Partnership between Swedish and local organisations
Sida's support to civil society is often channeled through our Swedish strategic partner organisations.
Swedish strategic partner organisations
Sida has multi-year agreements with a number of Swedish strategic partner organisations (SPO). They work to strengthen civil society in our partner countries.
The cooperation has two overall goals:
- Strengthening the capacity of civil society in low- and middle-income countries to contribute to poverty reduction
- To promote an enabling environment for civil society organisations in partner countries
The cooperation is guided by the government’s Strategy for support via Swedish civil society organisations 2016–2022.
Sida cooperates with 17 Swedish strategic partner organisations
- Forum CiV
- Union to Union
- Olof Palme International Center
- Swedish Mission Council
- Afrikagrupperna
- Diakonia
- We Effect
- The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation
- Save the Children
- Act Church of Sweden
- Plan International Sweden
- RFSU
- WWF
- IM (Individuell Människohjälp)
- Kvinna till Kvinna
- Civil Rights Defenders
Swedish Red Cross
Support through Sida's thematic and geographical strategies
Local CSO's also receive support through Sida's thematic and geographical units or through Swedish embassies. Either in direct cooperation with Sida or through Swedish, international or multilateral organisations.
Funding of humanitarian aid
Sida has multi-year strategic partnership agreements with Swedish and international humanitarian civil society organisations. Sida funds humanitarian initiatives that strategic partners carry out themselves or through their partners.
The allocation of funding is based on:
- The principle of impartiality: the support is based on the needs of the affected populations, without discrimination regarding gender, ethnicity, religion or political opinion.
- Sida's annual crisis analyzes that look at the needs for the coming year
- Additional allocations during the year based on world events
- UN humanitarian appeals
Application
In 2020, Sida carried out a review of humanitarian partners for the period of 2021–2025. Ahead of the next period of agreement starting in 2025, it will be possible to register an interest in a strategic humanitarian partnership with Sida.
Sida’s humanitarian partners
Sida's humanitarian support is distributed between civil society organisations, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The civil society organisations receiving support are:
- Action Against Hunger
Act Church of Sweden
Danish Refugee Council - International Rescue Committee
- Islamic Relief
- Norwegian Refugee Council
- Oxfam UK
- Plan International Sweden
- Save the Children
- Swedish Mission Council
- Swedish Red Cross
The Sida Database on Civil Society Projects
In the civil society organisations database (CSO database) you can search for information about projects and programmes financed by Sida through its Swedish strategic partner organisations and their local partners.
Here you can find information about a project's budget, purpose, expected results and achieved results.
By exporting data to Excel you can create your own reports.
Guiding Principles for Sida's Engagement with and Support to Civil Society
- Sida should explore the various roles of civil society within their context
- Sida should strive to support civil society in its own right
- Sida should provide aid and development effective support to civil society partners
- Sida should support civil society partners’ efforts to strengthen their own development effectiveness, including transparency and accountability
- Sida should engage in continuous dialogue with civil society