Policy Updates

On April 11, 2024, preliminary data from the OECD showed that Norway provided NOK58.6 billion (US$5.4 billion) to development assistance in 2023, or 1.09% ODA/GNI, the only OECD DAC country with more than 1% ODA/GNI.

Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim noted that it is important that Norway continues to be a reliable partner with significant contributions to meet increasing needs for humanitarian assistance, development assistance, and climate financing. Tvinnereim also underlined the concern that more countries are failing to meet the UN target of 0.7% ODA/GNI.

According to the OECD's preliminary calculations, Norway's assistance to Ukraine accounted for 14.1% of Norway's development funding, up from 11.3 % of Norwegian development assistance in 2022.

On April 11, 2024, during the 8^th IPCI, Norway announced NOK589 million (US$54.3 million) in core funding to UNFPA in 2024.

Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim noted that UNFPA is one of Norway’s key partners to promote the health, dignity, and rights of women and adolescents. Access to safe abortion, LGBTQI+ rights, sexual education and violence against women, indigenous rights were among the topics discussed during the conference.

The funding will enable UNFPA to respond to the many crises affecting women and adolescents, including the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan. The funding will also support work to uphold and advocate for women's rights.

On March 28, 2024, the IPCI/IPCD announced that IPCI 2024 would be held on April 10-12, 2024, in Oslo, Norway.

The event marks the 30^th anniversary of the Cairo Conference, where both women and sexual rights became part of the parliamentarians’ agenda. The ICPD or Cairo Conference was a ten-day conference held in November 1994, where representatives of the nations of the world discussed the future of the world’s population.

The 8^th IPCI will gather around 200 parliamentarians, ministers, UN experts, civil society leaders and other stakeholders.

The conference agenda includes on the following topics:

• How global trends such as demographic diversity and the climate crisis impacts the ability to achieve universal access to SRHR;
• The impact of the growing threat of digital violence on women leaders; and
• The challenges facing the funding landscape for SRHR as governments’ priorities come under threat from security concerns.

During the conference, Norway is also expected to announce its core contribution to UNFPA, one of Norway’s key partners in the fight for women’s and young people’s health and rights.

On March 11, 2024, a new Norwegian initiative launched to offer free development assistance design support to CSOs.

The initiative was developed by DLL, a research and learning center established in 2021 through a collaboration between the University of Bergen, the Chr Michelsen Institute and the Norwegian School of Economics. The initiative aims to increase CSOs' access to research-based knowledge to strengthen the effectiveness of their development assistance programs.

DLL described the new initiative as a helpdesk service offered to CSOs working to renew their agreements with Norad, Norway's main funder of CSOs. Recently, Norad increased its expectations for these organizations to document the actions and plans proposed with research-based knowledge.

Ottar Mæstad, the director of DLL, stated that the service could provide valuable input to organizations preparing applications to Norad. The helpdesk service is free of use, but was initially only offered to organizations with more than NOK100 million (US$10 million) in revenue.

Håvard Mokleiv Nygård, director of Norad's department for knowledge, welcomed the initiative, stating that Norwegian development cooperation should be knowledge-based and effective.

On March 4, 2024, at a panel discussion hosted by Save the Children, prominent Norwegian development actors weighed in on the ongoing discussion surrounding suggestions from the government-appointed development expert group, led by Ole Jacob Sending.

The suggestions were originally presented by the group in 2023. The expert group recommended a twofold division of the objectives and allocations for development assistance and suggested separating funding to poverty reduction and public common goods.

Director General of Norad Bård Vegar Solhjell stated that he supports this division. He noted that in order to not threaten poverty reduction efforts, a distinction between the funding lines must be made.

Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim did not support policy change. She advocated against creating more silos in development assistance funding, and argued that the fight against poverty and climate change must be seen in relation to one another.

Former Norwegian Minister of International Development Dag-Inge Ulstein, from the Christian Democratic Party, argued that climate funding be allocated outside the 1 % GNI/ODA goal. He noted that an increasingly large part of the budget is allocated towards public common goods as well as his belief that the budget be divided into two sections, without a percentage target for climate ODA.

The discussion led to a more general discussion about the potential use of the Norwegian Oil Fund for climate finance in LICs. There is a rule regulating how much oil funding the government can use in the state budget, set at approximately 3% annually. Some Norwegian parties have advocated for a similar rule on how much oil funding can be used for foreign affairs matters, including international climate finance.

