FREDSKORPSET (FK) NORWAY

Assessment of results -
FK in Nepal, Norway and
Ethiopia
Final report

Nordic Consulting Group (NCG)

 FK review 2009 NCG

Review team: Nora Ingdal, NCG Norway (Team Leader), Era Shreshta, ODC (Lead consultant, Nepal),
Dr Mohammed Mussa, MMA (Lead consultant, Ethiopia)

Quality-assurance: Anders Wirak, NCG Norway

ISBN: 978-82-93054-02-3
 FK review 2009 NCG

Table of contents

Acronyms ................................................................................................................................................. 4
FK Definitions .......................................................................................................................................... 5
1. Executive Summary with conclusions and recommendations ....................................................... 6
2. Background.................................................................................................................................... 10
2.1 Overview of the report ................................................................................................................ 10
2.2 Purpose and scope of review ...................................................................................................... 10
2.3 Limitations ................................................................................................................................... 10
3. Approach and methodology .......................................................................................................... 12 3
3.1 Approach ..................................................................................................................................... 12
3.2 Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 12
3.3 Assessment model....................................................................................................................... 15
4. FK Context ..................................................................................................................................... 17
4.1 Partnerships................................................................................................................................. 17
4.2 FK program cycle ......................................................................................................................... 19
4.3 Directions from MFA ................................................................................................................... 20
4.4 Follow-up of last evaluation ........................................................................................................ 21
5. Program results ............................................................................................................................. 22
5.1 Institutional capacity-building ..................................................................................................... 22
5.2 Peace and bridge-building ........................................................................................................... 29
5.3 Networking ................................................................................................................................. 32
5.4 Young leadership ......................................................................................................................... 36
5.5 Unintended results ...................................................................................................................... 39
6. Assessment .................................................................................................................................... 43
6.1 Defining results............................................................................................................................ 43
6.2 Relevance .................................................................................................................................... 44
6.3 Effectiveness................................................................................................................................ 47
6.4 Sustainability ............................................................................................................................... 50
6.5 Complimentarity/synergy............................................................................................................ 51
References ............................................................................................................................................. 52
Annexes ................................................................................................................................................. 55
Annex I - Terms of Reference ............................................................................................................ 55
Annex II List of people and institutions consulted ............................................................................ 60
Annex III Interview guide................................................................................................................... 65
Annex IV Case studies........................................................................................................................ 67
Annex V Results FK Survey to Partners ........................................................................................... 670
 FK review 2009 NCG

Acronyms

ALERT All Africa Leprosy Rehabilitation and Training Center

AMWIK Association of Media Women in Kenya
ANPPCAN Association for Nationwide Action for Prevention & Protection against Child Abuse & Neglect
BoLSA Bureau of Labour and Social Affairs, Bahr-Dahr (Ethiopia)
CfC Communications for Change
CMC Christian Medical College in Vellore, India
CJMC College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Kathmandu, Nepal
DF Development Fund 4
DRIK Drik Picture Library Limited
EEJA Ethiopian Environmental Journalist Association
EECMY Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus
EMWA Ethiopian Media Women’s Association
ESD Exchange for Sustainable Development
ESTHER Ensemble pour une Solidaté Thérapeutique Hospitalière En Réseau
EWLA Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Association
FECCLEHA Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes region and Horn of Africa
FIOH Future in our hands, Sri Lanka
FIVH Fremtiden i våre hender, Norway
FGD Focus Group Discussion
FK Fredskorpset Norway
FNJ Federation of Nepalese Journalists
FTG Fair Trade Group
GSJ Gimlekollen School of Journalism
HUH Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen
JET Journalists’ Environment Association of Tanzania
KS Association of municipalities in Norway
KU Kathmandu University
MDG Millennium Development Goal
NAWOU National Association of Women Organizations in Uganda
NCA Norwegian Church Aid
NCDC Namsaling Centre for Development
NEFEJ Nepal Federation of Environmental Journalists
NIDS Nepal Institute of Development Studies
NGO Non-governmental organization
NMC Nepal Media Centre
NNV Norges Naturvernforbund (Friends of the Earth Norway)
NOMA Norad’s Program for Master Studies
NRK Norwegian Broadcasting Cooperation
NUFU Norwegian Cooperation Program for Development, Research and Higher Education
OUC Oslo University College
PSD Private sector development
RBM Results-based management
TAMWA Tanzania Media Women’s Association
 FK review 2009 NCG

TAWLA Tanzania Women’s Lawyers Association

UIA University of Agder
UIB University of Bergen
UIT University of Tromsø
UMB University of Life Sciences, Norway
UMWA Uganda Media Women’s Association
WAT Women’s Association of Tigray
YWCA/YMCA Young Women/Men Christian Associations
ZAMWA Zambia Media Women’s Association

5
FK Definitions
Exchange period: the posting of a participant, working with a host partner. Duration: from 3-10 months (FK-
youth) or 10-16 months (NS, SS or Esther). Consists of: preparatory course, posting abroad and follow-up work
including homecoming seminar (debriefing). Work tasks designed by partnership
Exchange project: Described in the project documents (partnership agreement and collaboration agreement)
on the basis of FK document framework
FK Forum: FK biannual gathering with representatives from all FK partners in the world in Oslo.
FK regional offices: FK contracted team of consultants in Asia (Bangkok) and Africa (Kampala) which has the
overall responsibility for the South-South partnerships
Home-coming (also referred to as Debriefing): 2 days meeting organized by FK for the participants by end of
the exchange period in Norway, Africa, and Asia). Purpose: share reflections and personal challenges between
participants, FK and home partner (in NS, South partner is often not present), plan follow-up work.
Home partner: institution sending participants.
Host partner: institution receiving participants.
Mid-Term Review: management meeting between home and host partner(s) in middle of exchange period to
revise/adjust ongoing cooperation. Not practiced consistently across NS/SS/Youth; participants not always
included, FK observing sometimes.
Network: refer to different events a) in-country networks consisting of partners, participants (current and
alumni); b) thematic networks organized by FK Oslo ex. women/gender equality, communication and visibility,
c) networking is one of the FK result areas
Network coordinator: in countries where there substantial numbers of FK participants FK regional offices in
Africa and Asia, or the Norway office for Latin-America will contract a coordinator in charge of updating list of
alumni and career development schemes; in charge of country network seminar(s).
Participant: individual recruited for exchange by partners; either own staff, member, from network or
sometimes recruited with no prior affiliation to the above i.e. internally recruited or externally recruited.
Partner: institution from civil society organizations, public and semi public sector, private sector which sends
and receives participant(s). Partners can be divided between primary partner, secondary - and co-partner.
Partnership: primary and secondary partners having an agreement on exchange of participants within FK
framework. Partnership agreement is signed by all partners; the collaboration agreement is signed between FK
and the primary partner (on behalf of all the partners)
Preparatory course: Two-three weeks preparatory course organized by FK in Norway, FK Asia and Africa offices
to prepare participants for working and living abroad during the exchange period; can also include limited
participation of partners. Special courses for North-South, South-South and Youth program lines.
Program lines: North-South (NS), South-South (SS), Youth and ESTHER (health exchange).
Primary partner (also referred to as Lead partner); the partner signing Collaboration agreement with FK, legally
responsible on behalf of partnership. Receives fund for distribution from FK to secondary partners and submits
consolidated FK financial and narrative report on behalf of partnership.
Result areas: capacity-building, peace- and bridge-building, networking, leadership (FK strategy 2007-11)
Secondary partner: receives funds via primary partner, reports financially and narrative to primary partner.
 FK review 2009 NCG

1. Executive Summary

1. In the nine years since Fredskorpset (FK) was re-organized as a two-way partner-based exchange
program almost 4000 young people from 54 developing countries and Norway have taken part.
More than 400 organizations, private companies and public institutions have benefited from
having a FK professional from a different social, cultural and economic/political setting in their
work place. Most of the times, the one year abroad is a “life-changing experience”, “a
milestone”, “the beginning of a beautiful career” for the person travelling – just to mention a few
of the characteristics the team recorded during this external review process.

2. The goal of FK is to “facilitate contact and cooperation between individuals, organizations and
institutions in Norway and the developing countries, built on solidarity, equality and mutuality”.
Partnerships include organizations, municipalities, schools, universities and private companies 6
working in a broad range of sectors from health, education, media and community work to
agriculture, energy and business development. FK Norway is funded by the Norwegian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs (MFA) with an annual budget of around 185 million NOK.

3. In 2009 FK decided to commission an external review with the purpose of identifying results and
long-term outcomes of the partnerships. The aim was also to inform FK’s ongoing strategy
process mid-way until the next MFA external evaluation planned in 2012. Nordic Consulting Group
(NCG) put together a South-North, gender- and age-balanced team of consultants from Nepal, Ethiopia and
Norway and was contracted to conduct the review.

4. The external team applied a learning approach to the review with FK staff on board. This
approach was appreciated by the respondents as it allowed for some extent of candidness in
order to support FK with the strategic planning. The review focused on two selected case
countries (Nepal and Ethiopia) in addition to Norway, and not the whole organization. The
findings should thus not be used to generalise on FK as a whole. Although all four program areas:
North-South (NS), South-South (SS), Youth and ESTHER were present in the two countries,
categories like the Municipalities’ cooperation and Friendship North/South were not included.

5. Main methodological tools for the review team were desk studies, interviews, and data from the
FK web-based survey where 952 participants and 129 partners responded. The results of 24
partnerships were assessed, 43 former and current partners, and more than 150 current and
former participants were interviewed. The team gave four different presentations to FK; three
separate debriefs immediately after the fieldwork in Nepal, Ethiopia and Norway, presentation of
draft and final report for FK Norway (including representatives and program coordinators from
Norway, Asia and Africa).

Main findings
6. Fredskorpset has been able to produce a range of relevant outcomes along the thematic priorities
of Norway’s development policy White Paper, “Climate, Conflict and Capital”. FK has initiated and
facilitated successful partnerships between environmental journalists, human rights activists,
media women, private businesses, and anti-corruption networks across Asia, Africa and Norway.
There has been a stronger focus on environment and business than on conflict resolution.
7. Among FK’s four program areas, institutional capacity-building, networking, peace- and bridge-
building and young leadership, the team found most outcomes on the first program area. In most
of the organizations and institutions, technical expertise had clearly been developed at personal
level and in several cases transferred to institutions through development of systems,
mechanisms and enhancement of services. For the civil society sector, which is by far the largest,
most partners reported a transfer of skills for writing reports and fund-raising proposals both
when they hosted foreign participants and when they reintegrated the returning participants. Part
of the fund-raising abilities was related to improved language skills.
 FK review 2009 NCG

8. For the private sector, which accounts for around 10 per cent of the programs, the outcomes of
four partnerships were found to vary according to the program lines. The institutional outcome in
the South-South private sector development (PSD) was clearly stronger than the two North-South
private sector partnerships; in the SS institution there were measurable changes in the way the
company was working to promote its product, promotional strategies and new tools for
enhancing the products. The team was however concerned that FK did not ensure that support to
PSD is not skewing competition towards one private company. It was not clear to which extent FK
ensured the public good of the initiatives in line with overall Norwegian PSD guidelines.

9. Results on governmental/semi-governmental level included only one partnership in the two case
countries (Haukeland University Hospital with Yekatit 12 in Ethiopia), but were found to be
substantial in terms of complimentarity and using FK as a tool for propping up the results on the
institutional level for the Ethiopian partners. FK personnel exchange was combined with funding
from Norad, the Norwegian Embassy, along with scholarships from NOMA. This combination gave 7
strong synergies and results on the South partner level by improving the medical services for the
beneficiaries in Ethiopia.

10. The outcomes on the institutional capacity building program area were found to be linked to the
type of partner (institution or member-based) and the type of participants selected (staff or
members/volunteers). In Ethiopia 4 out of 9 partners were membership-organizations, while in
Nepal, only 3 out of 16 partners were run by members. The membership-based partners in the
two case countries often sent students or members employed in other organizations. This proved
to be ineffective in building institutional capacity as most of the participants upon their return,
especially in Ethiopia, served within the membership organizations for one month based on the
agreement, but then left and did not continue to engage unless there were incentives for it.

11.Retention of participants: Many partners shared how valuable their staff had become after
returning from the exchange program; their ‘social’ capital had increased enormously as the FKers
were reportedly self-confident, visionary, entrepreneurs who would see more opportunities than
difficulties. As a consequence the participants often grow “out” of their home organization -
which was perhaps a good outcome for the individual participants and society, but usually a loss
for the partner organization.

12.Challenges of retaining staff. Partners therefore chose different retention strategies. Some
encouraged the participant by giving them more responsibilities and opportunities, while others
made the participants sign on contract to stay on in the home organization for a certain period. In
some cases the home organization had asked the participant to have a two years contractual
bound after an FK exchange, and when the participant left s/he had to pay back the investment
money from FK.

13. Follow ups during the fellowship period of participants: Many participants complained of
insufficient follow ups from the home (sending) partner organizations and to some extent by the
regional FK offices or FK in Norway. This could be counterproductive since they face different
cultural and social problems and no coaching or mentoring. The participants in Ethiopia stated
that they report to the FK Africa and their home partner organizations on a quarterly basis, but
rarely were there feedbacks provided. FK Asia seemed to have better feedback routines to the
participants’ reports.

14.Selection of partners and participants: The results and outcomes were found to be linked to the
selection process that FK apply. 22 out of 241 current South partners in Nepal and Ethiopia were

1
WAT in Ethiopia and NCDC in Nepal, both partners of the Development Fund, are the only FK partners with
their offices outside the capitals, Addis Abeba and Kathmandu, respectively.
 FK review 2009 NCG

found to be based in the urban capital. Although some have outreach outside the capital, there is
a concentration of activities in the urban areas. The team was concerned about the lack of
equitable access for taking part in FK partnerships for partners in the South. The current selection
process of new FK partners was not based on an open or competitive process. Although relevant
information is available and accessible on the FK website, the applicants were either invited by
the FK Asia or Africa offices or potential partners have heard about FK from participants already
involved. The team sees a risk in FK being perceived as an “elitist club” for the urban well-offs
rather than a tool for promoting development cooperation goals of reducing poverty.

15.FK’s role in facilitating the exchange was found to be under internal revision; the extent of
‘closeness’ and ‘hands-on’ from FK with the partners without infringing on the ownership or the
“autonomy of the partnership” implying that partners need to equally plan, implement and
monitor their own partnership. Among some FK staff, this approach was still prevailing, while
others saw the risks involved in a hands-off approach. 8

16. The review found many indicators of FK being a learning organisation. FK is continuously
developing and improving the programs based on internal learning, reflections and previous
reviews; in 2007 the senior program was closed down due to low cost-efficiency; the FK program
cycle has been amended and developed; SS exercises like the mid-term review involving both
partners and participants has been adopted by the NS program, and improving the follow-up
activities after the exchange period is finish is ‘work in progress’.

17.Results-based management. In the oldest plans and agreements reviewed (like EMWA in Ethiopia
and FIVH-NEFEJ in Nepal) there are few result and outcome indicators, while in the most recent
agreements signed a much stronger result-orientation was found (but since they were recent
partnerships they were not assessed in this study).

18.Despite the progress found in developing more results-based plans in FK, there are weaknesses in
the monitoring system of the results at partner level and especially in the NS partnerships.

19. Complimentarity and synergy with other Norwegian development efforts were not always
observed in the FK partnerships. Two levels of potentials for complimentarity and synergy were
found to be underutilised in the FK programming; first of all the lack of joint planning and
programming between the North-South and South-South programs. Secondly, the fact that FK is
receiving directions from MFA provides many opportunities for synergy effects, while at the same
time running the risk that FK might duplicate that other governmental or governmental-funded
actors or initiatives are conducting. In some cases, there were overlapping partnerships with
institutions offering NOMA scholarships.

20. For FK as a governmental agency facilitating personnel exchange between the developing and
developed world, a key result indicator is to facilitate the return of the participants to his/her
home country after the exchange period. In the two case countries explored, out of the 55 Alumni
from Ethiopia, 13 had left the country (24%) for studies or permanent emigration, while in Nepal
the percentage was ten percent lower (14%). The database in FK does not have a tracer of alumni
participants, and these data were collected by the review team.

21.Summing up, the team concludes that FK is a successful enterprise in terms of having “produced”
numerous future leaders and/or change agents and many good outcomes on different sectors.
Due to the weak monitoring systems, it was a challenge to document these outcomes in an
evidence-based way. On the societal level, FKs contribution in the short-term is probably limited
since resources are spread thinly in many countries and sectors (health, education, research,
media, human rights, environment, private sector etc). However long-term impact of the future
leaders returning to their home countries after a FK year is an exciting opportunity to explore. If
proper tracer databases are kept such a study is feasible to conduct.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Recommendations
22. FK needs to continue the process it has started by defining expected outcomes of the
partnerships in the next FK strategy period (2010-15). Being rooted in the tradition of building
bridges for peace and understanding, Fredskorpset’s core mission could be defined as an
exchange program that is fostering global citizens and leaders for the future by building
institutional capacity in areas of health, education, civil society and business.
23. When the key outcome has been defined, FK needs to step up the systematization of monitoring
of results on several level:
a. Participant level: tracers and statistics on alumni participants’ whereabouts need to be
produced regularly for FK
b. Partner level: FK needs to monitor and record the results on the partner level, including the
follow-up activities to ensure institutionalization of skills transfer and capacity-building. The
reports of FK Africa’s monitoring consultant are a best practice in that regard.
c. Networks: best practices for enhancing FK’s result areas, including capacity-building need to be 9
cross-shared among FK partners, participants, networks and staff in country and region.
d. Institutionalization of results/transfer of capacity at institutional level. The follow up activities
need strengthening.

