Bilateral Development Co-operation
The Icelandic International Development Agency (ICEIDA) is responsible for Iceland's bilateral development cooperation. It is also a consulting body to the Icelandic Government in general and to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in relation to cooperation with the developing countries.
In its operations, ICEIDA aims towards improving peoples´ living conditions through empowerment, capacity building and transfer of knowledge. ICEIDA´s long term objective is sustainable development, economic growth, equality, independence, democracy and the strengthening of human rights. For local ownership and sustainability to be possible, ICEIDA emphasises active local participation, all through the project cycle.
ICEIDA's focuses its efforts on areas where Icelandic expertise is thought to be most useful and where Icelanders are well advanced. Thus, many projects have been related to training and capacity building in fisheries, fisheries research and institutional development in the fisheries sector. With time, projects in other sectors have been increasing and ICEIDA also supports projects in the education, health, geothermal, social and water and sanitation sectors.
The scope of activities of ICEIDA has grown substantially in recent years. In 2007, ICEIDA´s partner countries were six. Four countries in Africa; Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Uganda, Sri Lanka in Asia and Nicaragua in Central America.
According to the legislation that was adopted by the Parliament of Iceland on 11 September 2008, the purpose of Icelandic international development cooperation is to support the efforts of developing countries to achieve goals on eliminating hunger and poverty, promoting economic and social development, including human rights, education, improved health, gender equality, sustainable development and sustainable use of natural resources. Iceland is committed towards achieving the goal set by the United Nations of using 0.7% of GNP for development aid.