Stockholm (Somalia Today) – Sweden on Tuesday unveiled a new three-year development strategy for Somalia worth 630 million kronor or $65 million, tying the package to a new migration objective in a sign of how Stockholm is increasingly aligning foreign aid with domestic policy priorities.
The strategy, which will run from 2026 to 2028, will focus on building stronger institutions, improving resilience to crises and disasters, and creating better livelihoods through jobs, entrepreneurship, and trade, the government said.
But ministers also made clear that the package served a broader political purpose, with Stockholm saying the new framework would better link development cooperation with migration policy.
“Sweden wants to support Somalia’s long-term development,” Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa said in a statement.
“With this strategy, we are setting the direction for our support. It is about contributing to state-building, democratic development, and economic growth through job creation, entrepreneurship, and trade. That is necessary for a country’s increased prosperity,” he said.
“The strategy also contains a new migration objective, which is important for Sweden.”
The decision keeps Somalia among Sweden’s bilateral aid partners even as the centre-right government narrows and reshapes its wider development policy, with greater emphasis on trade, growth, migration management, and returns.
Sida and the Folke Bernadotte Academy will implement the strategy.
Migration focus
The Somalia package reflects a broader shift in Swedish aid policy under the current government, which has argued that development spending should better align with Swedish foreign policy interests.
In recent years, Stockholm has moved away from broad, long-term country strategies in favour of fewer and more targeted goals, while placing greater emphasis on self-reliance, sustainable growth, and migration management.
The public announcement did not spell out the migration target in detail. But previous reports have suggested that Sweden has sought to link aid to Somalia to Mogadishu’s willingness to accept Somali deportees from Sweden whose asylum claims were rejected or who have criminal records.
Its inclusion is therefore politically significant, suggesting Sweden wants cooperation with Mogadishu to address not only Somalia’s development needs but also Swedish concerns over irregular migration and returns.
The government said the new strategy would create stronger synergies between aid and migration policy, underscoring how development assistance is increasingly part of a broader state policy agenda.
Magnus Berntsson, foreign policy spokesman for the Christian Democrats, said the cooperation should help Somalis “take control of their own lives, lift themselves out of poverty and find a path away from war, conflict and extremism”.
“The cooperation needs to be characterised by clear responsibility from both sides, where migration issues are also handled in a constructive way,” he said.
Fredrik Malm, the Liberals’ foreign policy spokesman, said Somalia continued to face major challenges and that Swedish support remained important.
“A focus on economic growth, entrepreneurship, and democratic development is crucial for the country to be able to stand more strongly on its own feet,” he said.
Aid policy shift
The new Somalia package is also far smaller than Sweden’s previous strategy for the country, which covered 2018 to 2022 and totalled more than three billion kronor or $620 million.
That earlier framework was much broader, with goals spanning peacebuilding, democratic participation, human rights, gender equality, climate resilience, and health.
The contrast points to a narrower and more selective Swedish approach, even as Somalia remains one of the most fragile states in the Horn of Africa and one of the countries where long-term development needs remain acute.
The shift comes as Sweden has reduced or phased out some bilateral aid relationships elsewhere, arguing that assistance should be more focused and better serve national priorities.
For Somalia, however, Stockholm has chosen to remain engaged, reflecting both the country’s continuing fragility and its strategic importance in a volatile region shaped by conflict, displacement, climate shocks, and international competition.
At the same time, the new framework shows that Sweden’s terms of engagement are changing.
The emphasis now falls less on expansive programming and more on a smaller set of priorities centred on institutions, jobs, and resilience, with migration policy explicitly folded into the partnership.
The strategy comes at a delicate moment for Somalia, which has made some important economic gains but still faces deep structural challenges.
Sweden is betting that a leaner package focused on institutions, jobs, and resilience can still deliver results.
By keeping Somalia in its bilateral aid portfolio, Stockholm is signalling that it still sees the country as strategically important. But by reducing the scale of the programme and tying it more clearly to migration, Sweden is also giving its assistance a sharper political focus.