24. Leadership mentoring: more focus is needed on how to learn and teach in an institutional multi-
cultural setting (the current course is mainly focused on the individual perspective and
experiences) and include elements of leadership mentoring into the program cycle.
25. Transparency of selection of partners: The selection of partners in the SS programs needs to be
transparent and merit-based and aim for equitable access among urban/rural areas.
a. Encourage and ensure that organizations which operate nationwide be included in FK
partnerships as the access for more disadvantaged groups will be higher.
b. Increasing the visibility of FK in the program country, more information dissemination
on FK application procedure and selection criteria (FK network, local embassy, other
development agencies and media).
c. Consider open advertisement for new FK partnerships in local media and news

26. Transparency of selecting participants: FK should mainstream transparency requirements to

ensure that there is no conflict of interest (anti-corruption measures) involved.

27. Synergy between programs the team encourages FK to look into how the NS and SS program
lines can be better utilized and provide complimentarity to each other.
28. Evaluations and phase-out strategy: Continuation of the next FK phase projects need to be
based on an in-depth evaluation of the partnership and results of the subsequent phase.
29. The FK Networks in the countries need to be more functional for the three different groups
involved; FK partners, FK current participants and FK former participants. The role and purpose of
the network need to be defined in terms of support mechanism for cross learning and sharing.
30. Peace- and bridgebuilding should be viewed as a cross-cutting issue in all FK partnership more
than a specific result area to report on.
31. A more in-depth assessment of the partners together with the proposed program is needed in
the two case countries studied. The assessment should include not only the primary partner, but
also the institutions brought on board in terms of equity, capacity, potential
complementary/synergy, their constituencies, and type of partner (membership-based,
foundation, private etc).
32. Closer cooperation with embassies in Norwegian priority countries is needed, as well as ensuring
that FK partnerships are in line with national governments plans and priorities (PRSP).
33. Support to private sector must be in line with overall Norwegian guidelines for the private sector,
i.e. promoting framework conditions for the private sector and skewing competition for one
company above others.
 FK review 2009 NCG

2. Background

2.1 Overview of the report

This report is divided into six chapters; the first chapter provides an executive summary of the key
findings, conclusions and recommendations. Chapter two provides a brief background to the review.
Chapter three is the approach and methodology. Chapter four presents a brief context about FK, the
programmes, partnerships and directions from the donor (MFA). Chapter five presents the
synthesised findings of the two case countries (Nepal and Ethiopia) along the FK four result areas;
institutional capacity-building, peace- and bridge-building, networking and young leadership. Chapter
six assesses the results along the lines of relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and 10
complimentary/synergy. A reference list is included in addition to four annexes: Terms of Reference,
List of Interviewees, Interview Guide for partners and participants, and the results of the FK survey
for participants and partners.

2.2 Purpose and scope of review

According to the Terms of Reference, the purpose of FK Norway’s self-commissioned review has four
key elements:

1. Contribute to FK Norway’s program development

2. Provide a strong learning element for the organization.

3. Assist in further developing improved methodologies, success indicators and definitions of

results in the 4 result areas.

4. Be a reference for the upcoming FK strategy process.

The TOR states that that the Review shall “focus on FK partnerships, its partners and participants,
and the direct and indirect effects which are outcome of the FK exchanges.” The main focus shall be
on attempting to identify the long-term results in the below four result areas:

Institutional capacity building

International networking

Peace and bridge-building

Young leadership development

The study covers three countries (Nepal, Ethiopia and Norway), 40 partners and more than 200
former and current participants. Time allocated for three consultants was 40 days in total.

2. 3 Limitations of review
There are several limitations to this study that the reader should keep in mind. First of all, the focus
is on the selected programmes in Nepal and Ethiopia and their counterparts in Norway – and not the
whole organization.

Second, the review is focused on the “FK programs” including the South-South (SS) and not FK
activities like the communication work, training and network activities, except where it has been
 FK review 2009 NCG

relevant to assess how the work of these FK departments are enabling or impeding results of the
partnership at the outcome level. Thus the team leader tried to attend activities organized by these
departments in order to observe the FK program cycle.

Third, the review was specifically asked not to assess administrative and financial management
systems unless it had major implications on the results. Since administration and finance are integral
part of the whole program the team encountered several such issues in the field and it directed the
participants/partners to the FK staff that was part of the fieldwork in Nepal and Ethiopia so they
could deal with the issues and solve them. For the team, it was interesting to see how FK handled
such issues and assess how it could be related to the success or failure of partnerships, and what FK
could learn from it in future planning and implementation of projects.

Fourth, the team was asked to assess results of NS, SS and Youth. For the NS and Youth, we were 11
able to validate findings from both/all partners; but in the SS partnership we could only talk to the
south partners in Nepal and Ethiopia (and not their counterparts in Asia and Africa). This is a
limitation for conducting a fully-fledged review of the South-South partnerships which need to be
kept in mind for a future review/evaluation. According to FK it was a conscious decision to do the
review by country, not by partnership, the main reason being costs in relation to expected outcome.

In the field, one factor that impeded an efficient fieldwork was that records of former/alumni FK
participants were not updated. The team spent time on tracking down former FK participants in
order to assess the outcomes at their level. It should be noted that the lead consultants for Nepal
and Ethiopia assisted the network coordinators in updating the lists with information both regarding
whereabouts of the former participants (still with host partner, left the country etc) and updated the
contact information.
 FK review 2009 NCG

3. Approach and methodology

3.1 Approach

Thanks to the unique approach of FK Norway of promoting partnerships and mutual exchange of
personnel between north/south and south/south, NCG was able to compose a team of a gender/age
balanced team of consultants from Nepal, Ethiopia and Norway in order to integrate the FK values to
the evaluation methodology. One of NCG’ senior partners functioned as quality-assurer. Although
the two South consultants were unable to visit each others’ countries and conduct a peer-review of
the respective programs2, contact and communication was established internally in the team.
12
Participation from FK in the review process was established in the TOR which emphasized the
learning aspect of the review. This was underscored by FK staff taking part in some of the discussions
and meetings during the field surveys in all countries, including Norway. The FK Head of Programmes
and FK Africa representative took part in the Ethiopia field survey, while FK Head of Administration
and the FK Asia representative took part in the Nepal field survey. The team saw it as a great value-
added to have FK staff readily available when issues came up in the field. Due to FK’s complex and
multi-layered way of working, it frequently required FK to explain to the consultants why things are
done the way they are. Having the Head of Programmes in the field was particularly useful because
she knew the background of all the partnerships having worked with FK almost from the beginning.

Having stated the importance of FK Norway being closely involved in the review process for FK’s own
learning and ongoing strategy process, it was equally important to stress that it was an external team
that would provide an outside assessment of the outcomes of the partnerships in the case countries;
and thus, the team did on some occasions ask FK not to be part of meetings and interviews to ensure
that it would get more independent information from the partners and participants. In some
partnerships, the team felt that some of FK’s staff and representatives had too strong ownership to
the projects. The team feared that this would affect the ability of the respondents to be frank about
his/her experiences with FK due to fear of resources being withdrawn.

On the other hand, the team clearly communicated to each respondent, both in in-depth interviews
and focus-group discussions, that this was a learning process for FK, and that their inputs (the
outcome of the report) would inform/influence FK’s future strategic direction. The team felt that this
learning approach was much appreciated by the respondents and made them be more candid
because of the opportunity to support FK with their strategic planning.

3.2 Methodology
The main tools for collecting data on the outcomes of FK partnerships have been qualitative; direct
interviews with partners and participants of the FK exchange program combined with data from
project documents and reports. Some statistical analysis was conducted based on the data from the
web-based survey.

A mix of evaluation and assessment tools were utilized;

2
This was proposed as one possible evaluation approach, but not taken on board due to budget limitations.
 FK review 2009 NCG

- desk reviews of FK project documents; collaboration agreement, Annex I (substance of

program, Annex II budget), partners’ narrative reports, some participants’ reports to home
and host partners3, and travel reports from FK4
- secondary sources like previous evaluation/review reports of FK and literature of
volunteerism, personnel exchange, peacebuilding etc.
- in-depth interviews with partners in Norway and case countries
- in-depth interviews with current and former participants in Norway, case countries and a few
participants that have worked with the same partner organizations as above
- focus groups meetings/discussions in Norway, Nepal and Ethiopia
- observation of FK events (network meetings in case countries Nepal and Ethiopia,
preparatory and homecoming seminar in Norway)
- FK’s web-based survey of partners and participants
- Debriefing for FK both in field (Ethiopia) and Oslo after both case studies
13
- Triangulation analysis of findings including reports from FK partners and participants
obtained throughout the field survey

The review team has talked to a large number of participants and partners; current South
participants from Nepal and Ethiopia in Norway, current North and South participants in Nepal,
current North and South participants in Ethiopia, former South participants from Nepal and Ethiopia
in Norway, former North participants who were on exchange in Nepal, former North participants
who were on exchange in Ethiopia. When writing up the case studies, the involved individual
participants were given a draft of the text for comments and validation. The case studies published in
this report is approved by the individual participants and partners.

A major limitation that was also pointed out in NCG’s tender document is that assessing results at FK
partner level in an evidence-based way would require much more resources and time than what was
set aside in this assignment. An impact evaluation of results at partner level would require an in-
depth study of selected partner organizations; comparing their performance before and after the
intervention into the FK partnership programmes or trying to reconstruct what would have
happened with the FK home and host partners without the FK support and facilitation (contra factual
analysis).

The assessment of results at partner level which is conducted in this limited study is thus to a large
extent based on self-assessment; the partners’ self-reporting on progress of results at the
institutional and organizational level triangulated with data collected from the in-depth interviews
with the FK staff and participants in both Norway and the South countries.

Due to the limitations mentioned above, in the SS partnership we have only been able to talk to the
south partner in Nepal and Ethiopia (not their counterparts in Asia and Africa) with a few exceptions
where we have been able to conduct email interviews with former south participants who were
hosted in Nepal and/or Ethiopia.

3
Some partners were hesitant to share the participants’ reports with the review team as they were considered
to be internal partner documents.
4
There were few travel and/or monitoring visit reports from the FK North-South program, while the monitoring
reports from FK Africa’s external consultant were shared with the team.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Table 1 Overview of field informants

Network Current and former Current participants (out Former Embassy/
meeting partners (out of of total) participants MFA
total) (out of total)

Norway -- 10 out of 14 partners 5/13 from Norway to Nepal 10/37 – Nepal 0

working in Nepal &
Ethiopia 2/2 Ethiopia 7/31 Ethiopia

Nepal 34 16/19 14/17 (82%) 22/48 (46%) 2

Ethiopia 55 14/23 9/9 (100%) 16/56 (28%) 2

14
Total 40 33 55 4

Web-based survey

As part of its regular work, FK conducted two separate surveys in October/November 2009; one for
the former participants (not current), and another survey for current and former FK partners. The
review team was given the opportunity to comment and give inputs to the survey questions before
they were sent out. One of the comments was that both surveys were very comprehensive and that
there were too many open questions. However because FK’s different departments (Training,
Communication, Network and Program) all wanted answer to specific questions the surveys ended
up being so comprehensive (37 main questions with several sub-questions). This meant that not all
questions were relevant for this review and thus only selected questions are included in Annex IV.
The response rate was relatively low; 36 percent of the partners gave a response (129 out of 357
invited partners) and 29 per cent of former participants (952 respondents out of 3826 invitations5).
Contributing factors to the low response rate among the participants include weak internet
connections in some countries and a weak and not up-to-date database.

Among the partners, 66 percent of the respondents belonged to the civil society sector, 36 percent
to the public or semi-public sector and 11 percent to the business sector. The civil society sector is
more dominant in the South-South partnerships and Youth programmes compared to the North-
South where almost half of the respondents report that they belong to the public/semi-public sector
in Norway. The business sector also has a weaker representation in the South-South programs with
only seven percent compared to 11% in the North-South.

Looking at the individual participants, 57 percent of the respondents belonged to the NS program, 18
percent to the Youth program and 25 percent to the SS program. Among the participants 63 percent
of the respondents were from the North, while 37 percent were from the South.

5
Out of the 3826 invitation emails sent out almost 1000 emails bounced back, indicating a high number of old
addresses and not updated database of former participants and partners.
 FK review 2009 NCG

3.3 Assessment model

Based on the TOR, the team developed the below model for assessing the outcome of the FK
partnerships in the inception report.

Review criteria Main review questions (TOR) Indicators Sources

Relevance:
Partner level To what extent has the FK Match between participant’s In-depth interviews with
(institutional) partnership been relevant for the qualifications and capacity need current and former FK
capacity needs of the partners? of partner organization partners and
Equality of partners and capacity participants, web-based
to both send and receive FK survey,
To what extent has the FK
partnerships contributed to building participants FK documents
institutional capacity in home Clear identification of need and
and/host partners? results of partnership
15
Participant level To what extent have participants Match between stated plans and Participants’ reports
experienced achievements stated in participants’ own In-depth interviews with
plans (personal growth, technical experiences/perceptions current and former FK
and cultural skills, increased public participants, web-based
participation etc) survey, media reports
Society level How can FK’s relevance and FK partnerships are integrated Interviews with external
efficiency as an instrument for with major development resource persons, local
Norwegian development aid be cooperation programmes stakeholders, Norwegian
further improved? Alignment to FK regional offices Embassy, media reports,
To what extent do partners’ priorities as reflected in selection reports from partners
performance to beneficiaries criteria
contribute to poverty reduction etc.
MFA – FK Relevance to FK/MFA priority areas Alignment with Embassy in Interviews with
country/region where embassies Nepal and
partnership is taking place Ethiopia
Sustainability:
Impact How can results (ex. capacity- Partnerships and exchange of In-depth interviews with
sustainability building, networking, leadership) experience continue after the current and former FK
be sustained after FK support has financial support partners and
ended? Results developed from FK participants, web-based
exchange are sustained on survey, media reports
institutional level
Effectiveness(impact)
Partner level What are the short-term results in Partners benefit from sending In-depth interviews with
(institutional) terms of exchange of technical and receiving participants in current and former FK
skills and knowledge between the terms of skills transfer, cultural partners and
partners? What are the long-term and Social benefits etc participants, web-based
results in terms of institutional and survey
organizational development?

Participant level What are the FK effects on the Participants’ career get a boost In-depth interviews with
participants’ careers in terms of due to FK exchange current and former FK
education, employment and/or as Participants’ leadership skills participants, web-based
public spokespersons? have been greatly enhanced. FK survey, media reports,
Do FK participants assume alumni take on community other review and/or
leadership positions in their involvement roles evaluation reports etc
communities and societies? FK networks provides spin-off
How do FK participants form and effects
utilize networks with each other?
Complimentarity To what extent are FK programs FK exchanges compliment other Interview with
and partnerships complementary initiatives by bringing in Embassies, MFA and FK
to other parts of Norwegian personnel funded by Norway staff , FK partners and
development cooperation in Nepal (NOMA, NUFU, Norfund, MIC, participants, other NGOs
and Ethiopia? Rikskonsertene and embassy- and actors working in the
To what extent are there initiated projects) case countries
complementarities to other FK interacts with other exchange
 FK review 2009 NCG

exchange programs in the programs in the countries/

South/North? regions of exchange

In the TOR, the main review criteria were relevance, cost-efficiency, impact and sustainability. The
team commented in the tender document that in order to assess cost-efficiency, one would have to
assess financial and administrative procedures, while the TOR specifically stated that this was not
part of the mandate for the review. Thus, it was decided to omit this evaluation criterion.

However the team believed it was important to include complimentarity (or synergy) in order to
assess to what extent the FK programmes and partnerships are perceived as being complementary to
other parts of Norwegian development cooperation in Nepal and Ethiopia. This issue was discussed
with the embassies in the two countries – as well as with the partners. Because FK is meant to be a
tool for promoting priorities in Norwegian development cooperation (MDGs), this criterion might 16
shed light on how the complementarities can be further enhanced in FK’s next strategy period.
 FK review 2009 NCG

4. FK Context

According to the newly developed instructions for FK, the main goal of FK is to “contribute to
facilitating contact and cooperation between individuals, organizations and institutions in Norway
and the developing countries, built on solidarity, equality and mutuality”.

4.1 Partnerships

FK’s core task is to facilitate exchange of personnel between partners in Norway and South. 17
Partnerships include organizations, municipalities, schools, universities and private companies. The
primary program is targeting participants in the age group 22-35 years and includes the North-South-
North and South-South countries. A separate youth program which targets youth (up to 25 years)
being exchanged for a minimum period of three months also exists. The European exchange program
on health personnel, ESTHER, was incorporated into FK in 2008.

Table 2 Overview of FK programs6

North-South South-South Youth Esther

Direction of North-South, South-South, North-South, North-South,

exchange South-North and occasionally with South-North and in South-North and in
occasionally with North-South rare cases with some cases with
south-south component south-south south-south
component component component

Size annually Ca 70 partnerships Ca 29 partnerships Ca 20 partnerships Ca 20 participants

and 170 and 150 and 230 youth in 2009
participants participants

Age of participants 22-35 years (10% 22-35 years (10% 18-25 years Flexible, but with
may be above 35) may be above 35) young profile

Duration of Minimum 1 year, 1 year, incl. Minimum 3 months Minimum 6 months

exchange incl. preparatory preparatory course in host country, up in host country,
and follow-up and follow-up to 9 months plus 1 plus preparatory
activities activities month preparatory and follow-up
and 2 months activities
follow-up activities

Costs (NOK) per 300-350.000 NOK 250.000 NOK 100.000 NOK 350-450.000 NOK
year

6
Source: FK Annual report 2008
 FK review 2009 NCG

Participants in FK programmes
7
According to the annual report 2008 , by 31.12.08 almost 4000 participants had taken part in the exchange
programs; 39 percent in the North-South program, 39,2% in the Youth Program; 20 percent in the South-South
program and 1,6% in the now phased-out senior program. Considering that the Youth program does not have a
SS component, almost 80% of all participants have been exchanged between Norway and South (76% as of
8
end-2009, i.e. one in four is an SS participant).

Comparing Norway’s relative small size as a country the number of participants is quite significant.
From 2006 until 2009, the total number of participants has increased slightly. The NS program has
remained quite stable, while the youth program has steadily increased. In the same period, FK’s
budget has increased from 134 to 185 million NOK.

