The ownership of the projects and all decisions made are in the Global South. This may increase the relevance of the projects and thus also the long-term sustainability and lasting results of the projects. Norec’s experience is that South-South & Triangular Cooperation projects have a high degree of results achievement. Norec shall work to achieve the overarching goals of Norwegian development policy. Following this, Norec’s main priority areas are, therefore:

• Climate, environment, and ocean
• Education
• Health
• Private sector development, agriculture, and renewable energy

Anti-corruption, climate change and the environment, gender equality and human rights are cross-cutting issues within the priorities. Norec has also received a special mandate from Norwegian Parliament in following up the outcome document from the UN Conference BAPA+40 on South-South cooperation.

The project partners Norec supports both send out personnel to work in their partner organisation and host personnel in their own organisation. It is crucial to Norec’s model that the exchanges are mutual.

The underlying understanding is that everyone in an exchange project has both something valuable to bring to the table, as well as something to learn. Each partner is therefore both a provider of knowledge and a beneficiary. Norec firmly believes that exchange is not a one-way street based on the assumption that one partner provides the knowledge and the other receives it. Norec thus rejects a sharp distinction between recipients and providers.

Norec implements reciprocity in several ways in the projects. First, all partner organisations send and receive personnel in approximately equal numbers. Second, when the partners establish their partnership, they jointly identify their needs and capacities. This assessment forms the basis for the organisation’s own recruiting of personnel to go on exchange. Third, Norec engages with all partners on equal terms and it is the partners who select the coordinator of the project among themselves.

In 2019, Norec supported eighty projects that in total exchanged 615 participants. Of these, fifty projects were South-South and six were Triangular projects. The South-South and Triangular projects included 161 different partner organisations.

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