ABSTRACT
Finnish aid policies have been characterised by sharp discontinuities within basic underlying continuities. Finnish aid today looks very different from what it was in its heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Aid volumes have shrunk, and although the growth has revived, it is proceeding at a rather slow pace. The internationally agreed target of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI), once reached and then immediately abandoned, remains the official goal; the actual volumes are barely half this. At the same time, the whole approach to development co-operation has changed. Big projects flying the Finnish flag and building up infrastructure and industries, run by Finnish consultants with the maximum of Finnish deliveries, have given way to smaller, culturally more sensitive undertakings that are much better integrated into the structures of the recipients. A new concern for the effectiveness of aid encompasses demands for sustainability and ownership. Yet the transition from donor-driven aid modalities to genuine partnerships remains far from complete on the ground, to say the least, and very little is known about the actual impact of Finnish aid.1