The US Peace Corps which adopts a totally different approach of one-way sending of volunteers has 18
currently around 7500 Volunteers serving in 74 countries. The majority of volunteers are women and
the average age is 25 years. Interestingly more than a third of the volunteers work in the educational
sector and almost 40% work in Africa. The annual budget is 340 million USD (2,2 billion NOK) which
equals around 300.000 NOK per volunteer (source: peacecorps.gov).

Figure 1 Number of partnerships

(source: FK Annual report 2008).

In addition to facilitating the partnership exchange, FK runs a range of activities that involves
networking and network communication in Norway aimed at raising awareness and interest about
north-south issues. Some of these are public events initiated and partly financed by FK. The aim is to
create opportunities for networking between individuals, countries, organizations and regions so that
“FK in cooperation can improve the world” (source: Fredskorpset website).

7
Annual report from 2009 was not ready by the time of the final report.
8
Comments from FK to draft report 14.01.10
 FK review 2009 NCG

Table 2 Total number of FK participants 2004-8 (numbers from FK reports)

300
250 251
229 233 231
196 209
200
170 177 162 North-South
150 144
South-South
100
Youth
50
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

19
4.2 FK program cycle

FK’s facilitating role has developed gradually over the nine years of work. Based on a learning-by-
doing approach and continuously striving to improve the benefits for participants and partners, FK
has created a program cycle (see below). How partnerships are initiated vary greatly; many of the
initiatives in the private sector and municipalities have been promoted by FK directors’ actively
encouraging engagement and the SS programs have been identified by the FK regional offices in
Africa and Asia in line with priority sectors from MFA. As it will be discussed in the next chapter, the
process of partnerships initiation and selection does have a say on the results and outcomes being
generated. The below program cycle will be referred to in chapters four and five when documenting
and assessing the outcomes.

Figure 3 FK program cycle

FK runs a series of courses and seminars: Partner courses, preparatory courses for participants and
home-coming/debrief seminars, network gatherings as well as organizing individual partner
meetings where FK representatives meets partner representatives to discuss and evaluate projects.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Partner seminars are organized by FK like an introduction to new partners or for consulting with the
partners on important issues.9 As will be discussed in the assessment section of the report this cycle
is practised differently in the FK regional offices and by the NS and SS program officers. The factors
that seems to vary the most is FK’s role in observing the joint planning sessions, the mid-term review
and the follow-up work in the home organizations. One key difference though is that while in the SS
program, the program officers “accompany” the participants through the whole program cycle from
identifying partners and approving a feasibility study to attending preparatory course, visiting the
participant and partner during the exchange, observing the mid-term review and debrief etc, the NS
and Youth programs are organized according to the functions (prep course, mid-term, follow-up)
rather than having the partnership as the organizing principle. Thus, in Oslo the preparatory courses
and the Home-coming seminars are organized by a separate Training Department, while the
planning, implementation and follow-up are facilitated by the Program Department. The main reason 20
for this difference is that in the regional offices, the program officers have 5-6 partnerships to follow,
while in Oslo, the program officers have a larger group of partnerships.10

4.3 Directions from MFA

FK is a governmental agency11 directly under the instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Norway. In line with the missions of other governmental agencies such as Norad and Norfund, FK
should serve an instrument for achieving the development policy goals of the Norwegian
government. The Norwegian parliament (Stortinget) appropriates the annual budgets; for 2010, the
proposed budget for FK was 185,2 million NOK.12

Norwegian priority areas for development cooperation are each year proposed by the MFA and
presented to the Storting. The most recent white Paper on Norwegian development policy, “Climate,
Conflict and Capital” directs the work of governmental agencies such as FK. The current five priority
areas of Norway are i) climate change, the environment and sustainable development; ii) peace
building, human rights and humanitarian assistance; iii) oil and clean energy; iv) women and gender
equality; and v) good governance and the fight against corruption.

In the current white paper, FK is not mentioned at all as a tool for Norwegian development
cooperation while Norfund is mentioned several times with examples of successful results in case
boxes, and naturally Norad is one of the major agencies mentioned frequently.

9
The review team was unable to attend any of these meetings, nor review the programs/minutes from
seminars.
10
According to FK, each North-South program officer caters for up to 20 partnerships.
11
Until May 2009, FK was governed by a board appointed by MFA which included representatives from FK
partners, MFA and independents. An external assessment of the need for a board was commissioned by MFA
and conducted by the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (DIFI). The report from DIFI
recommended that MFA clarify its directions and guidelines to FK and to dissolve the board. Although new
directions to FK was not yet approved at the time of this review, the FK director now report directly to the
section of development policy in the MFA.
12
Fredskorpset is funded over chapter 160, post 77, Civil Society and Democratization. The budget for Norad
was one billion NOK, and for Norfund 585 million NOK.
 FK review 2009 NCG

4.4 Follow-up of last evaluation

In the first comprehensive evaluation of the “new” FK conducted by Norad in 2006, the FK’s
partnership portfolio was found to be highly relevant to both Norwegian and host country’s
development cooperation priorities. The evaluation concluded that FK fills a niche within Norwegian
development cooperation. The evaluation gave several recommendations that are relevant to this
study as they would affect the planning, implementing, monitoring and sustaining of results.

Table 3 Recommendations from 2006 Evaluation

Recommendation 2006 Evaluation Progress/comments 21
1. MFA should not add too many responsibilities on top of the existing MFA added ESTHER
ones so that Fredskorpset can be given time to focus on its core business. program line to FK in 2008

2. Introduce a performance based planning and budgeting system with Process started by FK
performance indicators etc. program dept, new format
for Annex I with
performance indicators
3. Feasibility studies must identify tangible outputs, and these should be Feasibility studies not
utilized to establish a simple performance indicator system (MIS) to guide actively used
partners and FK managers to improve the quality of the exchanges.
4. Senior Program is expensive and has not as yet added value. Merge Senior program phased out
the Senior and the Primary programs and let exchanges be flexible within in 2007
a framework focusing on the needs of the partners for capacity building
5. Expertise in capacity building should be made available to partners. Partly implemented,
program officers in SS and
NS function as “experts”,
but insufficient as PO are
overloaded with facilitation
of partnerships
6. Partners sometimes need additional financial resources in order to FK provides ad-hoc funds for
ensure that enhanced skills of participants can be used for the benefit of follow-up activities of
13
the South organization. participants
9. FK should intensify its monitoring of the North-South exchanges, in Not implemented; has
particular in the South. This is probably most easily done through giving negative implications for
the regional offices this responsibility in addition to their current tasks monitoring partnerships in
with the South-South Program. the NS program
10. FK needs to re-consider its organizational structure in the South. The Not implemented; has
2006-2011 Strategic Plan should include an organizational development negative implications for the
plan and a human resources development plan, which utilizes potential effectiveness of the
synergies and integrates the Secretariat and the regional offices in terms partnerships in the NS
of management systems and staff experience and competences. program
11. Board should review ways and means of enhancing the influence of Not applicable as board was
the South partners at the Board level. dissolved in 2009

13
Recommendations 7, 8 on FK’s information and communication work were not relevant for this study.
 FK review 2009 NCG

5. Program outcomes

In the below section the results of the FK partnerships are discussed according to FK’s own result
areas (institutional capacity-building, peace-and bridge-building, networking and leadership). Results
at partner-level in thematic categories of health, media, education, human rights, business etc are
discussed intermittently in the report, and finally this chapter provides a brief analysis on two
unintended consequences.

22
5.1 Institutional capacity-building
When assessing to which extent institutional capacity had been built in the FK partnerships that were
assessed in Norway, Nepal and Ethiopia, the team found a range of good outcomes; in many of the
organizations and institutions technical expertise had clearly been developed at personal level and in
several cases transferred to institutions through development of systems and mechanisms, and
enhancement of services. Quantifying the institutionalization, technical expertise was found to have
been transferred to an institutional level in all the 30 South partners reviewed. Expertise in the field
of writing tenders for the private companies and fund-raising proposals among the NGOs. The
partners reported that this was of great help both when they hosted foreign participants and when
they reintegrated the returning participants.

Part of the fund-raising abilities was related to improved language skills. The Ethiopian participants
especially reported that they had the opportunities to improve their English language and writing
skills and had learnt how things can be done differently and more efficiently. The 10 North partners
involved in Ethiopia and Nepal receiving South participants in Norway reported that one of the
biggest challenges in the partnership was to utilize their knowledge (question 16 cross-tabulated
with type of program). 32 percent of all the partners irrespective of North or South background
reported that this challenge, while almost 60 percent of the North partners highlighted it (FK Survey).
From FK’s side underutilization of South participants’ technical competence and capacity at an
institutional level in Norway is a known issue. FK tries to monitor to assess if the South participants
face these types of challenges. A good outcome and potentially best practice in the opposite case,
where South participants’ competence have been utilized, was found among the FIVH South
participants from NEFEJ in Nepal who produced documentaries on various environmental issues that
were relevant for both their host and home partner (see also case study on NEFEJ-FIVH).

Besides the technical skills individuals have also strengthen their skills for problem solving and
working with complexities which have enriched their work back home. Supervisors shares that
participants come back with wider perspective and strengthened confidence. Hence organizations
have been able to benefit from the enhanced capacity of the participants sent as well as expertise of
the participants received.

Both South partners and participants reported that a key asset learnt on the individual level in the NS
program was to adopt a stronger result focus in their work. Both Ethiopians and Nepalese stated
that the stay in Norway taught them to set clearer goals for what they wanted to achieve and work
more systematic in order to obtain it. Although the result is mainly individual, it might be transferred
to the institutional level provided that the participant is reintegrated in the primary partner. The
supervisor of a South participant from Ethiopia (who was not satisfied that his skills had been
appreciated in Norway) stated that the participant had become clearly more results-focused upon his
return to Ethiopia.
 FK review 2009 NCG

For the North participants being hosted in the South, an opposite valuable skill was learnt: to be
more flexible in the work; learn to be impulsive, do tasks “outside the box” and agree to conduct
assignments even if wasn’t planned for in advance. Several participants reported that this total
opposite to “results-based planning” was too much to handle for some of the North participants who
felt that they were “wasting” their time if they couldn’t plan sufficiently beforehand. The lack of
prepared plans led some participants to break off the exchange period earlier, while for others –
after the initial resistance – learning to be flexible is a highly valued outcome of their FK stay.

Another institutional result found was that partner organizations had experienced greater
institutional visibility and credibility due to the international exposure the organizations had been
able to provide to their staff, members, and students. The FK exchange enhanced their institutional
profile, developed their credibility as an institution with international linkages and opened doors. For
instance, the Environmental Journalist Association in Ethiopia (EEJA) had its institutional visibility
greatly improved as a result of the program. EEJA has after the FK program managed to be a member 23
of several regional and international networks.

FK program has also been used as a tool for incentive for the organizations by providing
international exposure to the individuals (CV enrichment), often promoting loyalty to the institutions.
Many partners were found to have loyalty to the organizations as a key criterion for selection
participants though not explicitly mentioned.

Comparing the institutional outcomes between one SS and one NS business partnership in Nepal and
Ethiopia (Fair Trade and Norplan-Shebelle), the outcomes on the SS was clearly stronger than the NS
partnership mainly due to the match between the participants’ qualifications and the needs of the
partners. In the SS program, the planning process had been more thorough compared to that in the
NS program, where the partners had not spent sufficient time jointly planning the outcomes of the
exchange. The NS partners had not utilized the available funding for FK to meet and thoroughly
discuss through the needs of both partners. According to the North partner, there was recognition
that the results had not been as forthcoming in Ethiopia as in the other countries where Norplan had
FK exchange programs (Uganda and Tanzania). One reason for that seemed to be linked to a lack of
joint planning and preparing for the exchange periods before the sending and receiving of
participants.

The third private sector partnership in the two case countries (Nepal productions and Monal export)
was found to be a very different partnership than the others. There are two partners; a designer
(Leila Hafzi) and a cargo company (Monal export). The South partner is taking care of exporting the
designer clothes produced in Nepal to
Norway and ensures payments from Nepal
productions to the factories, the seven main
sub-contractors (two pashmina factories,
bio-handcraft, natural, gems, organiza silk
and buttons factory). The current FK
participant who has been in Nepal almost
two years spends a lot of her time
coordinating the work of the seven sub-
contractors. There are great results of her
work in terms of increased production (50
percent increase according to NP), a higher
quality of the work due to better
communication between Norway and Nepal thanks to the Nepali tailor who is on Norway working on
Nepal productions, and the Norwegian FK participant based in Nepal. The designer has recently
received great recognition and fame for her beautiful dresses (worn amongst others in the Eurovision
Song Contest in 2009) and the success is forthcoming for the North partner.
 FK review 2009 NCG

The main weakness in this partnership from the team’s analysis is the inequality of the two
partners14, and the weak transfer of institutional skills from the Norwegian FK participant to the
Nepalese in the partner company (Monal). This partnership was the only one where we found that
the North participant would give a one-month handover period to the incoming North participants in
the last phase (2010/11). This is in itself an indicator that there is no person in Nepal who could fill
the current role of the North participant. The partnership could thus be seen as gap-filling rather
than transferring skills to the local partners. This weakens the institutional outcomes in this private
sector partnership. Having said that, the results on the individual level found on the North participant
staying in Nepal was some of the most impressive observed in the whole fieldwork in both countries.
She spoke the local language well, and seemed extremely well integrated and very well liked and
respected by the people she was working with. In that sense, the participant was indeed a wonderful
Fredskorpset ambassador for Norway in Nepal (see photo above). This case study sheds light on an
interesting dilemma for FK; is it sufficient that outcomes are strong on an individual level and to one
partner, but not the other? In this case, the team would be favorable to allowing some degree of 24
flexibility to results on individual level even if the institutional outcomes were not so strong.
However when a partnership is renewed it is exactly these kinds of issues that FK needs to facilitate a
dialogue on between the partners.

POURAKHI - Transfer of Technology: Possibility and Challenges

POURAKHI, an organization formed by returnee Nepali women migrant workers, working for the rights of
migrant women workers was established in 2003. As a newly established organisation, POURAKHI was in need
for capacity building support of its members as well as exposure to international
partnership and networks to establish its credibility and visibility. Through its contacts
(previous partners of FK), POURAKH learnt about the FK program, and was able to
apply for the project led by South Asian Research & Development Initiative (SARDI)
India in partnership with SHISUK, Bangladesh in 2006. Raks Thai Foundation, Thailand
was included in the partnership from 2009. When SARDI dropped out of the
partnership in the first round, POURAKHI took over the leadership.

POURAKHI believes that FK partnership has been instrumental for their capacity
enhancement and giving them access and credibility. The organisation has been able to

solicit additional program funding from the proposal developed by the

participants hosted by them (UNFEM funded project "Deepening
Democracy: Women's participation in peace and politics). Having
additional staff for the organisation, in form of the participants
received, supporting them with the program and day to day
organisational affairs such as documentation, annual reporting,
reporting to donor and organisational administration has been a great
value for POURAKH. Md Kazi Ahshan Habib Zakir, the current
participant hosted by POURAKHI from SHISUK Bangladesh, has been trying to transfer the community based
development model (in fishery) pioneered by them, which has been awarded as the best model for
strengthening livelihood for alleviating poverty by ‘Independent south Asian commission on poverty
alleviation’.

A study had been conducted for the replication of the model and some community members trained.
POURAKHI shares that adopting the model borrowed from another sector is often a challenge considering the
different environmental setting while Zakir believes that the model can be replicated irrespective of sector, the

14
FK believes that in general, inequality and differences between partners is not a problem. As long as the
different partners consider each other to have the same value, this can create a good complementarities.
 FK review 2009 NCG

only challenge is the fund to design and implement the project. POURAKHI has only few projects (2) and hence
less opportunity to experiment with the SHISUK's model on enterprise approach for community based fisheries
management and replicate. The participants received by POURAKHI believes that they have contributed a lot to
their host organisation, and in return are taking with them the knowledge of the fund raising model of
POURAKHI which Zakir and Sabiha Laizu Nishi would like to implement in SHISUK for organisational
sustainability. Additionally, they also have been able to Liaison with South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) secretariat here in Kathmandu and seek assignment for SHISUK to set a consortium of
NGOs in Bangladesh for achieving the SAARC Development Goal. They have also visited the LWF (local INGO)
and shared their model, which they believe is a way of contributing to their host organization’s visibility.

Institutional capacity in health

25
15
Substantial efforts and resources have been channelled into the health sector through the FK. The
largest partner in this study (which encompasses only Nepal and Ethiopia) is the Department of
International Collaboration at Haukeland University Hospital (HUH) in Bergen which has had a long-
term cooperation with two health institutions in Ethiopia (Yekatit 12 and ALERT). Combined with a
tripartite agreement with a hospital in India (CMC), the outcomes of this partnership were found to
be substantial in terms of complimentarity. FK has been a tool for propping up the results on the
institutional level for the Ethiopian (and Indian) partners. FK personnel exchange was combined with
funding from Norad, the Norwegian Embassy, along with scholarships from NOMA. This combined
sandwich model gave strong synergies.

The outcomes on the South partner level (Yekatit 12) are well documented; a burns unit has been
established, the cooperation continued with CLP and reconstructive surgery, and a spin-off effect is
that Yekatit 12 today has fully trained plastic surgeries and has become a training hospital. The
outcomes for North partner (HUH) were weaker. HUH reported challenges mentioned above under
institutional capacity-building like being unable to fully utilize the participants’ skills and competence
in Bergen. Another challenge was that the medical staff in the different HUH sections that agreed to
mentor the Ethiopian participants (Physiotherapy and Medical-technology) were not provided with
any additional support or facilitation to train and mentor the South participants. The task was added
on top of their daily routines and work.

In the South-South program in Asia a comprehensive partnership is ongoing on health research and
research training activities between the Epidemiology Unit, Prince of Songkla University (PSU),
Songkhla, Thailand (primary partner), and Sekwa Eye Hospital, China, Center for Research Training &
International Relations (CRTIR), Nepal, Impact Foundation Bangladesh, Bangladesh and the State
Research Center on Maternal and Child Health and Human Reproduction (MCH Center) in Mongolia
(see case study below).

