GranMa – A new digital platform to strengthen development cooperation management
From left: Nina Ingeborg Bach-Gansmo, Trym Valebjørg and Marthe Kathrud work in Norad´s new digitalisation department and will develop GranMa.
On assignment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Norad is developing a digital platform that will make interaction between Norad, The Norwegian Foreign Service and our partners easier and more efficient. The platform has been given the name GranMa (Grant Management), and we have already started to develop the platform.
Norwegian development cooperation delivers results across the globe. At the same time, expectations of us are increasing. To ensure sound management and effective knowledge sharing in the years to come, we need better tools and more modern systems.
GranMa will bring the entire process of managing and governing our development cooperation into a single digital solution – from budgeting, calls for proposals and application processing, to follow-up, reporting, analysis and learning.
For our partners, this will mean less manual work, more standardised processes, fewer intermediaries, and better oversight of the status of applications and agreements. Partners will also have better access to data, results and learning.
The platform will be developed step by step
Norad is building the platform in-house, and development will take place in stages. Along the way, we will involve the users of the platform. We need to understand what is important to our users, where the main pain points are, and when collaboration works best. That is why we test, learn and make continuous improvements as we gain new insights.
We have a multidisciplinary team in Norad that is responsible for the project and ensures that the right people are involved at the right time.
Replacing legacy systems
GranMa is scheduled to be fully operational by 2029, but the work is already well underway. We have started testing functionalities for agreements, budgets and disbursements.
In 2027, we will launch the first version of GranMa internally in Norad and the foreign service, with agreement management and core functionality for managing development assistance. In 2028, the platform will open for applications from partners. After that, we will continuously add new elements and evaluate what works, as well as identify needs for maintenance.
GranMa is much more than an IT project
It is a shared effort to improve how we cooperate and make decisions. The platform will help ensure that funds are used more strategically, and that we manage our development cooperation in a holistic way.