Comparison with other Exchange Programmes

According to the TOR for the evaluation, Fredskorpset should be compared with similar programmes from other countries. Two relevant programmes have been identified – Sida’s Exchange Programme and the Canadian Crossroads International. These programmes both share the characteristic of being reciprocal exchanges between partner institutions in the North and South. The main emphasis of the comparison will be on the different modalities of exchange, and the relative strengths and weaknesses will be discussed. We are requested to compare the programmes in terms of cost-effectiveness.

6.2.1 Sida’s Exchange Programme

Sida’s exchange programme25_{was established in 2002. Overall long-term objectives of the}

programme are:

Increased interest and involvement in global development issues and the promotion of inter- national dialogue;

25 This description is based on inter views with the persons responsible for the programme at Sida’s NGO Division and Division for Capacity Development and Exchange Programmes for Swedish Par tners on the 16.08.06, as well as the repor t Sida’s Exchange Programme – Evaluation of its Pilot Phase(Sida Evaluation 05/02) and the guidelines ‘Riktlinjer för utbytesverksamhet’(Sida 28.06.2006).

• Promotion of internationalization;

• Increased knowledge about the causes of poverty and how global conditions in the North and South affect each other;

Expected results for the groups involved in the exchanges are that:

• Increased contacts between Sweden and developing countries are developed; • The new actors and groups become involved both in the North and the South;

• The participants are introduced to the idea that North and South are bound together and that the poverty issue needs to be resolved in cooperation and dialogue;

• The exchange contributes to meetings and mutual learning between new groups; • The participants do information activities in the respective countries, based on acquired

experiences.

Sida supports exchanges between groups in Sweden and in developing countries. A key requirement is that participants should be new to international exchange and development issues. Planning and implementation should be done by the groups in the North and South together, and mutuality/reciprocity (ömsesidighet) is a central principle. There should be some previous contact between the groups, and they should also have some common denomi- nator in social basis or identity. North and South participants are matched in pairs, and the groups stay together for at least two weeks in each country. The exchange should focus on a specific issue or topic, and programmes for the visits should be elaborated in advance. Funding is given as a block grant, calculated on the basis of the number of persons in the exchange. The amount granted is small26_{and expected to cover travel costs plus some addi-}

tional costs. In addition, funds can be provided for planning and for follow-up of the contacts established. Three main channels exist for the programme: The NGOs having framework agreements with Sida apply for funds for exchanges involving groups from their membership base; the National Board for Youth Affairs channel funds for youth groups and organizations, while the Swedish Association for Local Authorities is the link to municipalities and local communities. The programme is still in its pilot phase. An evaluation was carried out in 2004, and led to some revisions of the programme, including clearer requirements and obligations for participating groups. From 2007, the programme becomes permanent.

6.2.2 Canadian Crossroads International

Canadian Crossroads International (CCI)27_{is a non-profit development and education organi-}

zation, which since 1969 has facilitated exchanges of people between Canada and countries in the South. The programme objectives are to:

• Promote cross-cultural understanding and sustainable development;

• Educate Canadian volunteers by providing opportunities to live and work in a developing country, and to educate volunteers from developing countries by providing opportunities to live and work in Canada;

• Develop leadership skills in programme participants and volunteer leaders in Canada and the developing world;

• Promote understanding of the root causes of inequitable development and encourage involvement in these issues.

CCI stresses the development focus of their work, and states that the focus is less on intercul- tural exchange and more on capacity building and professional exchanges to help organiza- tions overseas improve the efficiency, effectiveness and scope of their work.