15
The most recent health partnership (not included in this study) was signed in 2009, “Safe use of radiation in
diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy” between the University Hospital of Tromsø (UiT), Faculty of Health
Sciences and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and Institute of Medicine (TU Teaching Hospital, IOM).
 FK review 2009 NCG

CRTIR –

Capacity of the organization – managing expectation and providing enabling environment

Center for Research, Training and International Relation (CRTIR) is the research wing of Stupa Health Care
Cooperative (SHCC), which was established in 2001. SHCC aimed to serve the community through education
and research services, but before the FK program, only its academic wing National Institute to Health Science
(NIHS) was functional while its research wing, CRTIR was dormant, in absence of adequate capacity to
undertake research initiatives. Hence, with the aim to strengthen its research capacity, through Narvada Thapa
(share holder and part time faculty member), who was a student in PSU the FK program was initiated in 2006 in
partnership with Epidemiology Unit; PSU; Hat Yai, Thailand; Sekwa Eye Hospital, Beijing, China; Impact
Foundation Bangladesh (IFB), Bangladesh; and State Research Center on Maternal and Child Health and Human
Reproduction (MCH Center), Mongolia.
CRTIR believes that the FK partnership was instrumental in reviving their research wing, with an 26
identity of its own. The program gave them the credibility and visibility required for enhancing its institutional
profile because of the internationally trained researchers, the research articles published in international
journals and international linkages. As an independent entity, CRTIR took over the role of a key partner from
the second phase of the FK program, which earlier was handled by NIHS. CRTIR shares “earlier, for developing
any research proposal external consultants had to be hired and the proposed team members were also external
consultants, but now we can develop research proposals ourselves, comprising the research team of our own
faculty members”. As an initiative to revive CRTIR, after the participants returned, their Job descriptions were
revised to assign them to the research wing with more research responsibility and specific time allocation for
research proposal development. 6 research proposals are currently submitted to University Grant Commission,
out of which 4 proposals have been short listed for the final round of selection (yet to be awarded). Further, 1
research is currently being undertaken by the institution (self funded by CRTIR, present participant is engaged
presently in this research). Further, CRTIR also believes that the FK program has been instrumental in
strengthening the institution and capacitating them to explore linkages with other institutions and also
mobilize local resources. CRTIR has been able to rent a building and seek funding support from NNCTR for
developing a training hall and they are also in the process of signing a MoU with Bangladesh Institute of Health
Science for exchange of student and conducting international conference jointly. CRTIR now aims to diversify
into consultancy research in addition to academic research in the future, for organizational sustainability, as
they believe they now have the human resource and technical capacity to enter into this sector. Being a social
sector organisation, they are not eligible to enter consultancy services, once this technical problem is sorted
out, this would be a key milestone for CRTIR.
With all these achievements, there have been challenges as well for CRTIR in terms of managing the
expectation of the participants who returned from the exchange with increased competencies and
expectations. CRTIR shared “the participants have returned with immense confidence, enthusiasm and
commitment but are soon frustrated in absence of adequate opportunity to experiment with their ideas and
apply learning”. In absence of adequate resources they are finding it difficult to provide the participants
(especially those who come back with highly specialized skills as in case of research) the required opportunity
and enabling environment to keep them motivated and apply their competencies which is also crucial for
institutionalizing their learning in the home organizations. After the exchange program the faculty members
are still expected to continue their academic teaching responsibilities but the participants are more eager for
research assignment which is not available often due to lack of resources, creating de-motivation and
frustrations among the participants. CRTIR further shares “ we need to seriously think how we are going to
utilize the enhanced skills and additional capacity of the participants after they return, how we can ensure that
the participants have realistic expectation as well as how we can provide them the environment that can be
mutually beneficial for both the institution and the participants”. As in the case of a participant from IFB,
presently hosted by CRTIR, a research “Community Diagnosis of Dhulikhel Municipality” has to be initiated by
its own funding just for the sake of giving Rahul the required practical exposure, CRTIR adds “we have the
capacity to give theoretical knowledge to the participants, but practical skill transfer requires resources which is
not always available”. CRTIR expects FK to support with creating the enabling environment and giving the
 FK review 2009 NCG

participants the opportunity/scope for applying and institutionalizing their knowledge, in form of post
exchange support program or supporting the organizations to establish linkages with other like minded
institutions for collaborative programs which would be helpful for creating opportunities for the exchange
participants as well as build capacity of the organization.
The participants from CRTIR who was sent to PSU have gained immensely from the exposure but the
experience has been different for Bhumika Sharma (faculty member since 2006) who was placed in IFB
Bangladesh as part of the FK exchange program. Initially she was very enthusiastic of the opportunity to
strengthen her research competencies but soon faced disappointment, as they were neither professionals nor
any on-going research opportunity for learning. She recalls “since I had to make my stay productive, I developed
my own research project, developing all the tools and methodology on my own, my host organization did
provide the administrative support but in terms of technical support, I was on my own. Since the outcome of my
research was not very encouraging for the host organization, they were least interested in it and did not take it
seriously”. Reflecting back on the experience, beside the confidence in leading research independently, in
27
terms of additional/new skill enhancement, she thinks the gain is minimal. Bhumika belives that she could have
learned more and contributed more if there host organization had more research capacity and if her expertise
had been more valuable or relevance to the hosts organization.

In 2008, FK was given the task of administrating ESTHER, an instrument to motivate hospitals and
health institutions in Europe and in the South to establish cooperation, on behalf of MFA. The 2008-9
budget is NOK 10 million annually (USD 1,5 mill.). ESTHER - Ensemble pour une Solidaté
Thérapeutique Hospitalière En Réseau, was initiated by France with a main focus on HIV/AIDS, joined
by other European states in 2002 and 2004/2006, and by Norway in 2008. The Norwegian ESTHER
program focuses on broader health system issues, including HIV and AIDS, in particular strengthening
the health workforce and the MDGs 4, 5 and 6 (children, mothers and HIV/AIDS).

As a result of the ESTHER program, FK together with Norad and the Directorate of Health is in the
process of establishing a platform for exchange of knowledge and experience in Norway, a
Norwegian Health Development Network.16 Apart from that FK has not been provided particular
health management expertise in order to follow-up these projects. Although the arrangement
provides for utilization of Norad’s health section in this respect, the team took note that adding a
new program component (ESTHER) to FK was against the main recommendation of the 2006 Norad
evaluation of FK. A second observation is that in order to get Norwegian health institutions on board
FK partnerships, careful considerations must be made as to the level of administrative support to the
North partners. The HUH Physiotherapy and Medical-technology sections reported that they were
unable to commit to taking in new South participants at this stage because of the weak financial
incentives for the Norwegian partners.

Capacity-building

Finally, in this section of the report, the team analyzed the findings from the web-survey with regards
to partners’ and participants satisfaction with FK as a tool for building capacity. As seen in the table
below, the South partners were in general more satisfied with the capacity-building in their
institutions than the North partners. 50 percent of the secondary South Partners were very satisfied
with the capacity-building component of the exchange while one third of the North Primary partners
were ‘very satisfied. The team tried to cross-tabulate in order to find out which programs the
secondary south partners belong to (South-South, or North-South). However there were no clear

16 rd
Start-up meeting took place on 3 December 2009 in the Norwegian Health Directorate in cooperation with
Norad.
 FK review 2009 NCG

findings on that point; 41 percent of the partners in the NS programs were ‘very satisfied’ with the
capacity-building effects, and 37 percent of the SS program also reported that they were “very
satisfied”.

Table 4 Partners satisfaction with capacity-building

Question 11. How satisfied is your organization with the capacity building related to the FK exchange?

Very Quite Satisfied Less than Not satisfied at Don't

satisfied satisfied satisfied all know
% % % % % %
Primary partner, North 36,8 30,2 45,2 34,6 100,0 0,0
28
Secondary partner, South 44,8 49,1 35,7 53,8 0,0 100,0
Primary partner, South 19,2 18,9 21,4 15,4 0,0 0,0
Secondary partner North 2,4 3,8 2,4 0,0 0,0 0,0
N 125 53 42 26 2 1

When the partners were asked to range the institutional results gained in the FK exchange program,
the alternative “organization developed” scored highest; almost 60 per cent stated that this was the
most important gain, while 51 per cent believed language skills were the most important result
gained and technical skills was mentioned by 56 percent. General results like “staff better trained”
(44%) and “staff more motivated” (57%) where other gains. “Leadership improved” at the partner
level was listed as an important result by 37 percent of the respondents, i.e. the least reported
benefit.

Summing up, the team found that on an overall level, the FK program is contributing to the career
developments of individual participants which is usually linked to the institutional capacity of the
partner organizations. For the membership based-organizations like the media women, the lawyers’
networks, the personal career development of participants was more clearly observed than the
benefits to the partner organizations since they did not work in the home organizations (due to the
nature of the media women organizations).

The partners from the South were more satisfied with the capacity-building results than the partners
from the North, while it is not clear from the survey whether the NS or SS programs are perceived as
most effective when building capacity in the organizations. Bases on the field interviews however the
South-South seems to be a better instrument for transferring technical skills and expertise as
participants spend less time adjusting to the culture and society and can start working shortly after
being placed in a host partner. Other factors similar working context, similar issues/challenges hence
can relate to, working themes are more relevant.

There are strong outcomes of FK partnerships building institutional capacity. However, FKs
facilitation and monitoring of the “institutionalization of results”, i.e. transfer of capacity at
institutional level could be improved. Based on the finding of the institutional capacity-building level,
the following result framework with expected results, result indicators and sources, could be utilized
for aiding FK in defining the strength (or weakness of a result).
 FK review 2009 NCG

Table 5 Proposed result indicators capacity-building

Expected result Result indicators Means of Verification

Institutional capacity-building
Partner 1. FK partnerships are contributing Match between participant’s New FK monitoring reports
level to capacity-building equitably to qualifications and capacity need of include focus on:
(institutiona partners involved in project partner
l) –Partners have capacity to both - rapid organizational
2. Results are sustained in terms of
send and receive participants assessment of
knowledge, skills or experience
partners capacity
after FK support has ended. Partnerships and exchange of
experience on different levels - follow-up activities
continue after the financial support
Inputs and comments from
FK partners
29
Participant 3. Participants learn and transfer Application of skills, confidence of FK monitoring reports on
level back home technical skills gained the participants in their area of current and former FK
during exchange work, training other/sharing participants
expertise
4. Participants develop personal Partners encourage, provide Regular use of FK web-
growth, enhanced cross-cultural incentives and enabling surveys before/after
skills, gender awareness, institutional environment exchange
increased understanding for
Changes in work position
democratic organisations and
public participation Change in the quality of work (job
responsibility)
Society level 5. FK’s relevance and efficiency is an FK partnerships are used to FK regular monitoring
instrument for Norwegian strengthen results in major reports include
development cooperation development cooperation consultation with external
6. Strengthening relationships with programmes (ex in health, stakeholders, incl
the stakeholder (community, education, NOMA, embassy Embassies and MFA
government, existing funding funding, PSD) Media reports
partner, like minded Partners’ performance increase Annual reports from
organizations), cooperation results at community level (access partners including
7. End-users (beneficiaries) receive to additional opportunities, funds, overview of new projects
improved services/benefits contacts, themes broadening initiated due to FK contacts
End-users’ survey and/or
qualitative inputs from
partners’ beneficiaries

5.2 Peace and bridge-building

Since the establishment of Fredskorpset in Norway in 1963 and all the way to the new FK Norway
established in 2000, the rationale for its existence has been based on ideas of bridge building
between nations and people, increased understanding and the promotion of peace. Literally
Fredskorpset means Peace Corps. One of the ideologists behind FK Norway, Johan Galtung, had the
idea that FK Norway could play an even more active role in peace building, giving all participants an
explicit role in promoting peace (FK Annual Report 2008).

During the historic context of Cold War in the 1960s, building bridges between people from the
different parts of the world had a completely different meaning then than today – where half of the
world is easily available with a couple of ‘google’ clicks on internet. At the same time, even if the
world has become smaller, the differences between rich and poor have grown. But these differences
do not necessarily cut across north and south they are more likely to follow socio-economic lines
within the developing or developed world. A Nepalese girl attending a private school in the capital’s
richer district with educated parents might find that she has more in common with a Norwegian girl
the same age than a displaced girl from the lower castes in the poor areas of the Terai – a girl from
 FK review 2009 NCG

the rural areas of Ethiopia where poverty is still widespread and people lack basic health and
education services and electricity.

Due to the fact that differences are as large within Southern countries as between North-South, FK’s
South-South partnerships build bridges and create meeting places between people within Asia or
Africa continents. The cross-cultural exchanges observed by the review team in Ethiopia, Nepal and
Norway cannot qualify for peace building projects per se. Peace building encompasses a broad range
of long-term initiatives aimed at patching up war-torn societies by strengthening the societies’
“connectors” (what binds people together) and weakening the “dividers” and spoilers (CDA, 1998). In
order for a program to have a peace-building function, it must be either targeting directly the root
causes of a conflict or pave the way for and/or support peacemaking processes in countries of
conflict. Many elements of peacebuilding are the same as those of development co-operation with
countries that are not affected by conflict, but the context and purpose are different and require an
extra-sensitive approach to what should be done and how it should be done (MFA/CMI,2004). 30
According to FK however, its concept of peacebuilding is a broader and general definition, and FK has
been instructed by MFA not to try and play an intervention role in conflict areas.17

Both case countries (Nepal and Ethiopia) are post-conflict countries, Nepal more recent than Ethiopia
and there are many root causes that FK partnerships could be working on if that had been planned.
Both countries, especially Ethiopia, also have tense relationship with their neighbors, which could be
potential themes for partnerships across Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya just to mention a few of
the neighbors that could need some low-key bridgebuilding.

Currently, none of the case countries have partnerships that target causes of conflicts or aim at
exchanging young people from potential flare-up countries. Thus, there are no outcomes on
peacebuilding to elaborate on here. The only initiative the team heard about was in Asia, where in
2007, FK facilitated an exchange between socially engaged Buddhist organizations, which are
members of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB). The main objectives of the INEB
exchange has been to empower youths in Asian countries to integrate spirituality into peace building
and sustainable development work, and to support the learning process of a deeper understanding
of factors that can bring about individual and social change (FK Annual Report, 2007).

All FK partnerships have however strong elements of building friendships and cross-cultural
understanding, the preparatory courses and debrief/home-coming seminars organised by FK are very
important milestones for the participants in forming friendships. Some participants reported that the
FK seminars were some of the best activities they attended – a ‘highlight’ of the whole exchange
period.

The outcomes of friendships among participants can transcend to an institutional level – depending
on whether the participants are staff or members/volunteers of their home organizations. If staff,
then friendships formed between individual FK participants can be transferred to the institutional
partner levels. On another institutional level - although not present in the two case countries under
review, many FK partnerships consist of friendship municipalities and/or friendship schools organized
under the umbrella of Friendship North/South (VNS) or the Municipalities international cooperation
(MIC) project.

In the FK web survey 83 percent of the respondents rated “friendship across borders’ as the most
important result, while 78 percent agreed that cultural knowledge is the most important result. In
the survey, it should be noted that the respondent was able to check multiple choices:
• Friendships across borders 83 %
• Cultural knowledge 78 %

17
Interview with FK directors.
 FK review 2009 NCG

• Intercultural acceptance 58 %
• International exposure 59 %

This study would sum up by stating that FK’s overall and long term goal is building bridges across
different cultures and societies. It is the vision and mission of FK and a cross-cutting issue; rather
than a specific result area. If partnerships are planned to directly target causes of conflict – perhaps
in complimentarity with other peacebuilding programs – the planned outcomes can be on
peacebuilding and conflict resolution/prevention/transformation like suggested in the frame below.
Thus, it might be more relevant to view bridge- and peacebuilding as a cross-cutting issue in all FK
partnership; from teaching participants in the preparatory courses “do no harm” techniques in order
to prepare them for the potential tensions and conflicts that can arise due to their being in host
organizations. By giving participants tools for analyzing how external aid (FK programs are part of the 31
development cooperation/aid mechanisms) interferes with internal issues and play into
organizational struggles etc. the participant will be better prepared and able to see his/her own role
in the development of partnerships that build bridges.

Table 6 Proposed result indicators peace- and bridge building

Expected result Result indicators Means of Verification

Peace and bridge-building

Partner level Partners divided along lines of Periodic meetings, FK planning format, and
(institutional) religion/ ethnicity/caste/geography shared goal is organisational
develop a shared purpose of exchange internalised assessment form include
focus on:
- root causes of
conflict between
countries involved
Inputs and comments
from FK partners
Participant Increased understanding of different Participants’ own FK monitoring reports
level countries’ culture, religion, causes of perceptions measured and thru sample field
conflict etc. through qualitative visits on current and
Participants are taught individual and interviews or surveys former FK participants
group techniques for conflict Regular use of FK web-
management and resolution surveys before/after
exchange
Society level FK interventions too small to have an
impact on society level

Summing up, the team understands that FK’s roots stem from a solidarity tradition of building
bridges for peace and understanding. FK’s main mission is not specific peacebuilding work, but a
broader definition of term: Fredskorpset’s core mission could be defined as an exchange program
that is fostering global citizens and leaders for the future by building institutional capacity in areas of
health, education, civil society, and business. Peace- and bridgebuilding is today more of a cross-
cutting issue in all FK partnership than a specific outcome area that FK’s staff report on because the
interventions are not directly targeting the causes of conflict, and interventions are limited in scope.
 FK review 2009 NCG

5.3 Networking

FK Norway is in itself a large network of more than 400 organizations around the world forming
partnerships with each other. Each partnership also forms a network, involving from two to eight
partner institutions exchanging people and ideas between them. Participants from the same
partnership often form valuable networks to work on their thematic areas. Participants also very
often form networks with other participants they met at the preparatory course, or with other FK
participants being exchanged to the same country or the same town as themselves.

