Norway Donor Profile NORWAY Donor Profile FUNDING TRENDS STRATEGIC PRIORITIES KEY OPPORTUNITIES Norway has exceeded its own Girls’ education is a top thematic Parliamentary elections in ODA target of 1% of GNI since priority for Norway, with climate September 2017 may lead to 2013, and there is a cross-party change and humanitarian shifts in priorities, while in- consensus to maintain this assistance also prioritized. creasing private sector focus spending level. may lead to shifts in modes of development financing. For Syria, where an estimated 2.8 million children are out of school because of conflict, Norway and partners are funding an international competition to develop an open-source smartphone app to help Syrian children learn how to read in Arabic. Google Earth. Image © 2016 CNES/Astrium. © 2016 Digital Globe. Norway Donor Profile NORWAY at a glance Funding trends • Norway is the 9th-largest donor country, spending US$4.4 billion on net official development assistance (ODA) in 2016 (in current prices). This cor- responds to 1.1% of its gross national income (GNI), making Norway the largest donor in proportion to its economic size. Norway has exceeded the 0.7% target since 1976, and has spent at least 1% of its GNI on ODA since 2013. There is a cross-party consensus to maintain this share. • Since 2015, Norway has used significant parts of its ODA budget to cover the costs of hosting refugees within the country. However, as the number of incoming refugees is sharply decreasing, pressure has been taken off the ODA budget and funds have been reallocated to development programs abroad. Strategic priorities • Prime Minister Erna Solberg has defined education, and particularly girls’ education, as a top thematic priority. According to the 2017 budget, ODA spending on education is projected to increase to NOK3.4 billion (US$540 million) in 2017, double the amount spent in 2013 (NOK1.7 billion or US$270 million). • The approved 2017 budget highlights education, humanitarian assistance, private sector development and job creation, global health, and climate, environment, and sustainable energy as priorities of Norway’s develop- ment policy in 2017. • Climate change and tropical forest protection is a key issue for Norway. The Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative receives about NOK3 billion per year, or US$350 million, until 2020), and aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degra- dation in developing countries. Key opportunities • Parliamentary elections will take place on September 11, 2017. While ODA is likely to remain at high levels, the outcome of the elections may lead to shifts in priority setting, and may provide opportunities to shape the fu- ture direction of Norway’s development policy. • The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently drafting a new ‘white paper’ to lay out the priorities of Norwegian ODA policy. Is it expected to be pub- lished in March or April 2017. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a ‘North Star’ for the government’s narrative on development, and will be at the heart of the new policy document. To engage effectively with the Norwegian government and other stakeholders, it is thus important to frame new initiatives and suggestions within the SDG context and empha- size the links between the individual goals. • Norway is focusing increasingly on involving the private sector in develop- ment cooperation and emphasizing public-private partnerships. Norway has significantly increased funding to Norfund, a state-owned investment fund. This may lead to more funding provided in the form of loans and eq- uity investments in coming years, however, Norfund’s investments have not yet been counted as ODA. 2 An initiative by SEEK Development March 2017 Norway Donor Profile KEY QUESTIONS the big six How much ODA does Norway provide? Norway is committed to continue spending 1% of its million). In 2016, ODA budget allocated for refugees in GNI on ODA Norway initially reached NOK7.4 billion (US$1.2 billion). Norway is the ninth-largest donor country. It spent However, Norway’s restrictive refugee policy – including US$4.4 billion in 2016 (in current prices; US$6 billion in tighter border controls in Europe – implemented from 2014 prices).1 This represents 1.1% of its gross national in- early 2016 has led to a sharp decrease in the number of come (GNI), making Norway the largest donor in relation new asylum seekers. While the government had foreseen to the size of its economy. Norway is committed to main- a decrease in asylum applications in 2016 to 10,750 (down tain its ODA at ‘high levels’, continuing its policy of from more than 31,000 in 2015), only 3,460 asylum seek- spending 1% of its GNI on ODA. ODA is expected to re- ers actually applied. This is the lowest figure since 1997. main stable in 2017. This has taken pressure off the ODA budget, and Norway ‘saved’ NOK652 million (US$103 million) in the 2016 ODA In 2015 and 2016, Norway used part of its ODA budget to budget as a result of this. This funding was reallocated to cover the costs of hosting refugees within the country, by other development programs at the end of that budget reshuffling funding that had been previously allocated to year. The largest share of the reshuffled amount (NOK500 development programs abroad and finding additional million; US$663 million) was allocated to emergency hu- funding to allocate towards refugee costs. In 2015, this manitarian assistance to the Middle East, particularly represented 14% of Norway’s total ODA (US$598 million, for Syria. For 2017, the budget foresees NOK3.7 billion more than double the amount spent in 2014 – US$279 (US$594 million) for in-country refugee costs. 