ICEIDA´s Annual Report: Educational Issues the Biggest Sector

16.7.2008

“Noe, more than ever, Icelanders possess extensive knowledge, special training and experience in field work in the developing countries. This can be attributed not least to the personnel of the Icelandic International Development Agency (ICEIDA), many of whom have many years’ experience of working in the developing countries, as ICEIDA’s history now spans a quarter of a century. The annual report is evidence of their work, an overview of the operations over a period of one year, plus projects and cooperation with the six partner countries with whom Iceland has concluded bilateral agreements on development cooperation,” says Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Minister of Foreign Affairs, among other things in the foreword of ICEIDA’s annual report for 2007 which has recently been published.

The main focus of the annual report is a summation of ICEIDA’s activities and projects in six partner countries, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua.

The financial statement shows that ICEIDA allocated 17,4 million US Dollars to bilateral development cooperation in 2007 which is an 18% increase from the year before. In Icelandic Crowns the contribution amounted to over 1,1 billion. ICEIDA’s portion of Iceland’s overall official development assistance amounted to 37% in 2007.

Malawi continues to be Iceland’s largest partner country with 27% of overall expenditure but the biggest growth between years was in Mozambique with 21% of the total expenditure. The biggest sectoral change is that the education sector is now the largest sector with 31% of the overall expenditure or 346 million Icelandic Crowns (ISK). The fisheries sector which has always been the largest sector is in second place with 21% of the overall expenditure.

According to the annual report, ICEIDA sent 76 short-term consultants to the partner countries and the agency has increasingly started collaboration with Icelandic universities and expertise institutions regarding specific development projects. The main collaborators are the University of Iceland, Reykjavík University, the University in Akureyri, Iceland GeoSurvey, the Directorate of Fisheries, Matís and the Communication Centre for The Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

The annual report can be found here on ICEIDA’s website, www.iceida.is, on pfd-format. It is also possible to call 545-8980 and request a printed copy. The annual report is published both in English and Icelandic.