Among the main outcomes identified under this program areas are:

• Strengthening institutional relationship: The FK partnership have helped strengthen the

partner’s relationship with donors and enriched their existing partnership/program. Several
examples could be quoted such as NCDC in Nepal and WAT in Ethiopia’s relationship with DF
32
Norway. INSEC in Nepal shares that their relationship with CHRD is much closer with more
frequent communication and coordination which was not there before the FK partnership even
though they were from the same alliance (Forum Asia which is a membership based organization
with 46 members).

In terms of international network leading to concrete results such as access to additional

opportunities and new partnerships, the outcomes could not be identified clearly in Nepal and
Ethiopia. Although some of the partnerships have indicated this as a key results and purpose of the
exchange the team was unable to validate these results. In some cases where this was highlighted as
a key result (for example in Pourakhi, where the participants have been able to contact South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) secretariat in Nepal and seek assignment for SHISUK to
set a consortium of NGOs in Bangladesh for achieving the SAARC Development Goal) or among the
media women and/or female networks of journalists in Ethiopia), it has hard to validate that the
additional sources came from the FK partnerships as these organizations were already cooperating
before FK came in.

Networking were in many of the examples found to be more at the individual level, mostly personal
and only some professional (e.g. CJMC participants sent was able to be British Broadcasting
corporation (BBC) correspondent (reporter) which has boosted his career; same with African women
media associations) and it was more of a individual initiative rather than promoted as part of the
exchange program. Institutional networking through the exchange participants was not concretely
focused. FK’s prep course has also been an important means to strengthen individuals’ network.

One of the eldest partnerships for FK Africa is ANPPCAN, a regional network of 22 African countries
working on advocacy for children’s rights. The primary partner is ANPPCAN Kenya and the secondary
partners are ANPPCAN Chapters of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia,and Uganda. The organization has
come to know the FK program through the regional ANPPCAN network office in Nairobi and has been
one of the beneficiaries of the program since 2002. So far, the organization has sent 8 participants to
different African countries (Kenya, Liberia, Uganda and Kenya) and received 6 participants from
Uganda (1), Liberia (1), Kenya (2) and Mauritius (2).

Results identified by the team refer to the career development of the participants and also the
institutional capacity building of the partner organization. After returning, the participants have
acquired additional skills such as language and analytical skills and developed confidence. In general,
the participants have improved communication skills, more confidence in their work and have
aspiration for better responsibilities. It was reported by ANPPCAN Ethiopia that the participants have
been taking more responsibilities within the organization. For instance, one of them was a project
officer before the exchange program but promoted to the program coordination role. The other
 FK review 2009 NCG

participant was a project coordinator in Gondar town and now is based in Addis as a program
coordinator. Their salaries and status have changed significantly.

The incoming participants have also contributed to the institutional capacity and networking to the
ANPPCAN Ethiopia. The participants have prepared project proposals for funding to the EU which
was successful. They have contributed to the improved publications of the ANPPCAN and have also
served as resource persons in different organizations representing the organization. This has
generally positive development for the institutional capacity of the ANPPCAN since there have been
skill transfers to other staff members, the quality of work has improved as the result of the exposure
and experience gained from the program. Language skills have also been improved which are
reflected in the writing skills of the participants. It was noted that in terms of institutional capacity, it
was found to be more relevant to send to the south instead of to the north. The risk of staff turnover
has also been noted and stated that as long as the participants are within Ethiopia, they would
contribute to the efforts of the country in different sectors but the problem comes when they leave 33
the country. South to south program would be more productive, especially if the participants are
sent to Asia which are a growing continent and the experience of these counties are relevant to the
Ethiopian situation. Before the FK program, the ANPPCAN members used to meet once in two years
and communications were very weak. Joint East African program on child trafficking has been
developed as a result of the program and more frequent meetings are taking place.

FK Networks

Partners self-reported however that they had greatly benefited from the FK meetings where all the
FK partners come together for sharing, but this is mostly at the top management level and the
international level, like in the bi-annual Forum meetings.

One finding was the three participants and partners from the private sector interviewed in this study
were less in contact with the FK networks than the participants from solidarity or development
organization. “We do not see the benefits of networking, just for the sake of networking” said one of
the former private sector participants and emphasised that if the networks had been organized along
thematic lines (for business), this would have a larger interest for the companies.

Assessing the outcomes of the FK partnerships on networking, an interesting finding from the survey
is that the networks and the professional contacts seem to be much more important for the South
participants than the North. This has implications on FK’s programming and designing.

Table 7 FK Survey: Networks and contact – type of program

My FK experience gave me a professional Total Program
network and contacts that I have been able to FK FK- FK
utilize later – according to program North- Youth South-
South South
% % % %
Yes, a lot 37,9 32,6 27,9 58,7
Yes, a little 36,1 37,9 37,6 31,6
Absolutely not 11,5 14,2 12,1 4,9
Don't know / 13,9 15,3 22,4 4,9
No opinion
N 925 530 165 225

When contrasting these two survey answers, both provide clear indicators that FK has a huge impact
on the participants and partners’ ability to use the networks later. Almost 60% of the partners in the
 FK review 2009 NCG

South-South program believe that they benefited greatly from the networks later, while less than
half (20%) of the North participants felt the same way. It is also worth noting that almost a quarter
(23%) of the North participants have no opinion on whether the FK experience gave them networks
and contact that they have been able to utilize later. This finding is a bit of a surprise to the review
team as one of the theses that it has been working on is that the networking is an outcome also
taken for granted. Networking has been perceived as a cross-cutting issue, and/or a tool that all FK
participants benefit from.
FK’s comment to this is that it should be no surprise that the south participants in general benefit
more than the north along several dimensions, hereunder network participation, CV strengthening,
international exposure and others. This is more or less intrinsic to the program concept, and not
related to how the programs are being administrated.18

Table 8 FK Survey: Networks and contact - North or South participant 34

Total Participant status

North- South-
My FK experience gave me a professional participant participant
network and contacts that I have been able to % % %
utilize later – according to Participants Yes, a lot 23,2 20,5 49,6
Yes, a little 28,5 40,2 35,0
Absolutely not 10,0 16,7 7,9
Don't know / 12,7 22,6 7,5
No opinion
N 930 438 254

Women empowerment network is a new FK partnership consisting of the National Association of

Women Organizations in Uganda (NAWOU), the Women’s Economic Groups Coordinating Council
(WEGCC) in Tanzania, the Non-Governmental Organizations Coordinating Council (NGOCC) in Zambia
and the Women Association of Tigray (WAT) in Ethiopia.

FK Africa has also stressed women’s networks such as women media associations and female lawyers
associations. The legal women’s network in Africa have produced many results that are likely to have
long-lasting effects: The EWLA participants have learnt how to compile cases and providing hot line
services to women who have had their rights violated. So far, the FK program has strengthened
networking between the similar organizations in the region. In effect, before EWLA was established,
FIDA Kenya and FIDA Uganda were established and communications had started before the FK
program created such communications.

Then, FK program has strengthened the regional coordination and networking which were already
started. One of the challenges of EWLA under the new Charity law is that the executive bodies are
leaving the organization and is now run by an acting head (a man). As a membership organization, it
is supported by members who are women lawyers. There are two FK participants from Kenya and
Tanzania who are providing the different supports as per the agreed action plan. EWLA is registered
as a local advocacy organization. It used to get most of its funding from different donors and only 1%
of the total funding was locally raised. However, the current Charity Law in Ethiopia limits the
external funding if EWLA is to be registered as a local advocacy organization. At the moment, they
are planning to re-register as a local NGO and attempt to raise funds locally and operate on advocacy
as a local NGO. This means, the organization should raise 90% of its funding locally and only 10%

18
FK comments to draft report 14.01.10
 FK review 2009 NCG

from abroad. In this connection, it unlikely that they can get the support from the FK program since
the proportion of funding between locally raised (90%) and the foreign support (which should be
10% only) will be affected. The new law brings serious challenges to several of the FK partners in
Ethiopia as the room for freedom of expression and advocating for women and children’s rights is
being limited.

If FK intends to continue to use networking as a result area that the partners will report on, there is a
great need for developing result indicators in order to measure if the results achieved in each
partnership are acceptable.

Table 9 Proposed result indicators for networking

Expected result Result indicators Means of
Verification 35

Networking
Partner level Active links btw FK partners in Number of young participants FK monitoring
(institutional) country along thematic/sectoral elected into governing bodies reports include focus
lines or according to networks in home organization on:
leadership positions
Networks utilised for starting new Number and type of activities enhanced or created
projects and/or providing initiated and led by youth during exchange or
in follow-up
contacts for new initiatives participants
activities
Inputs and
comments from FK
partners
Participant Participant taking lead in Activities conducted by FK monitoring
level home/host organization participants reports and thru
Upgraded position upon return in sample field visits on
home organization No. of FKers advancing to current and former
formal leadership positions FK participants

FK leaders (more than formal

Number & types of role Regular use of FK
positions) are role models,
innovative entrepreneurs, change models, change agents etc. web-surveys
agents etc. before/after
Number of FK alumni exchange
establishing new
businesses/entreprenurs Job descriptions and
pay roll
Extent of community Media coverage of
involvement among FK alumni FK change agents

Society level FK Alumni are future leaders Tracer mechanisms

promoting values of democracy, for alumnis
transparency, accountability,
inclusiveness etc

Networks on specific thematic

areas (women’s rights, climate,
media, CRS, anti-corruption) are
taking part and influencing
national agenda and policy
debates
 FK review 2009 NCG

Summing up, the team found that FK networks are being used on many levels to enhance the results
of capacity-building, leadership and peace- and bridge-building
- FK alumni networks in developing countries, in Norway
- FK Forum for partners
- Thematic networks have started
- FK world on web

FK could revise the different networks considering carefully through function and purpose. Networks
could be more tailor-made and geared towards the different needs of 4 groups:
a. FK partners
b. FK current participants
c. FK former participants (alumni) 36
d. FK Norway’s needs

5.4 Young leadership

Developing young FK participants’ leadership skills is defined as a key result area for the outcome of
the partnerships. Although FK does not provide direct inputs to this result area such as special
leadership training, mentoring or coaching, it is expected that the exchange will produce results in
leadership skills on the individual level. “Being part of an FK exchange is in itself leadership training.
After finishing their exchange, almost all participants report that they have developed as individuals,
gained increased confidence and that the FK program has improved their career opportunities. Going
through the FK-program presents a lot of personal challenges and, when these challenges are met in
a positive way the individual learns and grows.” (FK Annual Report, 2008)

In the FK framework, developing leadership is the most important expected result for the FK Youth,
but the review team found this to be an outcome across the board of all the programmes (except
Esther which was recently started and thus not included in this study). Among the results identified
with more than a third of the interviewed partners:
• Independence, ability to work and solve issues independently in their work places was
reported by a large majority of the 48 participants interviewed in the three case countries. In
work places where the team had a chance to interview the supervisor(s) of the former FK
participant, the supervisor shared that the FKer became much more independent and work
on her/his own (see case study in Sabina Singh, FTG).
• Added job responsibility and greater professional responsibility in the work place;
• Organizational leadership: FK partnerships have provided exposure not only to individuals
but for organizations being leaders of a group of partners in a partnerships agreement. This
requires great skills in negotiation and dealing with other partners.
• An unintended leadership result is when some of the organizations take up lead leadership
role after the lead partners dropped out (in Nepal, these happened in three South
partnerships where INSEC, Fair Trade Group and Pourakhi became leader partners). In these
cases FK Asia office try to provide closer monitoring and support in the first phase in order to
support the successful continuation of the partnership.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Table 10 FK Survey: independence in job before/after exchange

Have you got more independence in North- South-

your job today than when you came participant participant
home? % % %
Yes, much 22,4 17,3 52,2
Yes, a little 19,1 24,2 28,5
Like before 19,5 36,6 9,2
No, a little 2,0 2,6 2,8
poorer/less
No, a lot 0,8 1,0 1,2
poorer/less 37
Don't know 10,1 18,3 6,0
N 907 421 249

The finding that participants become more independent after taking part in a FK exchange was
repeated by almost every individual interview – especially among the South participants. This is also
confirmed in the survey. More than 50% of the South participants agree that they have much more
independence at work after the return from FK, while most North participants feel that this is the
same like before their exchange.

A similar difference between the North and South participants were observed in another question of
leadership responsibilities in their work situation after the exchange; where almost 60% of the South
participants believe they have more responsibility today, only 25% of North participants agreed to
that, and most North participants did not see a lot of differences before/after. These are remarkable
findings which indicate that the FK programs are much more effective on the South participants in
obtaining planned results.

Table 11 FK Survey: Leadership before/after exchange

Have you got greater leadership Total Participant status
responsibility today? North- South-
participant participant
% % %
Yes, much 24,6 18,3 58,8
Yes, a little 18,8 26,7 23,6
Like before 19,6 36,0 10,8
No, a little 1,3 2,1 1,2
poorer/less
No, a lot poorer/less 0,9 1,0 1,6
Don't know 8,5 16,0 4,0
N 910 420 250

These differences would lead to a discussion of how to fully utilise these programmes; why are South
participants so much more certain that their leadership and responsibilities have increased?

Gender aspects are relevant for assessing leadership skills. One respondent believed that the
leadership of partners has changed in some FK partnerships as they have “learnt from each other on
 FK review 2009 NCG

women empowerment programs and organizational development” (web-survey respondent). Many

male (south) participants had to admit that during the exchange they had learnt how to cook and do
other typical female household chores. Even a few females from middle- and upper-classes in the
South had learnt to do a broad range of issues in the house and office due to change in their own
‘class’ situation being a stranger in a foreign country.

Based on the case studies, the review team found many participants sharing their frustrations of
having grown too fast in their personal and professional development and when returning their
home organization is ‘too small’ for them.

This review assessed three partners involved in the youth exchange; Norwegian Church Aid’s
Communication for Change (CfC) partnership, Norway Red Cross’ Youth Delegate program and
Norwegian Christian Students’ Fellowships. As seen in Annex IV, the three youth programmes are
38
markedly different; where CfC duration period is three months and is part of a academic degree
(Global Understanding I linked to Oslo University College19) for the Norwegian participants, the Red
Cross Youth delegate is eight months in the field (out of total ten months) and NKSS is six-seven
months in the field in a school year.

The review team was impressed at the level of professionalism in the youth programs, especially in
Red Cross, where most of the participants were 4-5 years older than in the other youth programs.
Red Cross was found to have a best practise in terms of an Experience-Sharing document developed
by the participants. The first round of participants to Nepal started writing down their experiences
from the eight months in Nepal, the second group continued to add to it – adding their own
particular challenges etc. This type of ‘living’ document is an excellent example of how knowledge
and experience can be transferred between former and current participants.

RED CROSS YOUTH DELEGATES

Building future leaders - UMITA

Norwegian Red Cross, Colombian Red Cross, Nepal Red Cross Society, Rwanda Red Cross Society and Sudanese
Red Crescent Society are all national societies in the International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). These National Societies act as
auxiliaries to the governments of their own countries in the humanitarian field
and provide a range of services including disaster relief, health and social
programmes, and assistance to people during war and peace times.

Youth Basic Training Course is a prerequisite for becoming a youth delegate

(special cases will be additionally discussed between the partners concerned).
Youth Delegates are recruited amongst young members/volunteers of the
National Red Cross/ Red Crescent Society. Information about the YDP and open
positions is advertised at all levels within the NS’, those interested shall apply to
become Youth Delegates. Candidates that fit with the criteria and a short-list are
called for interviews. Candidates that are offered a position are expected to meet
the objectives of the host national society. Criteria for selecting participants: a)
Between 21-28 years old, b) Red Cross/Red Crescent volunteer experience, c) Fluent command of English, and
if possible some basic knowledge of the local language.

19
FK finances the first 6 months of the CfC program, and Norway’s Student Bank (Lånekassen) the last six
months.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Umita (photo) is from Lalitpur outside Kathmandu and has been a volunteer with Nepal Red Cross (NRC) since
she was 14 years. Upon being selected for FK, she was placed in Red Cross Youth in Akershus in Norway. All
receiving participants of Red Cross are in the districts and regions on Norway, never the head office. In Norway
she worked a lot with Red Cross Youth organization in mobilising youth for community work. At times she
became frustrated at what she saw; “In Nepal, we have lots of youth who want to be active, but we have no
funding so we don’t get much done… In Norway there is lots of funding, but no youth volunteers who are
interested!”Umita learnt that leadership style in Norway is very different from Nepal. In Norway the youth
could contact decision-makers directly if they wanted to organize something, in Nepal the youth first have to
contact the district level before the central. Umita shares that her position in Nepal Red Cross has changed a lot
since she came back from Norway; “Now I am often called to Head Office to be a trainer for youth. I go to
Bhaktapur and Nagarkot to share experience with other youth. Recently I was elected head of the ICRC Action
team.” Umita did her follow-up activities in five districts as she was given 3 months to do follow-up work. This
was in her view a great experience as she got to travel around in Nepal and got to know her own organization’s 39
local network in 7 districts. Although Umita is a pure volunteer she has a hope that one day Nepal Red Cross
can utilize her fully in a paid position, but due to strict recruitment regulations in Red Cross this might take a
while.

Summing up: The case studies on the youth program in Nepal shows that there are many results on
developing leadership skills among the individual participants and substantial institutional capacity-
building results (but not necessary affecting leadership in home/host organization). For the Red Cross
Youth delegate there are not many differences observed from the primary program (North-South),
and thus the team is questioning if it is efficient to keep a separate program line for some of the
programs.

5.6 Unintended results

FK being a development focused organization is greatly aware of the dangers of contributing to

human capital flight which takes place in many of the countries of work. For the countries under
study, Nepal and Ethiopia, the number of professional individuals migrating to US and Europe are still
increasing. In the case of Ethiopia alone it was said that there are more Ethiopian doctors in Chicago
than there are in Ethiopia.

