Results report 2007: Norwegian aid works – but not well enough

Norad's 2007 Results Report

Does development cooperation produce results? Does aid disappear in corruption? Why do people still suffer from poverty and war after so many years of development aid and policies with great goals and high ambitions?
It is legitimate for Norwegian taxpayers and politicians to ask these questions. They are also essential questions for those of us working in the aid business.

The 2007 Results Report is Norad's first attempt to compile and present results of all Norwegian development assistance, which amounts to more than NOK 20 billion per year (approximately USD 3.5 billion). We do not
cover everything. We cannot follow the Norwegian money all the way from Oslo to the target groups. The report confirms that the people, institutions, enterprises and authorities of developing countries bear the heaviest
burden and produce the results. As international partners, we can only contribute, but on the whole our contribution is significant, based on respect, flexibility and good quality.

Part I follows the Norwegian resources part of the way into international development cooperation and collates the results achieved in eight sectors and thematic areas, which cover most of Norwegian development assistance.
At the end of Part I, we try to answer the question "Does Norwegian aid work?"
Our conclusion is clear: Norway's aid works, but not well enough.

Part II gives an in-depth analysis of results in important areas (health, peace-building, gender equality, the environment, governance, etc.) on the basis of the following questions: What are the main challenges in developing countries? What has the global community achieved? How much of this can
be ascribed to international development assistance? What role does Norwegian development assistance play - both what we do and how we do it? What results has Norwegian development assistance achieved?
What can we learn from this? These questions are also asked in an analysis of Norwegian aid for Zambia, as an example of long-term Norwegian involvement in a poor, developing African country.

The report has its weaknesses, partly due to insufficient focus on management by goals and results in Norwegian development policy and aid administration. The analysis shows that Norway contributes to results in individual sectors and thematic areas, but we cannot compare effectiveness and results across sectors, funding channels or partners.
Perhaps we will focus on Norway's choice of channels and partners in the next results report, depending on the response to this year's report.

This is Norad's report, and many people in the agency have contributed to it. We wish to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian embassy in Zambia for their useful comments, but we emphasise that the analyses
and assessments are Norad's alone.

I urge everyone to read both Part I and Part II.
The report presents both good and weak results.
Hopefully, it will make people think about what we want and what we can achieve through Norway's development policies and development
aid. We welcome constructive, critical comments, e.g. by e-mail to pep@norad.no.

Poul Engberg-Pedersen, Director General of Norad, November 2007