It was spring, in May, and flowers were waking up for a new beginning when I landed in Jalalabad. The aim of the visit was to see the progress of the project called Support Afghanistan livelihoods and Mobility, SALAM.

Unicef’s Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene programme (WASH) has improved the quality of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan. Between 2017 and 2018, Finland contributed EUR 2 million to the programme.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is planning and creating communication that will promote peace and reconciliation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Communication will focus on young people and the faith that young people hold in their own ability to contribute to society.

The Development Evaluation Unit of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) commissioned an evaluation on forced displacement and development policy. The purpose of the evaluation was to increase awareness and knowledge of the concept of forced displacement and the links between humanitarian assistance and development objectives, and help to integrate these concepts into the practices in the MFA. The evaluation looked at how coherently Finland’s development policy and its targets relating to forced displacement have been implemented and how the coherence could be enhanced in development policy and cooperation.

Of the support, EUR four million will be channelled to Yemen, which is suffering from the worst humanitarian crisis of world with over 80 per cent of the population in need of assistance.

A frail woman in black stands before hundreds of people and recounts the story of her family. Her six sons were killed after having their throat cut by the terrorist organisation ISIL in a brutal attack in rural Afghanistan. She hoped that no mother would have to go through what she went through.

Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries for a girl to be born. Finland has funded Marie Stopes International’s work for the future of girls for a long time.

Every year as many as 15 million children globally are forced to marry before they reach 18 years. Wednesday 11 October marks the International Day of the Girl Child.

The WASH in Schools (WinS) Programme in Afganistan from 2012 aims to make visible the value and impact of school sanitation as perceived by the community and thereby raise the level of ownerships; promote the importance of WASH in schools at national, state and district levels as well as to improve hygiene practices among school children, their families and communities. UNICEF wished to conduct an evaluation of the WASH in Schools (WinS) programme, whose findings and recommendations are intended to (1) guide UNICEF, the GoA and other stakeholders to improve the WinS programme, and (2) contribute to evidence-based policy making in the field of WASH and maximize the impact of the programme.

In 2016, more than 20 project evaluations on development cooperation were carried out in different departments of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Evaluations were made on all continents. Below evaluations are listed by country, region or organization.