Out of the total 55 FK alumni in Ethiopia, 32 (58%) have left the organizations they were affiliated
with when they left for the exchange program, 19 (34%) of those who left the organizations are
within the country, while 13 (24%) of them have left Ethiopia. Most of the participants who left the
country were associated with EMWA.

Out of the 48 FK alumni in Nepal, the team found that 7 were out of Nepal (but at least three were
studying in Norway and US and were determined to return to Nepal), ten percent less than in
Ethiopia. Exploring the factors of the participants leaving their home country is not within the reach
of this study. FK believes that this could be expected and is not surprised by the finding.20

Additionality or duplication?

20
FK comments to draft report 14.01.10
 FK review 2009 NCG

FK being a tool for enhancing the effects and synergies of other development cooperation initiatives
need to ensure that it is not funding partnerships that duplicate existing projects. The other
initiatives most closely linked to FK are:

• NOMA (Norad’s Program for Master Studies) provides financial support to develop and run
Master degree programmes in developing countries through collaboration between local and
Norwegian higher education institutions. The overall aim of the NOMA program is to
contribute to the education of staff through strengthening capacity at the Master level in
Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Nicaragua, Bolivia and
other eligible countries as decided by Norad.
• Norfund: the second channel for Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (after Norad) for
promoting investments in the developing world.
• KS – Municipalities international cooperation (MIC)
40

NOMA and FK are both instructed to adhere to Norwegian priority sectors, and thus they share joint
academic fields such as: Education; Environment, Economic development and trade; Gender; Good
governance, Democratic development, Human rights and migration; Health; HIV/AIDS; Oil and
energy; Peace and Conflict Resolution.

In Nepal and Ethiopia the team found that both NOMA and FK were cooperating with the following
joint institutions:

• DRIK Bangladesh and College of Journalism and Mass Communication (CJMC) are part of the
South-South partnership of FK; and has a parallel ongoing NOMA project “Media,
Communication and Journalism” with Oslo University College (OUC) whereby 26 Master
Students from Bangladesh, India and Nepal are in exchange. Handled by Norwegian Centre
for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU)21
• UMB – KU are part of North-South FK partnership under the project name “Exchange for
Sustainable Development – ESD”, facilitated by Development Fund. UMB and KU also have
an agreement with the NOMA program of graduating a certain number of NOMA students.
• Centre for international health, University of Bergen, was primary partner in the north-south
partnership which involved Yekatit12 hospital in Ethiopia (and CMC in India and Uganda),
while parallel having a NOMA program with CMC.

In a recent evaluation of the KS, it was found that the cooperation lacked a direct interaction
between Southern and Norwegian peers, specialist-to-specialist cooperation or similar mechanisms
inherent in the MIC intervention logic. However, in Malawi FK, has been an active partner in the MIC
programs in Lilongwe and Nkhotakota. According to the report, “FK has been decisive in the
establishing phase and has proved to be of vital importance in the operative phase as the volunteers
from FK have taken on day-to-day responsibilities to secure some continuity, although to a varying
degree from year to year.” But the evaluation report also points out the dangers of having
intermediaries like the FK participants as it could weaken the intensity of contacts between municipal
officers in the two local governments in the partnership. The different activities seem highly
dependent upon Norwegian funding. As an FK volunteer put it: “In order to have activities, the
Norwegians must pay for it” (NIBR, 2009:13). Vennskap Nord/Sor (Friendship North-South), a
network of friendship twining committees around the country is supported by FK via municipalities
and thru the Youth exchange Spor.

21
JBI has a grant of 5,6 million NOK over four years (2009-2013) to establish a regional Master degree in
Journalism, media and communication in Dhaka and Katmandu. Source: JBI, OUC,
http://www.hio.no/Aktuelt/HiO-nytt/Arkiverte-nyheter/2008/09/Unik-erfaring
 FK review 2009 NCG

A recent evaluation of Norwegian business-related assistance, whereby Sri Lanka was the first case
country, whereby three FK exchanges were identified since 2001. These concerned Jiffy, an emerging
Norwegian multinational company (through an exchange of personnel between Norway and a newly
established subsidiary in Sri Lanka), a five year program concerning Strømme (exchange among SF in
Sri Lanka and other SF operations in Asia), and one South-South exchange (a Sri Lanka eco tour
company with a Laotian organisation). The evaluation report concludes that “the institution building
objectives for the specific projects seem to have been overall achieved. In general, FK Norway has a
streamlined and standardised operation, efficiently implemented.” However, also this evaluation
report points out that the “additionality is an issue: FK Norway’s program often seems to be used as
(generous) additional support to already on-going aid financed operations.” (Devfin Advisers AB
(2009), Evaluation of Norwegian Business related-Assistance, Sri Lanka Case Study. Final report, page
7, 52-54.) 41
This concern is further elaborated in the report “Two of the three projects in Sri Lanka concerned
organisations already supported by Norwegian official aid: Strømme has had framework agreements
with Norad for its microfinance programs since 2002. Jiffy International had received various forms
of support under the Norad Application-based program for setting up a subsidiary from 2000
onwards with support that totaled NOK 2 million. FK Norway support is thus an added grant support
for institutional capacity building within existing organizations. There is no assessment in FK Norway
of what other forms of support the recipient organisations receive, whether there is additionality of
the FK Norway support or – in the case of Jiffy, a commercial company – the organisation merits
grant support for what must be considered normal corporate expenses.” (Devfin, 2009: page 52)

The 2006 Evaluation concluded that FK has the same overarching objectives as Norwegian
development cooperation in general, and is in many ways parallel to the financially important and
politically relatively uncontroversial NGO channel. Thus, FK should be seen as a natural part of
Norwegian development assistance. But Fredskorpset also has important particularities, in terms of
objectives both in the North and the South, and in terms of its focus on exchange of people.
Fredskorpset occupies a separate niche, which no other institutions or programs fill (2006:15).

Summing up this part of the report, the team concludes that FK needs to increase its monitoring of
FK partnerships to ensure that there is complimentarity and synergy with other Norwegian
initiatives, but perhaps more importantly on the partner level in order to enhance the outcomes on
the ground for the beneficiaries of FKs partners.

A final comment is attached to the opportunities for internal synergy in FK. FK is as mentioned in
chapter four organised in different departments; the program department handles the North-South
partnerships, the Youth program and ESTHER, while the South-South programs are handled by the
regional offices. The lack of joint programming for all the programs/ partnerships is affecting the
outcomes and there are great potentials for more synergy effects if these programs are integrated.
The team found many examples of partnerships in the two program lines working on similar thematic
issues without knowing about each other:

• Fair Trade Group partnership in the SS and Nepal Productions/Monal export in the NS
partnership. Both work on promoting fair trade although NP to a less extent than Fair Trade
Group, however many potentials for improved effectiveness by learning from each other.
• Pourakhi and Shishuk working on migration and trafficking in the South-South partnership
and FIVH and NEFEJ participant working on similar themes (see for example article by Holme-
Ottesen, 2006b where she is interviewing another FK partner without knowing it).
 FK review 2009 NCG

Case study North-South: FIVH – NEFEJ

Equality – Democracy – New Technology
Fremtiden i våre hender (Future in our hands, FIVH) was founded by Erik Dammann in Norway. Based on the great interest
in his book The Future in Our Hands he initiated The Peoples Action The Future in Our Hands in 1974. Dammann called for
lifestyle changes in the affluent Norwegian society and maintained that international social justice cannot be achieved
without a general lowering of material living standards of people in the rich countries. Today, FIVH is one of Norway’s
largest movements for social change with 22.000 members. The same inspiration has produced FIOH
groups in USA, Sweden, UK, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi. The Development Fund (DF),
another FK partner grew out of FIVH as the “development arm” in 1978, but is today independent.

Nepal Forum of Environmental journalists (NEFEJ) was established in 1986 by a group of

environmentally concerned journalists and is today a leader among NGOs working to raise public
awareness on the environment, sustainable development, and social justice in Nepal. The former general
secretary of NEFEJ approached FIVH in 2002 and proposed to apply for Fredskorpset projects. This was
42
the beginning of the partnership which has so far produced (and still ongoing) 12 Fredskorpset fellows (six from each
partner, 7 men and 5 women). Substantial outputs can be documented like a large number of video documentaries ranging
from fully-fledged TV documentaries to shorter video clips on environment and social issues; climate change in Asia,
environmental degradation, pollution of rivers in Nepal and Norway, biodiversity, corporate social responsibility (CSR), aired
on Aankhijhyal Video Magazine which is run by NEFEJ once a week, Norwegian media and website. There are also a good
number of reports and articles in Norwegian and Nepali in print media and websites, and an audio-visual department at
FIVH and revising NEFEJ-website

Outcomes: What are the generated outcomes of the above mentioned outputs? Have people in Norway and Nepal changed
their lifestyles in terms of protecting the environment, consumerism etc? Have governments been pressured to change
policies to promote social justice? It was outside the scope of this limited study to assess the results on the societal but
there are substantial evidence to indicate that the work of NEFEJ and FIVH have contributed to creating a momentum in the
climate campaign, especially including the South perspective. The outcomes of the partnership level are also substantial,
and the team would suggest that the following success indicators could be highlighted for FIVH-NEFEJ:

- Democratic process and equality: NEFEJ and FIVH seem to be among the most democratic partnerships the team found in
Nepal and Ethiopia. Both partners insist of mutual exchange – and treat each other as equals, both partners teach other.
When FIVH challenge NEFEJ on sending more women and younger participants, NEFEJ has their own say in that. When
NEFEJ wants FIVH to send journalists (not sociologists), that is spelled out clearly and there is a negotiation process.

- Spending time and resources for planning: thanks for the flexibility of FK of allowing partners to submit applications at
their own speed, NEFEJ and FIVH have used the time to ensure that both partner share their views shared and that there is
a joint understanding of the objective of the partnership agreement.

- Prop-up financing of the FK projects by attracting extra funds from Norway (FORUM, RORG, Norad). Combined with the
fact that FIVH and NEFEJ are prudent organizations, extra funding has given more visible results.

This is not to say that the partnerships have been without challenges. When FIVH sent professionals with background from
social work aimed at promoting the MDGs, NEFEJ was not able to fully utilize their resources. They ended up completing
their FK exchange period outside NEFEJ. Similarly, when FIVH was unable to get the needed audio-visual equipment, the
NEFEJ participants went idle for some time before working. Socially, living in Norway was a challenge, especially in the two
first rounds when there was only one participant at a time. The interesting aspect about the partnership is how FIVH-NEFEJ
handled the problems and learnt from them. After the two first rounds, it was agreed to send two-and-two participants.
After the problems of finding relevant work for the sociologist, FIVH went back to sending journalists. Summing up, this
review would say the results are both on individual and partner level, and thus concludes that the partnership has been
successful. The knowledge and experience held by FIVH and NEFEJ could easily be shared by other FK partners.
 FK review 2009 NCG

6. Assessment

In this chapter the main conclusions on the results documented in the previous chapter will be
assessed according defined review criteria of relevance, sustainability, effectiveness and
complimentarity, before summing up the assessments. However, before discussing the results
obtained through the partnerships, there is a need to understand how FK defines and identifies
results in the partnerships.

6.1 Defining results

A result is generally agreed upon as being a “measurable change” that is derived from a cause and
effect relationship. The result “arises as a consequence” of a specific intervention. Results are the
same as “outcomes” and are further qualified as short or long-term.
43
Outputs are normally quantitative results; products or services which are relevant for the
achievement of outcomes. Outputs are actually the short-term products of completed activities.
They can typically be measured on a regular basis by keeping account of what has been produced
within a specific timeframe and budget. As outputs normally are possible to attribute to the activities
performed, there is a tendency for management to focus on these aspects in the performance
monitoring, often neglecting the monitoring of outcomes (Norad, 2009:10).

As seen in the figure below, the blue colour indicates inputs and activities, while the outputs,
outcomes and impact (the actual development) are taking place on the yellow/green colour level.

(Source: Norad/MFA, Results Management in Norwegian Development Cooperation - A practical

guide, 2009)

Outcomes – which are the intended, intermediate effects on the target groups, represent the most
important level in this chain. Thus, defining expected outcomes is important in order to stay focused
on what an agency wants to achieve.

For FK, the outcomes are defined on different levels. The current four result areas (institutional
capacity-building, networking, peace- and bridge-building) are the expected consequences rising
from the same result chain. For each of the four results, the inputs and activities are more or less the
same, but the outcome is expected to be different. The main challenge with this approach is that the
logic in the result chain is not consequent.

The institutional capacity-building which is ranged as the most important result for FK is an expected
result from the cooperation between the partners. Young leadership is an expected outcome on the
participants’ level while networking, peace and bridge-building are results directed at society level.

FK considers the partnership exchange as a result in itself, a separate ends – and not a tool for
promoting results for the end-users. Results at partner levels are thus not the main concern for
monitoring and reporting on for FK. The team found that this approach leads FK to focus more on the
short-term achievements on individual level than the long-term outcome on the partner level.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Illustrated in a different way, FK is today monitoring the first three levels in the result chain, but in
order to be certain that development is actually taking place – as FK is a tool for promoting
Norwegian development cooperation – regular monitoring on the outcome level needs to be
included. This does not mean that the team is unaware of all external contextual factors influencing
the outcome levels in any given society, but FK can monitor what happens to the participants and
their career development as this is the most substantial outcome of the FK programs.

A FK chain could thus look like the below:

44

6.2 Relevance
For discussing the relevance of the FK partnerships and programs, the team identified certain
indicators for measuring and assessing the partnerships (as seen in Table 6, 7, 8 and 9 in chapter 5).

Indicators
a) Proper goal setting and activity planning (focus -realistic, relevant, concrete, longer term value
addition) for matching of need; ensuring equity, relevance, reducing the risk for conflict/unmet
expectations; seeking for areas of complementary not only in border sectoral terms but in terms
of specific areas so that the support is actually relevant
b) Equitable partners (capacity to candidly articulate and negotiate with each other); clearly define
role/contribution and authority (of each partners including FK)
c) Equally relevant to
o to all the partners in the project (both to lead and the secondary, equally to receiving
and sending organization)
o Relevance to FK/ MFA/Local country context (embassy’s and its country level policy
and priority in the respective county) - - instrument for Norwegian development
(through alignment with major development cooperation)
o Also to both host/home organization and participants
d) Mechanisms to ensure relevance such as contingency planning and the role of the mid term
review to adjust; renegotiate; contextualize the project(exchange program) to keep it relevant
e) In-depth analysis of what is the relevance of the program for each of the partners and who will
be actually benefiting.

Based on these indicators, the team’s assessment is that around 75% of the partners have found
the FK partnership valuable and relevant in terms of their capacity development need. Partners take
FK as a valuable opportunity especially because of its unique two way exchange program.

Partners have shared that SS is more beneficial because of the similar context and hence greater
applicability of the lessons learnt (some partners have even suggested in-country exchange which
can be a more cost effective approach for capacity building). On the other hand South participants
are often more attracted to NS partnership on an individual benefit level.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Bethlehem Negash (EMWA)

Career development with Fredskorpset

Bethlehem Negash is one of the participants of EMWA who was in Zambia for 10
months in 2006. Before being selected for the exchange she worked for EWLA.
While in EWLA, she had worked in the Reporter, a daily Amharic paper on a part time
basis and was aware of gender issues on which the interview was focused. Before
going to Zambia, she did not have any work plan and did not know what she was
expected to do there. At the initial stage, she was engaged in everything within
ZANMWA, as it was small and did not have the capacity and thus she was doing all
admin work. Part of the exchange period she was attached to Zambia Daily Mail in
the gender desk and also to Times of Zambia daily paper. She contributed an article
comparing the Ethiopian culture and that of Zambia which was appreciated by the
readers and the outcome of the FK program was reflected.
45
Results: as an individual, she has benefited on the personal level from the exposure
which she did not have before and has become more assertive and outspoken. Professionally, she has greatly
improved her skills in print journalism and her English language. After her FK stay in Zambia she was promoted
from assistant position to editor position because of the Zambia experience – there were three editors in the
Reporter and Bethi was one of them. Later she was selected for the leadership training program conducted in
Ethiopia and Senegal funded by the British Council. She shares that it was a great benefit to be in the training
since multi-cultural experience was one of the criterion which has got through the FK exchange program.
Finally, Bethlehem got a scholarship to the University of Liverpool where she studied Politics and Media – her
FK exposure and skill improvement helped her to get her MA opportunity in Liverpool, and now she has just
returned to Ethiopia with a Master in her back searching for new opportunities to serve her country.

Institutional Capacity Building and Networking: Together with a colleague from EMWA (Beletu), she compiled
a magazine on Experience Sharing of the EMWA FK Program which is widely used and appreciated. She has
transferred her skills and experience with EMWA during the one month service. Raised funding for the general
assembly of EMWA – prepared project proposal and a dinner event was organized during which fund was
raised. There are some contacts established between EMWA and other organizations as a result of the
exchange program.

In some of the partnership, it was not equally relevant to all the partners in terms of benefit from the
exchange. Around six of the 24 partnerships22 reviewed in both case countries were found to be
unequal in the sense that some perceived that the lead partners benefited more from the
partnership while some lead partners were of the opinion that they were contribution more by
sending participants (as experts to build capacity of the other partners) as well as received
participants in order to teach them (invested in their learning) and the return in terms of their own
institutional capacity building was relatively less as compared to other. Hence the exchange were
not two way in term of give and take but it was more of giving in case the institutions was
comparatively stronger in terms of capacity that their counterpart.

So the question is how the partnership can be made equally valuable and relevant to all partners?
While at the same time, the purpose of the FK exchange program is to enhance and strengthen
institutional capacity, thus it is a point to select partners that need capacity-building. The team
believes that this is where FK’s main role is – to be the balancing point, if a partner is weak, FK need
to facilitate the planning and mid-term sessions in such a way that the weakest partners’ voice is
heard and taken into account.

