The overarching goal for the Policy for Global Development is to contribute to equitable and sustainable development and it should apply to all policy areas. The focus of the bill is on poor people and poor countries. Shared Responsibility: Sweden’s Policy for Global Development 2013 marked 10 years of the Swedish Government Bill on Global Development (the PGU). To commemorate this important bill and to contribute to a public dialogue SIANI and the Swedish Water House organized a breakfast seminar called “10 år med PGU- Vad händer nu?” (10 years with PGU- what happens now?).
The PGU is the foundation for the operations of both SIANI and Swedish Water House and it sets out the case for collaboration between different actors and to provide coherence responsed to development challenges related to; Water and Food security. The seminar opened with an introduction of the history of PGU by Per-Ola Mattson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thereafter Petra Flaum presented her book (currently in print) about the PGU called Ansvar (Responsibility). These two interesting presentations were followed by a lively panel discussion where; Petra Flaum, Anders Wijkman, Jonas Ahlén (investor in Storebrand) and Ingela Andersson from Swedish Chemical Agency participated.
See the videos from the live event here
Comments from the audience gave a sense of the need for more public discussions as well as more information about the PGU. Public institutions felt a lack of coordination at government level regarding cross policy issues and responsibilities. It was clear that PGU has evolved very positively during the last 10 years and has paved the way for similar thinking at the EU level as well as in the UN. It was commonly understood that the PGU is a good starting point afor the forthcoming work with Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
Read the article ’Sveriges Politik för Global Utveckling- för många kockar?’ from the Swedish Water House