Norway’s Trade Related Assistance through Multilateral Organizations: A Synthesis Study Report 8/2011 – Study

The multilateral trade negotiations of the Doha Round established an Aid for Trade (AfT) agenda in 2005, and a trade related Norwegian Action Plan was subsequently approved in 2007. This report assesses the experiences and results of channeling Norwegian trade-related assistance through nine important multilateral organizations.

According to the report, there is a discrepancy between perception and reality in Norway about its importance as a donor of trade-related assistance. Firstly, the reported figures are underestimated. Norway uses an outdated and narrower definition of what constitutes trade-related technical assistance as compared to the one currently in use by the OECD. Secondly, although Norway allocates only 0.5% of its development assistance overall to trade-related technical assistance, it is one of the main donors channeling funds through multilaterals. Finally, the fact that Norway often provides un-earmarked funds means that its visibility is less than it otherwise could have been. The report notes that this funding approach may not necessarily reduce the transaction costs compared with bilateral projects.

The report finds that several of the multilateral organizations have inadequate systems for assessing and reporting the results of their work. Having noted this limitation, the study uses existing reports and expert interviews to assess the relative effectiveness of the organizations. While the findings are mixed, records for some organizations are discouraging with slow implementation and few results on the ground. As for the Norwegian priority areas, better performance is reported on good governance, regional trade and gender, whereas climate and social responsibility are near non-existing as priorities and in the reporting.

The report has been prepared by an independent Swedish consultancy firm, Devfin Advisers. The views and conclusions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of the Evaluation Department in Norad (EVAL). As for the recommendations of the report, a precautionary note is in order due to the limited evidence and external evaluations available. Nevertheless, the findings and assessments will hopefully provide useful insights for the work on updating the Norwegian action plan for trade related assistance.