The visibility/international exposure and tool for motivation can be value addition to stronger
partners but how long will they be willing to spare their senior level expertise to build the capacity for

22
Internal note: these six partnerships are, CJMC, NCDC and Monal from Nepal and EOC-DICAC, EECMY and
Shebelle consulting in Ethiopia.
 FK review 2009 NCG

others that too for 10 months if there was no greater incentive (especially in case of SS partnership
where exchange in the regional level would not be that attractive for the staff as compared to the N-
S)23

In one of the partnership the role, the contribution and the partners could not be ascertained clearly
(DF Norway in partnership with Katmandu University) because the North partner who had a co-
partner agreement with a secondary institution in Norway (Noragric-UMB) was sending participants
from the secondary partner without any direct engagement with the primary partner. The interesting
thing about this partnership is that the goal (exchange for sustainable development, ESD) was
focused on the outcome on the partner level – promoting organic farming and exchanging skills for
developing sustainable agriculture, and thus the partnerships are highly valuable because they
probably enhance the partners’ performance towards the beneficiaries and work towards poverty
reduction. However DF is encouraged to assess its strategic value-added in the above-mentioned
partnership. 46

In another partnership in Ethiopia, the team found that the North partner wanted to use the
partnership strategically by incorporating it with the current NCA programs on gender and
peacbuilding in the Horn of Africa. Also based on the experience from last year, where NCA had sent
a person who was perceived as not having the appropriate educational background, this year NCA
decided to send only well-educated women. Indeed a commendable effort. However, the
unintended consequence of this strategic move was that the Ethiopian partners (EOC and EEMCY)
could not identify participants from their own synods with higher education, especially not within the
fields of gender or peace studies, and thus EOC ended up sending a participant outside the regular
recruited process.

In three partnerships there was an existing exchange program before entering an agreement with FK.
The main value-added of the FK exchange was the two way exchange (other had two way except
CRTIR), opportunities for staff (other were primarily students exchange except in case of NMC) and
south and south exchange which is a unique feature of FK. But there is risk of duplication if the
organizational context and background of the participants are not checked properly which will have
implication on the relevance and effectiveness of the program.

In some of the partnership the benefit seems to be more at the individual level. The team found
several cases where participants received private tutorial classes as the learnings inside the
organization was not considered sufficient. In one of these partnerships, the participants were
referred to as exchange fellows. The question that arises here is why FK was financing for individual
benefits. FK responded to that by explaining that FK’s goal is to assess various ways of enhancing
partner and participant outcomes and experience. FK considers it important to create and add value
at all levels.

While appreciating FK’s flexibility, the team believes that there is a need for FK conducting more
thorough rapid organizational assessment and in-depth evaluation of each feasibility study and the
subsequent plans before awarding the proposal. FK does an assessment of partners today, but the
team believes it needs to be more in-depth (including those of secondary partners)

23
FK disagrees with this point and states that in the beginning FK also believed that regional was less attractive,
but FK has found that it has proven to be attractive.
 FK review 2009 NCG

6.3 Effectiveness
Assessing effectiveness implied assessing to which extent the FK partnerships have reached their
objectives and planned results as stated in the substance of the programs. The team assessed each
partnership individually comparing planned outcomes with achievements. Below is a summary of the
findings. The overall indicators that the team used for assessing the effectiveness were:

Equitable access to potential partners for creating wider pool of potential partners from which the
selection can be made on merit basis/priority basis (competitive award) is a key indicator.

Another is that selection be based on quality of the project/partnership. It should be noted that the
team was unable to get a clear idea about how applications to the regional offices are received and
based upon which criteria the applications are selected. The issues was explained by the FK regional
staff, but the team was unable to triangulate that information based on other sources; there are no 47
written documents outlining selection criteria for selection and the partners did not know upon
which criteria they had been selected. It would have been interesting to explore how many proposals
are received annually by FK (in Oslo, Bangkok and Kampala) and how many of those are selected for
funding.

Clearly defined results (in line with the identified need) and result focused monitoring by FK during
the implementation (result mapping and result based monitoring and evaluation); accountability on
part of the partners to ensure results (rather than activities)

Mechanism for effective transfer of skills; learning mechanism (supervisor role defined for ensuring
learning; Here it could be noted that maybe mentor is a more appropriate word than supervisor. The
term supervisor gives the sense of day to day job allocation rather than learning and hence
supervision of the assigned task, while mentor has a connotation of professional growth and
development; the participants can be both mentee when learning some specific skills and mentor to
other staff members of the host organization to teach some specific skills.

Continuation of the next phase project based on in-depth evaluation of the partnership and results
Support during implementation (FK role in creating/ensuring enabling environment for the
participants to learn and contribute); empowering the participants (awareness of the policy and
individual rights; mechanism for handling grievances) but at the same time ensuring the participants
accountability and responsibility; Clear understanding/communication of the results/role of the
participants not only among the organization’s leadership but among other staff members as well.

Findings - Access

Most of the partner’s organizations in the South-South partnerships gained access to FK through associates,
acquaintances or personal contacts that already had access/link with FK or knew about FK by referral. None of
the respondent referred to competitive processes for selections although FK states that partners make final
recommendation in planning meeting who will join the project. Secondary partners (their
need/profile/capacity) had less role in the selection process and they role came only at the planning process
when the partnership decisions have already been made. All the initial process has been managed by the lead
partners.

In a few cases (2-3) of the North-South partnership, the partnership just happened to the South
partner, it was hand-picked by the North partner with no efforts on their side. The team found that
this had some implications on their ownership and the commitment as well as risk for being
governed by the lead. In one case, it was the South partner that picked out the North partner (NEFEJ
– FIVH), but the North partner still ended up being the primary partner.
 FK review 2009 NCG

FK have maintained a low profile in the county with less deliberate attempt to increase its visibility
which has an implication on the access of wider population to its program. Those with intermediately
who can facilitate link with FK, or those who can access the FK’s network have greater access to FK.
May be this is the reason that all the partners in Nepal except one are Kathmandu based, while in
Ethiopia all partners except one (WAT) is based in the capital Addis Abeba.

Some organizations, especially those having a partnership with the Norwegian Development Fund,
were found to have more than one partnership (DF’s partner in Nepal had 2-3 different partnerships
in addition to being the network coordinator) and DF’s partner in Ethiopia WAT also had 2
partnerships, both taking part in ESD and with the National Women’s Association in Uganda). This is
an issue that FK would need to have policies on; what are the criteria for giving one partner many
partnerships? Here it should be noted that DF has functioned like a “mini-FK” by linking its partners
working on agriculture and sustainable development from Africa and Asia with some great outcomes.
48

Enabling environment for the partners – support to the participants

An enabling environment for the participants has huge implication on the effectiveness of the
program and the results. As seen in the case study above, this can make the whole difference for the
outcomes of an exchange.

Quite a number of participants voiced that the organizations were given more support than the
participants in cases of tensions. Any complains of the participants are diverted back to the host
organization and if not solved then to the home, but if the home organization is not strong enough to
negotiate on behalf of the participants (or vice versa if participants have problem with home
organization such as in case of home allowance) or if home and host organization are together then
there is no alternate mechanism for securing the interest/right of the participants.

The participants expressed that FK also need to be equally responsible and accountable for
participants’ security. Further, the debrief/home coming seminar is the only means for sharing
participants’ experiences (and in some case it might be too late to address the grievances, or the
participants might not be willing to bring up the issue in front of their bosses or might have given up
since everything have already ended). So a mechanism needs to be there that addresses the issues as
and where it emerges so that the rest of the period of the exchange is productive. One participant
shared her experience of being mistreated by other staff members in the host country because of
lack of understanding of the participants role and contribution when all have not been oriented
about it (case study above).

Capacity of the partners – both to send and receive

Capacity of the partner organization to receive and send participants (to mentor, groom, engage in
activities/project to provide learning opportunity) has implication on the effectiveness of the
program. There were cases where partners have sent participants other than their own staff or
members as they did not have the capacity to send the participants as desired by the partners. More
than half of the partners organizations are finding difficulties to keep the participants received
engaged, (they shared they had only enough substance for 3-6 months program). In other cases the
participants created their own project (self created learning opportunity) without clear plan from the
organization. One participant created a demonstration plot of local edible plants, which did not have
any relevance to the organization, but was important for the local community.
Also, more than half of the FK participants that were interviewed in-depth shared that they initiated
their own projects or research in order to engage themselves. The negative side is that it implied that
there was not a sufficient plan in the partner organizations before starting the posting.
 FK review 2009 NCG

However, there are also many positive sides to that finding; the exchange allowed and/or “triggered”
the participants to become entrepreneurs inventing their own work tasks. This taught many of them
to cope in a completely different setting and adapting to unplanned situations – a skill which is highly
appreciated by agencies working in fragile or conflict environments. This last point was especially
valid for many of the North participants that in the beginning of the exchange became frustrated
because the tasks were not clear, but – the flexible ones turned the potential problem into an
opportunity.

Capacity of the partners

Some of the partners shared that the participants send were not par with their expectation or had to
accept only for the purpose of teaching and not gaining from their expertise(only CV exchanged
which was impressive but not interviewed - the person in reality was different in terms of capacity, 49
the participants could not comprehend enough to understand the context and hence learning was
limited; the exchange was more of a course for teaching English as almost half of the period was
spend in helping the person understand English).

Mechanism for skill transfer

Most of the partners have not strategically thought about how they would like to benefit from the
exchange participants or how they would like to systematic tap into their expertise or transfer the
expertise to them other than engaging them in the day to day activities with the assumption of
“learning by doing” – “HR gap filling”. As stated above, in around seven of partnerships assessed (out
of 30 in the two case countries) the benefit seems to be more at the individual level. The team
found cases where participants received private tutorial classes as the learnings inside the
organization was not considered sufficient. In one of these partnerships, the participants were
referred to as exchange fellows. The question that arises here is why FK was financing for individual
benefits.

Gender equality

Assessing gender is also part of the effectiveness of FK, as gender equality is one of the priority areas
in FK partnerships. First of all, there is a clear and well-documented gender balance in the
recruitment and selection of FK participants, with the exception of a handful partners in Nepal and
Ethiopia who find it hard to recruit women in ‘productive age’ to FK. In Norway, the challenge is
rather to encourage males to engage in FK programs as volunteers tend to be more women. FK has
also introduced practical measures, such as allowing participants with family one free return ticket
home during the exchange period.24

In addition to promoting a gender balance in terms number of participants FK has actively initiated
projects and partnerships on women’s role in media, law and networking (Africa) while in Asia there
have been no direct partnerships between women’s organizations and networks, except one
women’s network (ANW). An unexplored opportunity so far is mainstreaming gender into the
energy, business programmes.

Although this study was not assessing the cost-efficiency of the FK program, the team notes that the
cost of a NS exchange participants is around 300-350.000 NOK and for a South-South participant the

24
The free ticket home for participants with family has spurred an intense debate about ‘biological’ children
among some participants arguing that in for example African culture “biological” children is an alien concept
and the criterion should rather be ‘children under care’.
 FK review 2009 NCG

cost is 250.000 NOK annually. In comparison, a NOMA student costs Norway 250.000 NOK for three
years, all included.25

6.4 Sustainability

The key sustainability indicator is to ensure results at the institution level and to some extent on the
individual participant’s level. Even if FK approves results at the individual level with the assumption
that they will use it further in their home/host organizations, the strategies and mechanism for
institutionalization of learning are crucial. By translating the competencies gained after returning to
the home organization, clear plans of action for engaging the participants need to be integrated in
the follow up activities. The receiving (host) institutions need to develop clear ideas on how they
want to use the available capacity (rather than gap filling) and the sending (home) organization need 50
to be clear on how to use the increased capacity and how to transfer the expertise brought in their
respective organization. FK’s role in this is to facilitate the dialogue (if needed).

Ensuring results not only at the participants level (send and received) also includes ensuring that
other staff members also benefit from the experience and exposure without actually being
exchanged, through cross sharing and translation mechanisms. This points to the need for follow up
activities to be a stronger component and a core part of the exchange project. FK’s monitoring is also
needed here because this is where the actual institutionalization happens in the home organization-
small projects can be part of the follow up activities, rather than just experiential sharing and
presentation.

Summing up the findings related to sustainability

The competencies and results gained at the individual level do not necessarily get institutionalized.
Both FK participants sent and received were found to be filling jobs gaps (human resource
requirement) taking up regular job responsibility where the assumption seems to be the individual
will learn as they do (on-the-job training). But with lack of clear supervisory support; mentoring
attachments and systematic plan for skill enhancement cannot ensure the capacity building results
are actually realized. Some participants were found to come in as trainees while others came as
experts. The participants were mostly attached to their specific role rather than facilitating a two-
way transfer of skill and expertise. Partners have different strategies and mechanism to
institutionalize or transfer the skills that is brought back by the individual/ or available through the
participants received. Partners were also found to have different retention strategies – in some cases
participants were vulnerable.

FK focuses more on development of the individual participants and does not emphasize on the
utilization aspect. The FK project ends with the home coming seminar (debriefing meeting) - Follow
up activities very weak/diluted in absence of close monitoring. Staff come back with enhanced skills
and enthusiasm, but do not receive the same motivation and support to utilize the skills. Partners
also cannot manage the increased expectation or does not know how to utilization the
product/services/knowledge produced by the participants.

Summing up the assessment of FK programs sustainability, the team found excellent outcomes on
the individual level. A large number of FK participants have gained valuable skills, leaderships abilities
and networks that they carry with them for the rest of their lives, especially the South participants.
These are sustainable results for the young leaders of tomorrow that FK wants to nurture.

25
NCG report to Norad, 2009. Anders Wirak.
 FK review 2009 NCG

On the institutional level, the team found some results that were sustained, but mainly where there
was additional funding involved (like Haukeland hospital with Yekatit). On other long-term
partnerships that have been ongoing for 8-9 years, like EMWA in Africa, there were very few
outcomes found on the institutional level. The lack of sustainability in that partnership can probably
be traced back to the organization being a membership-based organization, and the participants
have not been staff – and thus the results are (hopefully) to be found on the society level.

6.5 Complimentarity/synergy
Two levels of potentials for complimentarity and synergy were found to be underutilised in the FK
programming; first of all the lack of joint planning and programming between the North-South and
South-South programs. The team found several examples of how the North and South partners did
51
not know of each other, not even in the same sectors. The one North participant working on
migration and trafficking was not familiar with South partners working on the same themes
(although she even interviewed them and wrote an article as a FK participant).

Secondly, the fact that FK is receiving directions from MFA provides many opportunities for synergy
effects, while at the same time running the risk that FK might duplicate that other governmental or
governmental-funded actors or initiatives are conducting.

When the government in 2008 launched its white paper, Climate, Conflict and Capital, FK
immediately sought to enhance partnerships in the thematic areas of climate change, peace and
reconciliation and anti-corruption. The embassies in the concerned countries were adapting to the
same orders from MFA, and the results would therefore often be that FK, embassies and Norfund
would be supporting similar initiatives without coordinating the programmes.26

The key success indicator for ensuring synergy effects is for FK to keep a close dialogue with the
Norwegian embassies abroad. In the two case countries in this study, there was a marked difference
between FK’s working relationships with Nepal and Ethiopia, where the latter was much stronger and
better-informed about FK’s partnerships.

Another challenge observed with some of the partnerships where there is an existing project
cooperation and a – to varying extent - donor-recipient relationship, is that the South partner which
is also a recipient position can have difficulty of adjusting to the equality that is required if a FK
partnership exchange is to be successful. The “donor” NGO in such cases needs to be extra sensitive
and consultative in order to ensure that the South partner had been able to communicate his/her
actual capacity-building from the FK exchange program. There is also a relevant discussion as to
which capacity-building functions are better filled by local trainings and which would be better met
by engaging in a FK partnership.

26
For example, the Norwegian Embassy in Nepal and FK both support Transparency International (which has a
south-south partnership coordinated by the FK Asia office in Bangkok).
 FK review 2009 NCG

References

Anderson, Mary B., (1999) Do No Harm: How Aid can support peace - or war, Lynne Rienner
Publishers

CDA: Do No Harm: «Indications» for Assessing Aid’s Impacts on Conflict www.cdainc.com

CMI (2009), Cultural Cooperation with Nepal, Siri Lange, Era Shreshta and Tordis Korvald, CMI report R 2009:7
nd
Devfin Advisers AB (2009), Evaluation of Norwegian Business related-Assistance, Sri Lanka Case Study. 2 Draft
October 12, 2009.

Ingdal, Nora and Singh, Amina (2006), Report on Conflict Sensitivity of Norwegian NGOs’ Development 52
Assistance in Nepal, Norad Collected Reviews 9/2007. ISBN978-82-7548-213-4
Norad (2006), Evaluation of Fredskorpset, Evaluation Report 2/2006
Norad (2009), Organizational Review of The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS).
Report 25/2009 conducted by Jørn Holm-Hansen et al, NIBR.

Norad (2008): Result Management in Norwegian Development Cooperation: A practical guide, Norad/MFA
MFA (undated), Norway Strategy Paper for Development Cooperation with Ethiopia
MFA (2008) Climate, Conflict and Capital – Norwegian development policy adapting to change. Report No. 13
(2008–2009) to the Storting
MFA (2004), Strategic Framework: Peacebuilding – a Development Perspective. CMI, Bergen.
Norwegian Government’s Action Plan for Environment in Development Cooperation" (2006).
Paffenholz, T. 2008. Evaluation of Peacebuilding and Conflict Sensitivity. Geneva: Graduate Institute of
International and Development Studies.

