Glossary

Definitions of key terms and concepts used on this website.

a

Aid
Aid is assistance given to support development projects or respond to emergencies.
Amount
Amount shows the total sum paid each year for a contribution, using OECD/DAC’s official currency rates. A value of 0 means the agreement is active but no payment was made that year. Negative values indicate refunds or repayments, such as interest adjustments. When contributions are grouped, Openaid aggregates their payments but keeps total amounts accurate.

b

Bilateral development cooperation
Bilateral development cooperation is aid Sweden provides directly to another country or region. Sida manages these programmes.
Bilateral, unspecified
Activities that are not tied to a specific country or region and don’t fit other categories are marked as Bilateral, unspecified.

c

CSO
CSO stands for Civil Society Organisation.
Cooperation partner/partner organisation
A partner organisation is any group or agency that works with Sweden on aid projects.

d

Development cooperation
Development cooperation refers to long‑term aid carried out bilaterally or multilaterally. Its aim is to help people living in poverty or under oppression improve their living conditions.

e

Expenditure area 7: International aid
The government expenditure is divided into 27 areas. Each area shows how much money goes to different activities. Expenditure area 7 covers international aid. Openaid shows data for the agencies managing these funds.
Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA)
The EBA is a government committee that evaluates and analyses Sweden’s official development assistance.

f

Form of cooperation
This term indicates the main focus and structure of the partnership between Sweden and its cooperation partner.

h

Humanitarian aid
Urgent support during crises, conflicts or sudden disasters. The aim is to save lives, reduce suffering and protect dignity. Much of Sweden’s humanitarian aid is channelled via the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM), which allows lump-sum payments to a partner organisation once Sida approves the response. On Openaid, these amounts appear after the partner has reported how the funds were used.

i

IATI
IATI is a global effort to improve transparency in development cooperation and humanitarian work. It aims to strengthen cooperation among countries, donors, multilateral organisations, the private sector and civil society, and to increase coordination, accountability and efficiency. IATI sets a standard for structuring and publishing aid data. Openaid uses this standard to publish its data.
ID
Each contribution and activity on Openaid has its own unique ID number.

m

Multilateral aid
Multilateral aid is support that Sweden provides with other countries through international organisations. These organisations either implement projects themselves or pass funds on to other bodies. Examples include the UN and the World Bank.
Multilateral core support
Multilateral core support funds a multilateral organisation’s overall activities instead of a specific project. The organisation’s board, which often includes Sweden, decides how to use the funds. Examples include the UN and the World Bank.

n

NGO
Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), a voluntary/civil society organisation.

o

ODA
ODA is the term the OECD/DAC uses for development aid. The OECD/DAC maintains a list of countries eligible to receive ODA.
OECD
The OECD is an international organisation that promotes economic cooperation and development.
OECD/DAC
The OECD/DAC (Development Assistance Committee) is a committee within the OECD that coordinates and monitors member countries’ development assistance. The DAC sets common standards, definitions, and statistics for international development cooperation and works to improve the effectiveness and transparency of global aid.

p

Partner country
A partner country is the nation or region that a contribution aims to support, often where a project takes place.
Policy marker
Policy and Rio markers show the goals that guide a contribution and complement the sector classification. OECD/DAC defines these markers and uses a three-point scale: 2 = main purpose, 1 = sub-goal, 0 = not targeted. Payments are not split between markers. The same SEK can therefore be counted under several markers. Results for different markers should not be combined.

r

Regional development cooperation
Regional development cooperation involves projects across multiple countries or through regional organisations to address cross‑border challenges.
Responsible agency
A Swedish government agency or ministry that manages aid funds. Some agencies disburse funds to Implementing organisations; others provide expertise, for example by seconding staff. Agencies receive funding under Expenditure Area 7 International assistance in the state budget and report their activities to Sida, which compiles the data published on Openaid.

s

SADEV (Swedish Agency for Development Evaluation)
SADEV was a Swedish agency that evaluated development cooperation from 2006 to 2012. In late 2012, the Government phased out SADEV and set up an expert group to continue evaluating Swedish aid.
Sector
A sector is the policy area a project aims to strengthen. Sectors are defined by OECD/DAC and used by all donors, which makes them a common way to track funding to areas such as water and sanitation, energy or health care. A project can contribute to one or several sectors, and payments are split between the sectors the project supports. To avoid double-counting, one SEK can be counted in only one sector.
Strategy
Strategies guide Sweden’s development cooperation and humanitarian aid. They may focus on a specific country, region or thematic area, or take a global perspective.
Strategy report
Each year, the responsible agency produces a report describing the strategy’s progress.
Sustainable Development Goals
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets 17 goals and 169 targets. It aims to eradicate extreme poverty, respect human rights, tackle climate change and achieve peace and justice. The UN General Assembly adopted it in autumn 2015. Openaid presents SDG data from 2019 onwards. Each contribution may link to one or more SDGs to show its intended impact. SDG links use the OECD sector classification for SDGs.

t

Transparency Guarantee
On 1 January 2010, Sweden introduced a transparency guarantee for its development cooperation. It ensures public documents and information are available online on Openaid.

u

Unspecified
Contributions that do not match any sector category or implementation channel are marked as Unspecified.