Who we are
The Oil for Development (OfD) Programme unites the efforts of a range of different Norwegian governmental institutions.
The Steering Committee
The Steering Committee for the OfD Programme is responsible for quality assuring the content and for making relevant expertise available to the Programme within their areas of responsibility.
The Steering committee consists of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (chair), the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Ministry of Climate and Environment. The Steering Committee formulates strategic directions, guidelines and priorities for the Secretariat and the implementing agencies, and decides on major project proposals.
The Secretariat
The OfD Secretariat resides in Norad (the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation). Norad, through the OfD Secretariat, is responsible for quality assuring the aid-related aspects of the OfD Programme.
The secretariat is also tasked with ensuring that the OfD Programme is implemented in a well-coordinated manner.
Norwegian embassies
The Norwegian embassies play an essential role in the OfD Programme, as extensive development cooperation responsibility is assigned to them. The embassies hold local and regional knowledge and network extensively with government agencies, industry, civil society as well as international organizations and other donors in their respective countries.
Requests for OfD assistance, as well as funding to the OfD country programmes, are as a rule channeled through the embassies.
Implementing agencies
Key implementing parties are the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, Norwegian Environment Agency, Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, the Norwegian Oil Taxation Office, Statistics Norway and the Norwegian Coastal Administration.
Other actors involved are consultancies and research institutions, as well as multilateral actors such as the IMF and the World Bank. The Programme also coordinates activities with the Office of the Auditor General of Norway.
Civil Society
The OfD Programme supports capacity building of civil society organisations in the partner countries, including media institutions, through Norwegian and international organisations.
Thematically, the Norwegian NGOs work to build capacity within four thematic areas:
- Environmental protection
- Transparency in revenue generation and distribution
- Local participation in decision-making processes
- Labour rights