Development Co-operation Report 2018

Norway

Leaving no one behind: Norway’s approach and priorities

Leaving no one behind is a guiding priority for Norwegian development co-operation, which has a long-standing focus on poverty eradication and people most in need. Norway is currently asking “how” it can step up a gear on what it has always been doing in the framework of the 2030 Agenda. It sees leaving no one behind bringing a welcome re-focus on reaching the poorest and most marginalised people, on the need to understand local contexts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and to find effective ways for official development assistance (ODA) to align behind country priorities and processes. It also sees room for a better understanding of the role of global public goods in realising leaving no one behind.

For Norway, while the relative importance of ODA has declined as a source finance and trigger for inclusive national development, it can play an important role as a mediator and facilitator of change in favour of the groups and people who are left behind.

Norway addresses leave no one behind in key sectors like education, health, business development, the environment and humanitarian aid, which have the potential to reach the most in need. Its parliament decided recently to focus more on sub-Saharan Africa and humanitarian needs. Having access to reliable and disaggregated data is a major political and technical challenge. Norway provides statistical capacity building in some partner countries along with international partners.

Financial flows from Norway to developing countries

Figure 34.1. Net resource flows to developing countries, 2006-16, Norway

Note: Data on private flows at market terms are not available for 2016. Data on official supported export credits are not available for 2010. Data on other official flows are not available for 2011.

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Figure 34.2. Net ODA: Trends in volume and as a share of GNI, 2006-17, Norway

P: preliminary data.

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Norway’s performance against commitments for effective development co-operation

Table 34.1. Results of the 2016 Global Partnership monitoring round (updated), Norway

Norway	Alignment and ownership by partner country (%)				Predictability (%)		Transparency
	Use of country-led results frameworks	Funding recorded in countries’ national budgets	Funding through countries’ systems	Untied ODA	Annual predictability	Medium-term predictability	Retrospective statistics (OECD CRS)	Information for forecasting (OECD FSS)	Publishing to IATI
2016	61.6%	85.7%	56.4%	100.0%	85.4%	54.5%	good	fair	needs improvement
Baseline	-	68.0%	62.4%	100.0%	85.5%	52.5%	good	fair	needs improvement
Trend	-	⇑	⇓	=	⇓	⇑	=	=	=

Note: Please refer to Annex B for details on the indicators. Data on untied ODA, retrospective statistics and publishing to the IATI have been updated according to the latest information available.

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Norway’s official development assistance

In 2017, Norway provided USD 4.1 billion in net ODA (preliminary data), which represented 0.99% of gross national income (GNI) and a 10% decrease in real terms from 2016, due to lower levels of reported in-donor refugee costs. Norway is one of only five Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members to have met the UN target of 0.7% and it has consistently maintained its level of development assistance, having spent about 1% of GNI on official development assistance (ODA) every year since 2009. In 2017, in-donor refugee costs were USD 150 million and represented 3.6% of Norway’s total net ODA, compared to 18.3% in 2016.

All of Norway’s ODA was untied in 2016 (excluding administrative costs and in-donor refugee costs), while the DAC average was 81.2%. The grant element of total ODA was 100% in 2016.

In 2016, 78.9% of ODA was provided bilaterally. Norway allocated 21.1% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations. In addition, it channelled 28.2% of its bilateral ODA for specific projects implemented by multilateral organisations (multi-bi/non-core contributions).

Figure 34.3. ODA composition in 2010-16 and distribution of multilateral ODA in 2016, Norway

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In 2016, 29.1% of bilateral ODA was programmed with partner countries. Norway’s share of country programmable aid was lower than the DAC country average of 46.8% in 2016. Project-type interventions accounted for 48% of this aid. Twenty-three per cent of bilateral aid covered the cost of refugees in donor country and 21% was classified as “other and unallocated”.

Figure 34.4. Composition of bilateral ODA, 2016, gross disbursements, Norway

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In 2016, USD 775.3 million of Norway’s bilateral ODA was channelled to and through civil society organisations (CSOs). Norway’s ODA channelled to and through CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA (from 24.4% in 2015 to 22.3% in 2016).

Figure 34.5. Gross bilateral ODA disbursements to and through CSOs by type of CSO, 2010-16, Norway

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Bilateral ODA primarily focused on sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. In 2016, USD 586.9 million was allocated to sub-Saharan Africa, USD 398.1 million to the Middle East, and USD 197.3 million to south and central Asia.

Figure 34.6. Share of bilateral ODA by region, 2016, gross disbursements, Norway

Note: Fifty-five per cent of bilateral ODA allocated was unspecified by region in 2016. This share is not represented on the map.

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In 2016, 21.2% of bilateral ODA went to Norway’s top 10 recipients. Five of its 12 focus countries are among its top 10 recipients. In 2016, its support to fragile contexts reached USD 967.3 million (28% of gross bilateral ODA). Support to fragile contexts consisted mainly of project-type interventions (54%) and contributions to pooled funds (38%).

Figure 34.7. Bilateral ODA to top recipients, 2016, gross disbursements, Norway

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In 2016, 19.1% of bilateral ODA was allocated to least developed countries (LDCs), amounting to USD 665 million. The share has fallen from 22.3% in 2015 and is below the 2016 DAC average of 21.9%. The LDCs received the highest share of bilateral ODA in 2016, noting that 59.1% was unallocated by income group.

At 0.27% of GNI in 2016, total ODA to the LDCs exceeded the UN target of 0.15% of GNI.

Figure 34.8. Bilateral ODA by income group, 2010-16, gross disbursements, Norway

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In 2016, 31% of bilateral ODA was allocated to social infrastructure and services, reaching USD 1.1 billion, with a strong focus on support to government and civil society (USD 555.5 million) and education (USD 318 million). Humanitarian aid amounted to USD 487 million. In 2016, Norway committed USD 9 million of ODA (0.4% of bilateral allocable aid) to the mobilisation of domestic resources in developing countries. It also committed USD 330.5 million (13.6% of bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and to improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy.

Figure 34.9. Share of gross bilateral ODA by sector, 2015-16, commitments, Norway

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USD 786.5 million of bilateral ODA supported gender equality. In 2016, 32.3% of its bilateral allocable aid had gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal or significant objective, compared with the DAC country average of 36.5%. This is an increase from 2015 when it stood at 22.8%. A high share of Norway’s aid to population and reproductive health focuses on gender.

Figure 34.10. Share of bilateral allocable ODA in support of gender equality by sector, 2016, commitments, Norway

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USD 635.5 million of bilateral ODA supported the environment. In 2016, 26.1% of its bilateral allocable aid focused on the environment and 21.1% (USD 513.7 million) focused specifically on climate change, compared with the respective DAC country averages of 33% and 25.7%.

Figure 34.11. Bilateral allocable ODA in support of global and local environment objectives, 2010-16, commitments, Norway

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Note to reader: Annex B provides “Methodological notes on the profiles of Development Assistance Committee members”.