This paper examines and evaluates the effects of bi-lateral assistance from one agency, SIDA, to educational development in Tanzania. SIDA was founded in 1962 with the purpose of strengthening the productivity of poor people in order to raise their standard of living. Three subsectors in Tanzania have benefited from this cooperation: adult education, primary education and vocational and technical training. The paper examines in some detail two examples of this assistance: the establishment of 52 district-level Folk Development Colleges, and support given to Vocational Training Centres. Swedish cooperation with Tanzania has successfully avoided neo-imperialist attitudes and has initiated the checks and balances necessary to prevent elite distortion of programmes which are intended to benefit the poor.