We challenged Norwegian parties: Does aid work, yes or no?
Do Norwegians lack faith in the effectiveness of aid?
When Norad 's Director of Knowledge, Håvard Mokleiv Nygård, was to give a speech at Caritas Norway's aid debate in Arendal last month, he felt the need to state the following:
— Aid works.
The reason for stating this is that previous surveys have shown that more people doubt the effect of aid, even though public support for aid remains high ( the latest Statistics Norway figures are from 2021) . Nygård is afraid that the perception that the projects are not working will, in the long term, undermine public support for aid. This concern is fully shared by organizations such as Caritas Norway.
"If the claim that aid does not work is allowed to spread, we risk that Norwegians will no longer see the point in continuing to invest in development. This will have serious, in many cases fatal, consequences for a great many people in poor countries," says Secretary-General of the Caritas Norway, Ingrid Rosendorf Joys.
The global aid order has been shattered. That's why Norwegian aid is more important than ever
Ingrid Rosendorf Joys
Need for clear clarification from the parties before the election
Monday, September 8th, is the general election. And the world has changed dramatically since the last time Norwegians went to the polls.
— The global aid order has been destroyed. That is why Norwegian aid is more important than ever, and Norwegian voters need a clear answer from politicians as to whether they have faith in aid or not. We have now received that clarification, says Rosendorf Joys.
Almost all parties believe that aid works
Most parties are clear that aid works, even if they have different views on what should be prioritized. All the answers can be read here.
However, the Conservative Party claims that it is not possible to find the results of most aid projects.
— In 2024, according to Norad's results portal, Norway financed 1,869 projects. 21 of them have reported results in the portal. For 1,848 of them, it is therefore not possible for taxpayers to form an opinion on whether the efforts are working as intended, answers Erna Solberg/Høyre.
Development assistance expert, Øyvind Eggen, believes that the reporting both exists and is available, even if it is not necessarily found in the results portal that the Conservative Party established at the time.
— It is possible for taxpayers to form an opinion about the 1848 projects. All they have to do is ask for access to the performance reports, and in many cases there are also evaluations. There is documentation for each individual project.
Frp: Aid is not working
One party is quite clear that aid is not working.
— If the purpose is to help countries out of persistent poverty, aid does not work, replies Morten Wold, foreign policy spokesman for the Norwegian People's Party.
"Despite 60–70 years of Norwegian and international aid billions, we do not see the effect that the countries that receive aid eventually become independent and no longer need the aid," he continues.
Rather, the aid industry is doing harm, Wold and Frp believe.
— On the contrary, we see an aid industry that helps maintain structures that create dependency, and it is often impossible to document where the aid money ends up.
The claim from FrP that aid is not working because many countries still need aid is about as logical as saying that "the police are not working because there is still crime."
øyvind Eggen
Hans Jacob Huun Thomsen, from the Liberal Party and the think tank Civita, believes this is simply not true.
— Aid alone does not, of course, lead to a permanent lifting of an entire country out of poverty. But independent research clearly shows that aid contributes to less poverty, better health and education, national growth and other good purposes. The claim that aid does not work is therefore completely unfounded, says Hans Jacob Huun Thomsen from the Liberal Party and the think tank Civita.
Øyvind Eggen also believes that the Norwegian People's Party operates with rather extreme success criteria for aid.
— It is nice that the Progress Party seems to be among those who have the greatest expectations for aid. Believing that Norwegian aid alone will lead many countries, with many hundreds of millions of people, out of poverty shows much more faith in aid than any aid organization has.
If one were to expect equally extreme results in other fields, it would create challenges, Eggen believes. He reminds us that many former recipient countries have become independent of aid, something Wold does not mention, but still believes that the logic does not hold up.
— The claim from the Liberal Party that aid is not working because many countries still need aid is about as logical as saying that "the police are not working because there is still crime". Norwegian aid has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, created a better future for millions, and contributed to slightly better development in many countries, but will not be able to lift entire countries out of poverty on its own.
More people have gone from being recipients to being aid providers
"The list of countries that have gone from being poor to becoming middle-income countries is quite long. Research indicates that aid overall has contributed to this," says Rosendorf Joys.
South Korea, which received aid between 1945-1995, is now one of a handful of countries that is actually increasing its aid budgets while most other countries are cutting. Rosendorf Joys has seen this transition from recipient to aid provider on the ground in northern Uganda.
— Caritas Uganda, with support from Norwegian taxpayers, through Norad, has helped villages in Northern Uganda to create an economic surplus through agricultural improvements and fish farming. These funds are used to invest in new improvements, but some of these surpluses are now also collected to help other villages.
Rosendorf Joys believes that the Norwegian People's Party is right that we need to rethink aid.
— The money must go more directly to the recipient countries, and to projects that are led and run by the people who live there and who know where the shoe is.
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