3 An initiative by SEEK Development March 2017 Norway Donor Profile What are Norway’s strategic priorities for development? Education, humanitarian assistance, and global on climate change and the environment (2011), global health are among top priorities health (2012), fair distribution and growth (2013), global education (2014), the role of human rights in foreign and The Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) sets priorities for development policy (2014), private-sector engagement in development policy in ‘white papers’, which summarize development cooperation (2015), human rights in devel- government strategies. The most relevant overarching opment policy (2015), and equality and foreign develop- paper for Norway’s ODA remains the 2009 white paper ment policy (2016). called ‘Climate, Conflict and Capital’. The MFA is cur- rently working on a new policy paper that will lay out the Cross-cutting priority issues within Norwegian ODA are current priorities within development. The policy will be a focus on vulnerable states, human rights, democracy, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). women's rights and gender equality, and fighting corrup- Two consultations with civil society have already taken tion. Regarding individual sectors, the government de- place. The paper is expected to be published sometime in fines five priorities for Norwegian development coopera- March or April 2017. Other important white papers focus tion: 1) education, 2) humanitarian assistance, 3) global 4 An initiative by SEEK Development March 2017 Norway Donor Profile health, 4) private sector development, and 5) climate, en- vironment, and sustainable energy, which focuses on cli- Norway's key development priorities: mate-change adaptation and mitigation. • Education: Norway fulfilled its commitment to Since Erna Solberg became prime minister in 2013, edu- double spending between 2013 and 2017, from cation and in particular girls’ education has been a key NOK1.7 billion (US$270 million) to NOK3.4 billion focus. Between 2013 and 2017, the government of Prime (US$540 million); focus is on girls’ education Minister Solberg has doubled its ODA spending on the sector, going from NOK1.7 billion (US$270 million) to • Humanitarian assistance: A record NOK4.4 billion NOK3.4 billion (US$540 million). (US$698 million) has been budgeted for humani- tarian assistance for 2017; up 50% since 2013 The impact of the refugee crisis in Norway has meant sig- nificant increases in budget allocated to humanitarian • Global Health: The focus is on women’s and assistance. In 2017 this amount reached a record NOK4.4 children’s health as well as on fighting AIDS, billion (US$698 million). tuberculosis and malaria Environmental protection and humanitarian assis- • Private sector development and job creation: In tance are the largest sectors of bilateral funding 2017 Norway committed NOK1.17 billion (US$19 million) to business development and to Norfund Norway considers funding through multilateral organi- zations as an effective way to pursue its theme-focused • Climate, environment, and sustainable energy: agenda termed ‘global schemes’. Core contributions to Proposed budget for 2017 of NOK2 billion (US$317 multilateral organizations accounted for 23% of ODA in million), with a focus on the Green Climate Fund 2015, or US$1.3 billion. On top of this, earmarked funding and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). to multilaterals is significant: it accounted for 30% of bi- lateral ODA in 2015, bringing the total amount of ODA delivered through multilateral organizations to US$2.5 million, or 46% of total ODA. Norway is traditionally a the Global Fund for 2017 to 2019, and NOK1.6 billion strong supporter of United Nations (UN) agencies, and is (US$258 million) to the Green Climate Fund for 2015 to set to channel NOK3.3 billion (US$524 million) to them in 2018. 2017, according to the ODA budget. As part of its forestry initiative (Norway’s International The strategic orientations of Norway’s ODA are reflected Climate and Forest Initiative; NICFI), Norway pledged in its bilateral funding. In 2015, the largest share was US$350 million annually until 2020 to reduce green- used to cover the costs of hosting refugees in the country house-gas emissions caused by deforestation.