Bilateral Efforts

The three largest donor countries in percentage of total ODA are the USA, Norway and the UK. In absolute terms, the country is the 17th biggest donor. Finnish aid and development policies enjoy wide popular support at home, and polling from 2006 shows that 86 % of the Finnish people surveyed thought that development support was an important issue.

Finland’s Afghanistan policy has been consistent throughout the years since 2001. The level of contributions has also remained fairly constant, averaging on about € 10 million a year. Between 2001 and 2006, these funds have been channelled through various organizations and agreements focusing on elections, governance, law and order (hereunder drugs and crime), local democracy and women’s rights. The strategy for 2006-2009 is focused on fewer areas and to channel its funds through UN and the World Bank. At the 2006 London Conference, Finland pledged € 50 million in aid for the period of 2006-2010. The present aid programme in Afghanistan is based on Finnish Afghanistan strategy dated 23rd of November 2006, and adjusted according to the Afghanistan Compact and EU Guidelines.

The Finnish government cooperates with the Afghan government through the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) as administered by the World Bank. The ARTF targets the entire country, and contributors have the opportunity to target specific policy areas by earmarking. Approximately half of the € 50 million of the Finnish contribution will be channelled through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF). This is most likely to ensure a level of high transparency and secure aid effectiveness. Finland has indicated to the World Bank that about half of these funds be allocated to the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) and the Micro finance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA), two programmes that support local governance and alternative livelihoods. These programmes help promote two of the Nordic countries most salient issues in Afghanistan; democratic involvement and the war on drugs.


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