The SV suggested that 0.25% of the Oil Fund should be allocated to international climate finance annually, equivalent to approximately NOK30-35 million (US$3.3 million). The Norwegian government has criticized the suggestion, saying that this type of allocation could potentially open up a discussion for allocating funding from the Oil Fund to other important efforts, both domestically and internationally.

On February 18, 2024, at the annual Munich Security Conference, Norwegian Minister of Defense Bjørn Arild Gram and Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim emphasized how the Norwegian government sees security challenges intertwined with poverty and international development.

The ministers asserted that the defense policy and the international development policy together contribute to safeguarding Norwegian interests and national control. Both of them particularly highlighted food security as an example of the intersection between security and development assistance.

They noted that the war in Ukraine showed concretely how the security policy can directly affect food security and food prices in large parts of the world. The ministers noted that Russia has used food as a tool in its warfare by attacking Ukraine's grain exports while strengthening its export of grains and fertilizers to the African continent, which Gram and Tvinnereim described as having both development and security policy consequences. Gram and Tvinnereim underlined that food security must be seen as a geopolitical issue closely connected to the security policy.

On February 15 and 16, 2024, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan visited Norway for an official state visit, where the countries entered three new agreements on climate-adapted food production, soil health and research.

Norway and Tanzania have had a close collaboration for decades, with climate and food security being key focus areas.

Norway and Tanzania signed a cooperation agreement on climate-adapted agriculture and food security. Norway's efforts will support Tanzania's ambitions to produce 10% more food by 2030. In addition, the NIBIO and the TARI entered into a new agreement on soil health. NIBIO and TARI are slated to work together on methods to use less artificial fertilizer. Soil health is an important focus area for increasing food production and enhancing food security for smallholder farmers.

Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim underlined that a close collaboration around research has become increasingly important. She emphasized this as a founding reason for why the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences have entered into a new agreement on research collaboration.

On February 12, 2024, Norwegian Church Aid launched a report titled The West against the rest, which contained several development suggestions to Norwegian political parties as the parties draw up their programs for the 2025-2029 parliamentary period.

Norwegian Church Aid argued that, compared to most countries, Norway has a unique financial leeway considering its notable additional income from oil and gas sales following the war in Ukraine. As such, Norway has an opportunity and a special responsibility to contribute to worldwide development.

Norwegian Church Aid presented a variety of program proposals with the expressed hope that the political parties will take them into consideration.

The suggestions included:

• Ensure that, as a general rule, investments in global common goods are financed outside the one percent. The investments should still be earmarked for development assistance for poverty reduction and emergency assistance;
• Step up climate financing in line with Norway's fair climate responsibility;
• Work on international regulations making it possible to collect illegal or illegitimate debts;
• Support a tax convention in the UN;
• Actively support free media, independent courts, and local civil society;
• Step up work against GBV in areas of crises and conflict;
• Invest a larger share of the Norwegian Oil Fund in low-income countries; and
• Enshrine further measures to ensure that Norwegian weapons are not used in violation of humanitarian law and human rights.

As a response to these suggestions, both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party underlined that Norway must continue to be an international bridge builder. The SV called for more political solidarity.

Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide has promised that 1% GNI/ODA will still go to development assistance. The Conservative Party stated that, going forward, it would be imperative to discuss how Norway spends money allocated to international development, and the Norway must be more concerned about the results and effects of development assistance.

On February 5, 2024, the Norwegian government announced that its 'road map' for development programs in Africa will be completed prior to summer 2024.

The plan is deemed significant by development advocates, particularly considering that Norway closed its embassies in Mali and Uganda in 2023. 16 years have passed since the previous public strategy for Norway’s relations with Africa.

Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Beate Tvinnereim has met frequently with civil society and various diplomatic missions over the last year to take input. Norwegian State Secretary Bjørg Sandkjær emphasized the importance of developing partnerships between Norway and Africa in research, business, and civil society.

On February 2, 2024, it was announced that Norad joined the partnership launching the GGC launched on the London Stock Exchange, alongside the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, USAID, the GCF, Prosper Africa and the FCDO's MOBILIST program.

The GGC will provide guarantees for institutional investors buying green bonds on the London Stock Exchange, as well as green bonds in the private credit market.

Norad has invested NOK52 million (US$5 million) in the GGC. By 2035, the GGC aims to mobilize US$5 billion in climate financing for partner countries. The launch comes as the IEA urges low- and middle- income countries to increase their investment in renewables by 700% to continue economic growth while limiting the effects of climate change.