ICEIDA: Greatest Emphasis on Education This Year

According to a newly approved budget for 2008 educational issues will be at the forefront of ICEIDA’s activities this year in the agency’s six collaborative countries. More than a quarter of ICEIDA’s budget for development collaboration will be allocated to projects concerning education. Less than twenty percent will be allocated to projects concerning fisheries.

ICEIDA carries out bilateral development collaboration with four countries in Africa; Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Namibia, as well as Nicaragua in Central-America and Sri Lanka in South-Asia. For a short period of time a majority of the funds were allocated to projects in the fisheries sector but over the last few years social projects have increased, not least in the educational sector. The situation now is that the educational sector gets the biggest part of the budget.

Malawi will continue to be the country that receives the biggest share of ICEIDA’s budget, namely 22%. Mozambique is number two with just over 15% and next in line are Nicaragua and Uganda with just over 12% each, then comes Namibia with a little less than 10% and Sri Lanka with a little less than 9%.

According to the budget Iceland will contribute a little less than 1,5 billion Icelandic krónur (ISK) to development collaboration under the auspices of the agency this year. ICEIDA allocates just over a third of the official funds that are put into development.