, we have contributed to efforts providing support for victims of abductions, torture and arbitrary detentions, or support for legal aid and legal advice.
Support for greater democracy
Our contributions have mailny been centred on:
- Culture and education, often through cooperation between twin towns in Sweden and Russia
- Cooperation with the police and customs personnel
- Language and integration support
- Media sector
Through our support, Russian journalists have been trained through the Institute for Further Education of Journalists (Fojo) in Kalmar, Sweden, which has been of great importance to a large number of Russian journalists working in a difficult media climate.
For many years, Sida has been providing a great deal of support to the Moscow School of Political Studies to train politicians, civil servants and academics within different aspects of democracy.
Focus on gender equality brings varying results
A major goal and overall target of our co-operation with Russia has been to contribute to greater gender equality. The cooperation has followed three principles:
- The overall cooperation would contribute to better gender equality
- A gender perspective should be present in all planned efforts
- Particular efforts were to be made to improve women’s participation in politics and their situation in the labour market
Different evaluations and analyses of this part of our development assistance to Russia portray a split image of the success in the area.
Individual efforts have often been successful, while the ambition of having gender equality run through all efforts – or mainstreaming gender equality issues – has been met with great difficulty.
Some examples of our gender equality initiatives:
- We have supported female entrepreneurship and the increased participation of women in politics through the WERAN project (Women’s Resource Center). Six local resource centres were created and 14 women were selected to the regional parliament in Saint Petersburg.
- We have supported efforts highlighting men’s responsibility for gender equality and increasing awareness of men’s violence towards women. A centre for male assailants has been opened. The Swedish partner for this cooperation was Män för Jämställdhet i Sverige (Men for Gender Equality in Sweden).
Health care and social services
Much of our contributions have been aimed at the Russian health-care system and social services. A lot of our contributions in this area have been channelled through The East Europe Committee of the Swedish Health Care Community (SEEC), while other forms have been channelled through non-governmental organizations.
One important overall result is that our cooperation has often led to a change of outlook and methods, particularly in the way vulnerable children and handicapped people are viewed in the country. Much of this has been spread to other large parts of Russia.
Some results of our cooperation:
- Further training and expansion of the general practitioner system in Kaliningrad and Volodga, and medical advice centres
- Within the area of sexual and reproductive health, Stockholm County Council has helped set up 18 youth clinics in Saint Petersburg to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted illnesses including HIV/Aids.
- Contributions to combat HIV/Aids together with the UN programme UNAIDS have influenced the creation of a national Russian Aids policy. A national Aids commission was introduced in 2006.
In light of the above results Sweden's cooperation with Russia continues, but on a smaller scale and mainly around the Baltic Sea and in northwestern Russia.
