Report on Nordic Development and Humanitarian Programmes

A report on Nordic development and humanitarian programmes in Afghanistan has been published. The report gives a good overview of individual country contributions in Afghanistan and discusses the potential benefits from increased Nordic cooperation. It states that the benefits of increased cooperation would allow for the more effecient use of resources, citing examples such as expert training, programme management and coordinating with Afghan authorities and international organisations. The report also underlines the numerous synergies and common priorities of the five Nordic countries' development programmes, such as human rights, gender, education and democratization.

The origins of the report can be traced back to a meeting of the Nordic Foreign Ministers in Stockholm, April 2008, which requested a review of current Nordic programmes in Afghanistan and opportunities for increasing cooperation. The report was prepared by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, NORAD.

The report