Jorma Suvanto: Development cooperation has changed over the decades

Jorma Suvanto has been closely involved in Finnish development cooperation projects for more than 30 years. He last served as the Finnish ambassador to Nepal and will retire in October. He has had an excellent vantage point from where to follow changes in development cooperation over the decades.

Jorma Suvanto in the garden of Kathmandu Embassy
Pluralism was the thing that impressed Jorma Suvanto most in Nepal. Photo: Hanna Päivärinta

Jorma Suvanto has been closely involved in Finnish development cooperation projects for more than 30 years. He last served as the Finnish ambassador to Nepal and will retire in October. He has had an excellent vantage point from where to follow changes in development cooperation over the decades.

Jorma Suvanto started his development cooperation career in 1985 in a water supply project in southern Tanzania. He had just received his master’s degree in geology and mineralogy and was tasked with making water available to rural villages. Wells were drilled and hundreds of thousands of rural residents were connected to a water supply but, unlike today, sustainability was not a major consideration in those days.

In the development cooperation projects of the 1980s, making local people partners in such activities was not a priority. Nowadays, we are talking about project ownership: permanent results can be achieved when local village communities are involved in the planning process from the outset.

From 1989, Suvanto worked in Africa-related tasks in the Finnish Foreign Ministry and was also employed as a posted worker in Tanzania and Zambia. His last posting was in Nepal where he served as the Finnish ambassador. Geology studies have helped him to understand the world around us and what exists under the Earth's surface.

He specifically remembers the RIPS rural project in southern Tanzania in the late 1980s and early 1990s:

“As a result of the project, people learned that they can influence decisions concerning them. This is very important and a key factor when we want to achieve sustainable development results.”

Involving companies in development cooperation

Over the past decades, additional funding options have been introduced to support Finnish companies operating in developing countries. The benefits of synergies between trade and development are now widely understood.

“When the aim is to reduce poverty, a single solution, such as development cooperation, is not enough. We also need other models, such as trade,” Suvanto explains.

It is important to boost trade in developing countries because this helps to create jobs. For example, four million Nepalese have left their country as migrant workers and most of them have settled in the Persian Gulf. A large number of Africans are also expected to migrate to other parts of the world in the coming years. Better employment opportunities encourages people to stay at home.

Winning with Team Finland

Trade between Finland and Nepal has remained modest and the business environment in Nepal is considered difficult. However, surprising and pleasant news were received from Kathmandu last spring: Helin & Co, a Finnish architects office, and its Nepalese partner had won an urban planning competition.

It was largely through the efforts of ambassador Jorma Suvanto that the Nepalese engineering office picked a Finnish partner and that their plan was selected.

“In order to achieve this, we had to highlight the knowhow of the Finnish company and Finnish knowhow in general, hold countless meetings during and outside office hours and establish close contacts with the Nepalese authorities,” explains Suvanto.

Nepal, too, is experiencing urbanisation: so many people from rural areas are moving to Kathmandu, the country's capital, that there is already a shortage of space. Helin & Co will plan a residential area of about 50 square kilometres for more than 500,000 people. It will be located in the Kathmandu Valley, north of Bhaktapur. An infrastructure will be built in the area and schools and other public buildings are also planned.

Results-based approach, corruption, and foreign and security policy

Nowadays, development cooperation actors often talk about a results-based approach. It is emphasised that the results of development cooperation must be measurable even though it should be added that achieving results has always been important.

“A strong results-based approach is essential. It has helped to make development cooperation more efficient and has led to improvements in such areas as reporting,” says Suvanto.

Corruption is also more comprehensively monitored than in the past. The risk of getting caught is now much higher than before.

Another change is that development cooperation is now seen as part of the foreign and security policy. A few decades ago, development cooperation was still a world of its own. Nowadays, development policy and development cooperation are both guided by the sustainable development goals agreed in the UN.

Spouses play an important role

The ambassador’s spouse also plays an important role in the host country. They are in charge of the day-to-day running of the ambassador's residence and also attend official events in the evenings. At the same time, an ambassador's spouse will have to give up any career aspirations of their own.

“I have been lucky, my wife and I have been a great team.”

Pluralism was the thing that impressed Suvanto most in Nepal, the last country where he was posted. Even though the country has more than one hundred ethnic groups and languages and a large number of different religions, people are nevertheless able to live peacefully with each other.

“If I was asked what I would like to learn from the Nepalese, my answer would be: their unending patience,” concludes Suvanto.

 

Hanna Päivärinta

The author works as a communications officer in the Foreign Ministry’s Department for Communications.