Submission to Project Turning Point (Prosjekt Vendepunkt)

Summary

Langsikt believes Project Turning Point (Prosjekt Vendepunkt) should restore a clear primary purpose for foreign aid and implement systemic changes to better facilitate sound prioritization and high development effectiveness. Our proposals are categorized under six headings:

1. Structure and goals: Split the aid budget in two, with a protected target of 0.7% of GNI for poverty-focused aid, and a portion of at least 0.3% of GNI for global public goods with high development relevance.
2. Prioritization criteria: Make poverty reduction and cost-effectiveness the primary criteria for prioritizing Norwegian aid.
3. Concentration and choice of channels: Reduce the number of agreements and funds, and allocate 15% of the aid budget to IDA by 2030.
4. Management and decision-making quality: Introduce requirements for impact assessments before major allocations, cut administrative costs, shift capacity from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Norad, and require Norad to provide annual professional advice on aid.
5. Civil society and localization: Provide at least 50% of civil society support directly to local partners by 2030.
6. Global health: Increase the share for global health to 15%, and source parts of the funding for health security from outside the aid budget.

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