NORWAY

POPULATION AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ASSISTANCE OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Norway’s importance as a donor to population programs lies primarily in the consistent support it provides to UNFPA and IPPF, the major international population organizations. Despite a slight decline in the total volume of funding during the 1990s, Norway is still a leading donor to population programs in its contribution relative to GNP, and consistently ranks among the top donors to UNFPA and IPPF. Norway has largely phased out its bilateral population assistance program, but supports selected population and reproductive health initiatives implemented by other agencies, including the World Bank and WHO.

Still, Norway is not fulfilling its potential as a source of funding for population programs. Both the proportion of Norwegian development aid allocated to population programs and the ratio of population assistance relative to GNP declined between 1990 and 1996. Given its strong economy, Norway could do more to support reproductive health and family planning, especially by increasing contributions to international organizations and NGOs working in the population field.

1 Development Assistance: Policy and Funding

Norway has been a long-standing and generous donor to developing countries. This commitment to development cooperation began in 1952, when Norway initiated its bilateral development aid program. The Norwegian public has consistently expressed strong support for their government’s contribution to efforts to reduce poverty in developing countries. This support is reflected in the fact that Norway is one of only a few donor nations that have allocated more than 1 percent of GNP to development aid in most recent years, although this level fell in 1997 to 0.86 percent.

The Norwegian aid program is evolving away from its roots–assisting the poorest countries with basic needs. The Norwegian aid program has historically had a strong focus on poverty alleviation and concentrated its resources in the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Recently, however, the focus of Norwegian aid has begun to change. The government is now giving more attention to issues such as the environment, human rights, relief and conflict resolution, and the potential for aid recipients to become emerging trade partners. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that it continues to give priority to environmental and gender concerns in development.

Another new aspect of Norwegian aid is a shift toward an expanded role for developing countries in their cooperation with Norway. Concern about aid effectiveness has led Norway to adopt a policy of "recipient responsibility." Recipient countries are encouraged to develop sector plans, including all development assistance as well as domestic budgetary resources. The Norwegian government expects this approach to strengthen local ownership of projects, develop in-country technical know-how and improve prospects for sustainability.

Although Norway remains a major donor, particularly given the size of its economy, in recent years aid levels have not kept pace with economic growth. The absolute volume of Norwegian aid continued to rise during the 1990s. In 1997, Norway gave $1.3 billion in development assistance–almost double the level of aid compared to a decade earlier. However, the aid to GNP ratio fell by 12 percent in 1995, partly due to a revised method of calculating GNP. Emerging trends in 1997 include an increase in funds for social development, the environment and women’s development programs; in addition, Norway has allocated 50 percent of all bilateral aid funds to Africa.

Norway’s development administration responsibilities are divided between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). The Ministry is responsible for developing Norwegian aid programs, while NORAD has responsibility for implementing bilateral and NGO development cooperation projects. The Minister of International Development and Human Rights within the MFA has oversight of both NORAD (under the bilateral department of the Ministry) and a separate multilateral department. In recent years, the Ministry has integrated NORAD offices in priority countries into Norwegian embassies as part of a decentralization process, with the aim of more effectively using available aid resources.

2 The Policy Environment for International Population Assistance

The policy environment in Norway has long been extremely supportive of population assistance. Prior to the ICPD, Norway stood out as the only donor nation allocating four percent of development assistance to population-related activities. The Norwegian government has always seen population as closely linked to other development issues such as the environment and economic development.

Norwegian population policy takes a multi-faceted approach to population programming. Although Norway provides direct support for family planning, its aid policy affirms the role of multiple influences on the adoption of the small family norm and fertility decline. Thus, Norway’s policy has been to emphasize the importance of maternal and child health services, child survival, the status of women and education, along with expanded access to family planning services, as the way to achieve a more rapid reduction in fertility.

Norway’s former Prime Minister Gro Brundtland, who became the Director-General of WHO in July 1998, has been an outspoken international advocate for reproductive health and rights. Dr. Brundtland, who led the Norwegian delegation to the 1994 ICPD, generated controversy at the conference with a widely-publicized speech calling on all countries to decriminalize abortion.

3 Trends in Funding for Population Assistance

Overall Funding Levels:

Although Norwegian population assistance levels have declined in recent years, Norway still performs well as a donor to population programs. Norway ranks high relative to other donor countries both in volume of aid and in its contribution relative to GNP. Norwegian population assistance reached a high level in the early 1990s, peaking in 1991 at $53 million. Since then the level of aid for population programs has fallen, to $46 million in 1996. This decline occurred despite the broadened definition used to report population assistance beginning in 1995.

Population aid also declined over this period as a percentage of total development assistance–from 4.1 percent in 1990 to 3.5 percent in 1996. In addition, Norwegian population assistance declined relative to GNP, from $487 per million GNP in 1990 to $298 in 1996. Despite these declines, Norway still ranked as the eighth largest donor to population programs in 1996 in absolute aid volume; moreover, its contribution relative to GNP still ranks Norway among the top population donors.

Multilateral Funding:

Norway channels the vast majority of its population assistance through multilateral organizations. In 1996, the multilateral channel accounted for 85 percent of Norway’s total population assistance. Norway is a very important donor to UNFPA, ranking fourth among the Fund’s donors in 1997 with a contribution of $28.3 million. Norway allocated an additional $6.9 million to UNFPA in 1997 for multi-bilateral projects. The Norwegian government also makes voluntary contributions to the WHO Women’s Health and Development Programme and its human reproduction research program.

Bilateral Funding:

Norway no longer has a bilateral population assistance program. In 1991, Norway began to phase out its bilateral population assistance program. Since 1994, the government has not reported any allocations for population-related projects through the bilateral channel.

Funding for NGOs:

IPPF, the largest international NGO in the population field, is the major recipient of Norwegian population assistance through the NGO channel. Norway’s contribution to IPPF peaked in 1992 at $8.2 million and then fell for several years in U.S. dollar terms. Recently, the annual Norwegian kroner contribution has slowly increased–and stabilized in dollar terms at around $6.6 million–making Norway the fifth largest donor to IPPF in 1997.

Like some other European countries, Norway is decentralizing its foreign aid program and transferring many development cooperation functions from central government departments to embassies in the field. As a result, embassies in priority countries will manage funds for NGO collaboration and become the contact points for local and international NGOs in the population field seeking Norwegian funding.

4 Program Priorities

Following the phase-out of Norway’s bilateral population assistance program, priority areas for Norwegian assistance are difficult to discern. However, activities supported by Norway on a multi-bilateral basis–i.e., through major international organizations–provide some indication of geographic and programmatic priorities.

Norway is part of the large donor consortium which supports the Bangladesh population and health program through the World Bank. In Africa, Norway funds AIDS and population work in Burkina Faso; reproductive health and family planning programs in Ethiopia; efforts by UNFPA to strengthen reproductive health and family planning capacity in Mozambique; and a World Bank family health program in Zimbabwe. Norway also funds regional programs in sub-Saharan Africa through IPPF and UNFPA to strengthen reproductive health services and enhance adolescent health. In Latin America, Norway funds multi-bilateral activities in Nicaragua in the areas of reproductive health and family planning.