Annual Report on Norwegian Bilateral Development Cooperation 2007

Introduction This annual report describes bilateral development cooperation between Norway and 30 of the countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East that received the most assistance in 2007. Norwegian development assistance totalled NOK 21.8 billion in 2007. Of this amount, bilateral assistance (including multi-bilateral assistance) accounted for NOK 15.7 billion. The report covers the results achieved in priority areas of cooperation, gives an account of general development trends in partner countries and describes Norway's contribution in this connection. Examples of areas of cooperation commented on briefly in the report includehumanitarian aid in Sudan, higher education in Tanzania, anti-corruption activities in Zambia, governance and human rights in Nepal and food security in Nicaragua. None of the results described in the report were achieved through Norwegian assistance alone. Norway's contribution is almost always just one of several that supplement the most important effort, that of the countries themselves. Table 1 shows the breakdown of total Norwegian development assistance in2007 between bilateral assistance, multi-bilateral assistance (grants channelled through multilateral organisations and earmarked for specific projects and programmes), multilateral assistance and administrative expenses charged to the development assistance budget. Norway complies with the rules of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) for reporting official development assistance (countries and purposes). Only bilateral assistance and multi-bilateral assistance can be specified by country and region. Table 2 shows the breakdown of total bilateral assistance (including multibilateral assistance) by continent. Table 3 shows the 35 countries that received the most support from Norway.Norwegian bilateral assistance was provided to a total of 109 countries in2007. This support was channelled through national authorities, civil societyorganisations (Norwegian, local and regional) and multilateral organisations(earmarked grants). Assistance was provided for long-term cooperation, humanitarian assistance, peace-building measures, cooperation on research and cooperation with the private sector. Norad and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are publishing this reportin the hope that readers will find it useful in their further exploration ofdevelopment issues.