KEPA head says Finland has given up on development cooperation goals

“This does not improve our international credibility”

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Gunvor Kronman, Chairwoman of KEPA, the Service Centre for Development Cooperation, does not believe that Finland will reach its goals on spending on development cooperation.
     The Ministry of Finance has proposed spending EUR 910 million on development cooperation projects next year. This is equivalent to an estimated 0.46 per cent of Finnish GDP. This year’s proportion was 0.45 per cent.
     
Finland is part of the group of old members of the European Union, which has committed itself to spending 0.51 per cent of GDP on development cooperation. Kronman says that achieving this would require so much money in the next two years that such a plan would no longer be realistic.
     Finland differs significantly form its closest neighbours in this respect.
     “All other Nordic Countries have reached the goal of 0.7 per cent years ago. Sweden exceeded one per cent a couple of years ago”, Kronman points out.
     “The fact that Finland is constantly lagging behind does not serve our international credibility in any way.”
     Naturally, the common goal of eliminating global poverty is more important than making comparisons, she points out.
     She notes that international comparisons have shown the quality of Finnish development cooperation to be good.
     However, there is criticism that Finnish projects lack predictability, because of the slow development of funding. Predictability and continuity are important specifically in development work.
      Development cooperation funding usually is a topic of considerable debate in the government’s budget talks. However, there is unlikely to to be any debate on the matter in the talks over next year’s budget, which begin on Wednesday. Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen has not called for any more spending than what the Ministry of Finance proposed.
     Väyrynen did push for more funding in the spring framework talks on the budget, but had to make due with a lower level.
     Kronman says that Väyrynen deserves thanks for his efforts, as he has been spoken on behalf of the funding more than usual.
     While politicians point out that the amount of money spent on development cooperation is growing, Kronman notes that it is increasingly lagging behind in attaining the international target.
     Not attaining the international targets might make it more difficult for Finland to get the seat that it wants on the UN Security Council in 2013-2014.


Links:
  Service Centre for Development Cooperation - KEPA

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