CCI has different programme lines. The main difference is between individual programmes where participants are recruited according to specific skills required by host institution or

26 Currently SEK 39,700 per exchanged pair.

27 This description is based on information from the web pages of CCI (www.cciorg.ca) and of Foreign Af fairs and International Trade Canada (http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/menu-en.asp) as well as e-mail communication with the organisation.

project, such as computer skills, and group programmes, which do not require specific skills, where participants work together on concrete projects such as the construction of a clinic. CCI identifies NGOs or community-based organizations in the South to work with, and finds homologue organizations in Canada to link in partnerships. South participants are placed in a Canadian partner organization to learn from this organization’s work and methodology, and bring this knowledge back to the South partner organization. Compared to Fredskorpset, CCI takes a much stronger role, and organizes everything around the exchanges – including the identification of partner organizations and the recruitment of participants. According to the annual report for 2004/2005, a total of 121 participants took part in the exchange programme. This figure includes 96 people going from Canada to work in a country in the South, 21 people coming from a Southern country to work in Canada, and four people on South-South exchanges. Public funding account for the majority of CCI’s budget, the rest is covered through various forms of fundraising. An interesting feature of the programme is that participants (at least the Canadian ones) are required to fundraise between CAD 1,000 and 2,500 (depending on programme line) for the organization.

6.2.3 Comparison with Fredskorpset

These brief descriptions make it clear that even if the two programmes share the characteris- tic with Fredskorpset of being two-way exchanges of people between the North and the South, there are also fundamental differences.

The objectives of the Sida programme are considerably less ambitious than Fredskorpset’s, with the focus on giving new persons and groups their first international contacts and experiences, and little or no ambition of directly contributing to development in the South.28

It is also a very different form of exchange, with brief visits rather than extended work placements.

The CCI programmes are more similar to Fredskorpset’s, but there are also important differences: For CCI, exchanges are shorter than for Fredskorpset, the partnership model is not as distinct as in Fredskorpset; the programme seems to be more North-dominated; by only working with community-based organizations, the programme is far from covering the wide spectrum as Fredskorpset does; and CCI does not appear to invest as much in preparation courses or network activities.

In short, the programme of Fredskorpset has a longer duration, a more varied portfolio, and is larger in monetary terms than the others. There are also differences in modalities, and more investments in ensuring the quality of the exchanges. These differences make it irrelevant to compare the programmes in terms of cost efficiency. However, a simple indicator could be cost per participant-exchange-month for the different programmes. Rough estimates for this would indicate that the Fredskorpset Youth programme comes out lowest with around NOK 10,000 per month, while the Sida programme is a little below NOK 20,000 and Fredskorpset primary programme a little above this figure. The available figures from CCI indicate considerably higher costs, in the range of NOK 45,000, but these figures appear to be artificially inflated through the accounting principles used29_{. Also in other respects the CCI}

figures might not be directly comparable to those of Fredskorpset and Sida because the out- puts are quite different. The more elaborated Fredskorpset programme is cheaper per month simply because of the duration, thus discounting travel costs and other one-time costs over a longer period. Furthermore, it makes no sense to compare the price of an exchange that aims at creating development through capacity building in the South (Fredskorpset) with one which simply aims at bringing new groups of people together (Sida).

28 In the original guidelines from 2002, the objectives include “Democratic development through a strong civil society” (without specifying whether this was expected to happen in Sweden or the South). However, in the revised version of the guidelines, from 2006, this objective is no longer included. 29 These include the estimated value of voluntar y work in the total costs.

The following points evolve from comparing the programmes:

• Sida and CCI both require that participants do not have previous experience of exchanges or longer stays in developing countries. The intention is to maximize the potential impact of the exchanges in terms of giving participants new knowledge and experiences. Such a requirement would be meaningless in Fredskorpset’s Primary Programme, but it could be considered for the Youth Programme;

• Sida staff expressed interest in the fact that Fredskorpset does not separate between funds for development in the South and for information in the North. In Sida, there are different budget lines for these purposes, with strict instructions not to mix these funds. This very common bureaucratic requirement is an obstacle to the creation of synergies between these two types of activities, a problem which Fredskorpset avoids due to its explicitly stated twin objectives;

• Sida, on the other hand, has other exchange, volunteer and internship programmes to complement the exchange programme described above. Without going into the details of these programmes, it can be pointed out that the creation of variety of programme lines allows multiple objectives and forms of exchange to be realized.