Sweden

The Diakonia head office is located in Sweden and it is from here that our long term development work is co-ordinated. In Sweden, Diakonia works with popular education, advocacy, policy and method development, fundraising, communication and administration.

Working on a long term basis, being part of strategic networks and focusing on the needs and analysis of the problem of our partner organizations are characteristics for Diakonia's work in Sweden, as well as in the rest of the world.

In order to continuously increase the quality of our work, we draw from our experiences. At the head office, we put special focus on evaluating and developing working methods. This includes developing clear guidelines, formats and instructions for the different situations we come across in our work.

Diakonia works thematically with issues that are classified as extremely important for reaching our goals. This work is co-ordinated from Sweden, but takes place in close cooperation with our staff and partner organizations in the rest of the world. It is based on the analysis of the problems made by our partner organizations.

Policies and political decisions in rich countries often have great implications on development work. In order to change unjust structures and systems that create or maintain poverty, Diakonia works closely with partner organizations in strategically chosen advocacy areas. The work is mainly directed towards politicians and decision makers in Sweden and the EU.

In Sweden, Diakonia works to inform and increase the commitment for international solidarity and justice. We do this through, amongst others, events, campaigns, folders, reports and books.

Gifts from individuals, donations from congregations and other supporting the work of Diakonia are crucial to our international development work. That is why we work with fundraising and with informing our private donors on how Diakonia uses the money given to us.

Additionally, we strive to increase the public's knowledge about Diakonia and our work. We want all Swedes to know what Diakonia is, what we stand for and how we work. We believe that knowledge is essential in wanting to support our work.

We also support journalists and editors that seek information about international development issues, as well as certain regions, or themes that Diakonia works with.

Intermediating money for international development and aid is a great responsibility and a task that Diakonia takes very seriously. Aid that has either no or very low administrative costs is aid that leaves no guarantees it will reach its goal and have the desired effect.

Our financial auditors at the head office in Sweden work closely together with Diakonia staff around the world. Bookkeeping, follow-ups, internal control and reports to donors are some of the tasks performed by them.

In Sweden, we also have staff working with questions related to human resources. They assure the quality of the human resources work on a general level, ensure that the Diakonia Code of Conduct is followed and support local offices on human resources.