FK documents
FK Main Strategy 2007-2011
FK Annual Reports 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008
FK (2009), Work Plan for Program departement (ARBEIDSPLAN FOR PROGRAMAVDELINGEN)
FK Vedtekter (old by-laws), 3 desember 2004
Resultater i FK prosjekter (LB, 2009)
Arbeidsplan programavdelingen 2009, endelig
Format for Mid-term review (undated)

Minutes – travel report

Vigdis Holm, Mid-Term Review Norplan 16.01.2010
Hans Inge Corneliussen, Travel Report from Ethiopia and Kenya, 1-9.04.2008

Partner documents:
Collaboration agreement, Annex I (substance of program, Annex II budget) of all partners working in
Nepal and Ethiopia
North - South:
Development Fund – WAT
Development Fund – NCDC
Development Fund – KU,
Development Fund – ESD
FIVH – NEFEJ
Gimlekollen School of Journalism – EMWA
 FK review 2009 NCG

Haukeland University Hospital – Yekatit 12 - CMC

Norplan – Shebelle Consulting
Norwegian Church Aid – Communications for Change, NCA – EOC/DICA, FECCLEHA
Naturvernforbundet – For the Earth /NIDS
Nepal Productions – Monal Export
NKSS – NBCBS
Norway Red Cross – Nepal Red Cross
University of Agder - Nepal Music Center and Rikskonsertene
University of Bergen - SIH
University of Tromsø – TUTH

South-South 53
ANNPCAN -
EWLA – TAWLA - Fida
JET - EEJA
NAWOU - WAT
MWA – EMWA, TAMWA, ZAMWA
Clean Air Initiative
DRIK
Fair Trade
FIOH
FNJ
INSEC
Pourakhi – RAKSI (SARDI)
PSU – MUC, IBD
TI Nepal – TI Sri Lanka, TI Maldives, TI Bangladesh, TI Pakistan

Participants’ reports from partner organizations

Hannah Wozene Kvam, February 2004-January 2005, Final report

Liyunet Demsis, August – December 2005
Astrid Randen, April – July 2006, 3rd quarterly report
Helen Yosef Hailu, August – October 2007, 1st report
Helen Yosef Hailu, October 15th 2007 - January 15th 2008, 2nd quarterly report
Helen Yosef Hailu, January 15th – April 15th 2008, 3rd quarterly report
Tormod Nuland, Jan – April 2007, 3rd Quarterly report,
Tormod Nuland, April – July 2007, 4th Quarterly report
Tormod Nuland, July - November 2007, Final Report
Anette Os, October 2007 to September 2008, Final Report
Annette Os, Utfordringer_anette

FK Quarterly Report1 Nov07 Eyvind Fredriksen (Norplan)

FK Quarterly Report2 Feb08 Eyvind Fredriksen (Norplan)
FK Quarterly Report3 May08 Eyvind Fredriksen (Norplan)
FK Quarterly Report No1 Messay Mekonnen (Norplan)
FK Quarterly Report No 3 Messay Mekonnen (Norplan)
1008 NORPLAN R3 Final narrative report (Norplan)
 FK review 2009 NCG

General advice on giving equipment as aid (HUH – Anja)

Report from Anja 2 year (HUH)
Haukeland deltaker rapport img-921104243-0001 (HUH)
Business report Vigdis Bøe (Uganda-Ethiopia)

Stein-Brand-1-2009-Nepal (DF-KU)
Report for ESD first period-Sten Trygve Brand
Report for ESD second period-Sten T Brand
Meeta-first-q-report-2009
Meeta-2nd q-report-09
Report on farm stay from 15 June to 3 July in Arstun farm 54

Fivh (2005), Intern Evaluering Runde2 (internal evaluation after round 2)

Grønn, Margunn (2005), Dreams of a lost country, published on fivh.no website27
_____________ (2007), On their own feet (På egne bein), published on fivh.no website
Helle, Knut Erik (2003), Norad in Nepali water conflict, published on fivh.no website
Helle, Knut Erik (2004), Where the mountains bleed, published on fivh.no website

Lama, Sangeeta (2004), Us indigenous people (oss urfolk i mellom), published on fivh.no website
MacGregor, Laurie (2009a), Much ado about little (mye ut av lite), published on fivh.no website
____________(2009b), Mother rivers death (moderelvenens død), Folkevett and fivh.no
NCA (2009), Report on the Fredskorpset (FK) Strategic Meeting at Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) Peace
and Gender in the Horn of Africa (PGHA) Thematic Area 11th May, 2009 – 15th May. Source:
www.fecchlaha.org
Ottesen, Solveig Holme (2006a), "Man må ha Nepal i hjertet" - om norske private kommersielle
aktører i Nepal og FNs tusenårsmål. Report to FIVH
Ottesen, Solveig Holme (2006b), “We can do on our own” Nepali Women Working Abroad - an
opportunity for empowerment and independence or a way of oppression and exploitation?

Red Cross Participants in Nepal Blogspots:

http://marinainepal.blogspot.com/ http://camillainepal.blogspot.com/
http://lifeofthomasmj.blogspot.com/2009/03/genocide-and-war-crimes-icc-ruling.html
http://srpknife.blogspot.com/ http://cactuspeace.blogspot.com/
http://emilflakk.blogspot.com/

Communication for Change participants in Ethiopia blogspots:

http://africacantwait.wordpress.com/ http://mareniafrika.blogspot.com/

NKSS blogspots
http://kristinnevdal.blogspot.com/ http://shyamkoblog.blogspot.com/
http://bishnuinnorway.blogspot.com/ http://mariannehelen.blogspot.com/ http://sigrun-i-
nepal.blogspot.com/
----

27
Most of the articles by FK participants at FIVH have also been published in Folkevett
 FK review 2009 NCG

Annexes

Annex I - Terms of Reference

FK NORWAY (FREDSKORPSET)
REVIEW OF SELECTED FK NORWAY PROGRAMMES

Background

FK Norway (Fredskorpset) is a governmental agency under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, financed
directly by the state budget. FK Norway shall assist in implementing the Norwegian government’s goals for 55
international development cooperation. The agency shall contribute to betterment of economic, social and
political conditions in developing countries, and to solidarity with these countries amongst the Norwegian
public. The operational mandate is to facilitate and support international exchange of personell within the
framework of institutional cooperation between Norway and DAC countries.

FK Norway has about 30 employees in its offices in Oslo, and maintains regional offices in Kampala and
Bangkok with a further 8 staff. Its 2009 budget appropriation is 185 mill NOK.

In 2009, FK Norway’s board was dissolved and its economic powers qualified. Its director now reports directly
to the section for development policy at the MFA. The previous statutes which governed the board are to be
replaced with a new instruction during 2009. The other formal elements of governance are MFA appropriation
letters and governance meetings.

FK Norway works with partnerships, which are groups of two or more collaborating organizations, agencies or
institutions in the public, private or civil sector in different countries. These apply to FK Norway for funds to
carry out exchange of personnel between themselves.

At the beginning of 2009 FK Norway had 125 active partnerships with 450 partners in 55 countries. However,
75% of FK Norway’s exchanges are concentrated to 20 common Norwegian development assistance countries.
Every year about 550 new participants are recruited by the partners to go and stay with another partner in the
partnership. All participants have to attend a 2-3 weeks’ FK organized preparatory course prior to the
exchange.

The present FK Norway was set up by governmental decree with a Board and statutes in 2000, and since then
its constitution as well as specific mandates have from time to time been adjusted:

FK north-south is the original and largest program for competence-focused exchange between Norway
and developing countries. Its previous strict age limitations have been abandoned, but the program
still focuses on professionals below 35 years. The most common length of stay abroad is one year.

FK south-south started in 2002 for exchange between countries within or between Africa and Asia. The
program is administered from FK Norway’s regional offices.

FK Youth was introduced as a separate program in 2003 and has a stronger weight on brigde-building
and young leadership training, and a period of 3-9 months abroad. It has an 18-25 age limit.

In 2008, FK Norway was chosen to administer Norway’s participation in the European health
institution capacity building program ESTHÉR. This program has a more flexible age limit and duration
of stay.

For a few years, FK Norway also offered a senior program (age 55-70), which has now been
abandoned.

Purpose of review
 FK review 2009 NCG

The last broad, general evaluation was commissioned by MFA and carried out by NORAD/external consultant in
2006.
The overall purpose of the present self-commissioned review is to contribute to FK Norway’s program
development and provide a strong learning element for the organisation. In particular, the review shall assist in
further developing improved methodologies, success indicators and definitions of results in the 4 result areas
(see below), and render advices for a better performance.
The review shall also serve as a reference in connection with a new strategy process and operational planning
which shall take place in the last quarter of 2009.
The review shall take Fredskorpset’s standing in a Norwegian political, professional and media/public opinion
context as the main reference.

Scope and limitations

Scope
56
The review shall focus on FK partnerships, its partners and participants, and the direct and indirect effects
which are outcome of the FK exchanges. The main focus of the consultant shall be on the long-term results in
the following 4 result areas (the definition and importance of which varies with program type and
partner/participant/society level – see below):

Institutional capacity building

International networking

Peace and bridge-building

Young leadership development

Partner level:
Major forms of results on partner level are: 1) sustained upgrading of technical skills, knowledge and
competence related to the institutions’ products and services, through exchange of internally or externally
recruited competent personnel, who learn/contribute both at home and host partners. 2) more general
organizational development as a result of the exchanges, f. ex. in the form of new ideas, cultural competence,
strengthening of leadership, improved international networks and cooperation, new strategies, or new
approaches to management. This applies both to Norwegian and south partners.

To achieve partner level results is in general not a main purpose of the FK Youth program, although it can
happen, especially inputs on a more general organizational level. For the other programmes, partner results in
one form or the other are clearly intended, as set down in project documents.

Possible issues on partner level:

What are the short-term results in terms of exchange of technical skills and knowledge between the
partners?

What are the long-term results in terms of institutional and organisational development?

How sustainable are the results?

Are there unintended effects and results as compared to the project documents? What are the most
significant changes?

What can be done to add more value to the partnerships of FK collaboration?

Participant level:
While FK Norway as an aid instrument is focused on institutional capacity building, the broader vision of FK is
just as much about the participants and their potential for the society as a whole, although such goals are not
always set forth in the project documents. It is therefore important for an assessment of FK Norway’s
achievements to gather information on this level.

Major forms of results on participant level are: 1) personal growth, increased technical and cultural skills and
competences, increased public participation as active citizens and public spokepersons, development of actual
and future leadership capacities, international outlook and networks. 2) increased understanding of different
 FK review 2009 NCG

countries, peoples, cultures and religions; bridge-building and promotion of peace. This applies both to
Norwegian and south participants.

All FK participants are expected to get a professional or personal impetus as a result of the stay abroad,
regardless of program line. For FK Youth participants, the personal motivation and involvement in international
questions, as well as practical international solidarity, are the primarily intended results of the program. As it
may take some time after coming home for such results to be manifest, it is important to include former
participants in the review.

Possible issues on participant level:

What are the FK effects on the participants’ careers in terms of education, employment and/or as
public spokepersons?

Do FK participants assume leadership positions in their communities and societies?

How do actual and former FK participants form and utlize networks with each other? 57

Society level:
FK Norway shall contribute towards fulfillment of Norwegian economic and social development policies as set
forth in the appropriation letters and other documents. FK Norway shall also contribute towards fulfillment of
the political vision of bridge-building and a more peaceful world.
Possible issues:

How can FK’s relevance and efficiency as an instrument for Norwegian development aid be further
improved?

How can FK’s relevance as an instrument for bridge-building and increased mutual knowledge and
respect between nations, cultures and religions be further improved?

Limitations
The consultant is expected to analyse the following elements only if it is believed that they seriously have
affected results:

Operational matters (such as practical matters related to the particpants’ stay abroad)

Organisational and management matters

Administrative systems, planning, budgeting, reporting and control routines

FK Norway’s work with Norwegian communities and municipalities as well as FK Norway’s information and
communication work are not topics of this review.

Methodology
The consultant is expected to gather his/her data through a combination of document study (in particular
project documents and policy-related documents) and in-person interviews with partner representatives,
participants and other stake-holders.

The review shall take the following standard criteria into consideration:

Relevance

Cost-efficiency

Impact short- and long-term

Sustainability

The review shall aim to cover both present, active FK partners and participants in Ethiopia and Nepal, as well as
selected Norwegian partners in the FK north-south and FK youth programmes. In addition, selected former
partnerships and participants should be visited (as far as practical). To assess long-term results, it is of
importance to get alumni participants.
 FK review 2009 NCG

These two countries represent two continents, they have both a moderate FK activity level, they have both FK
north-south, FK south-south and FK youth programmes represented, and they have functional FK national
networks.

The consultant shall meet with the Norwegian embassies in the two concerned countries. In order to gain a
better idea of FK methodology, the consultant shall also visit at least one meeting in each of the following
categories:

partner/planning/review meeting

preparatory course

homecoming seminar

network meeting

Consultant requirements
58
Team composition
The consultant shall have a close knowledge of the Norwegian political, professional and media/public opinion
context.

Schedule
Week 36: Deadline for bids
Week 37: Selection of consultant
Week 38: Inception meeting, FK provides background materials
Week 39 (tentatively): Field work Norway
Week 41 (tentatively): Field work Nepal
Week 43 (tentatively): Field work Ethiopia
Week 45: First report/seminar with FK
Week 48: Final report and release

Reports
The consultant shall produce a full report in English with the findings, and a summary report. The consultant
shall also conduct a half-day seminar with Fredskorpset about the findings.

Although this is an internally generated review, the results should be freely publisized once Fredskorpset has
cleared the report for release. Fredskorpset shall reserve the right to organize the public release of the report
including to the media.

Work volume
The work is stipulated to 400 man-hours, including preparations, travel, interview/fact-finding, report writing
and presentation of results.

FK Norway obligations

Provide all necessary background documentation and reference documents, and other documentation
as requested by the consultant.

Make available data from new partner and participant electronic questionnaire surveys to be
conducted in September 2009.

Brief the team as required.

Facilitate and book all necessary appointments with partners, participants and other institutions in
Norway, Ethiopia and Nepal.

Accompany the consultant on field work in a facilitating and supporting role. In Ethiopia and Nepal, the
FK support team shall consist of Regional director, national network coordinator and a management
member from Norway. In Norway, management member and program officer will accompany.

Host work meetings, briefings, workshops and report presentation events in Oslo.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Bid information
Deadline for bids: Friday 4th September
Selection of consultant: Week 37
Inception meeting: Week 38
The bid shall contain:

Price offer and validity

CV of consultants

Confirmation of capacity in relation to schedule

The bidder shall demonstrate:

Close knowledge of the Norwegian aid and international development sector, hereunder FK Norway’s
role and mandate

Professionalism and a dynamic approach to definition and description of results in this sector

Ability to enter into a learning dialogue with FK Norway and its partners and participants 59
 FK review 2009 NCG

Annex II List of people and institutions consulted

Name Position/Title Institution

NORWAY

Nita Kapoor Director Fredskorpset (FK) Norway

Helge Espe Deputy Director FK Norway
Live Bjorge Program Manager FK Norway
Ellen Linde Head of Training Dept FK Norway
Grete Thingelstad Head of Finance/Adm. FK Norway
Susanne Brovold Hvidsten Program Coordinator FK Norway
Håvard Hovdhaugen Program Coordinator FK Norway
Nahuel Polesel Consultant/trainer FK Norway
Henrik T. Aasvestad Consultant/trainer FK Norway 60
Vigdis Holm Program Coordinator FK Norway
Leila Hafzi* Director Nepal Productions
Gideon Tesfai Regional Coordinator Asia Norway Red Cross
Vibeke Vatne Larsen Youth Coordinator Norway Red Cross
Christoffer Klyve Head of International dept. Development Fund
Arne Kittang FK coordinator Development Fund
Olav Myrholt Program advisor Development Fund
Maria Bjerke Dalene Coordinator Gimlekollen School of Journalism
Elray Henriksen Advisor Norwegian Church Aid
Dag A. Høystad Advisor Friends of the Earth (NNV)
Knut-Erik Helle Journalist Folkevett, FIVH
Arild Hermstad Head FIVH
Jon Wiggum Dahl Director Dept of int’l cooperation, Haukeland
Univ. Hospital (HUH)
Silje Seterås Special Advisor Dept of int’l cooperation, HUH
Grete Marie Eilertsen Special Advisor Dept of int’l cooperation, HUH
Karstein Rødland Advisor Dept Medical-Technical Device, HUH
Marit Hjellestad Head Dept, Physiotherapy, HUH
Helene Færestrand Coordinator NMF

Others
Rolando FK participant Nicaragua Development Fund
Chica FK participant Malawi Development Fund
Tone Espeland Former participant Uganda Dept, Physiotherapy, HUH
Joakim Arntsen Former participant Uganda Norplan
Everlyn Kiwewesi Current participant at GSJ
Diana Etsabo Current participant at GSJ AMWIK Kenya
Sara Tolfsby Former participant Uganda UN Association
Rolf Størkson Former participant Helse Bergen, HUH, National Blood
Transfusion Service (NBTS) Tanzania
Fred Nyabara* FK Partner/director FECCLAHA, Nairobi

Ethiopia
Name Position/Title Institution
Fikre Meskel Regional representative Africa FK
Jonathan Fikre Senior Program Officer FK
Georgina Manyuru Monitoring consultant FK
Jens-Petter Kjemprud Ambassador Norwegian Embassy
Turmod Nordvik Nuland Program Officer/former FK participant Norwegian Embassy
 FK review 2009 NCG

Nkatha Kagenso Current Participant Ethiopia Evangelic Church

Mekan Yessus (EECMY)
Berhanu Berhe Head of DASC EECMY
Mamo Wajega Deputy EECMY
Yilikal Shiferaw Head of Refugee Dept EOC/DICAC
Getahun Warku Acting Director EWLA
Argaw Ashine Director EEJA
Daniel Kassa Officer BOLSA (Amhara)
Tafetu Shiferawa Participant Wollo University
Abebech Tebeje Executive Director EMWA
Hans Birkeland Country Director NCA
Kibret Getahun NCA’s FK Coordinator NCA
Dr Yohannes Kebede Department Head Yekatit 12 hospital 61
Kinife Abraha WAT
Atsbha Abraha Deputy director WAT
Murutshe Desta REST
Ayalew W/Semayat Director ANPPCAN
Biruk Yacob FK network coordinator ANPPCAN
Surafel Tefera Managing Director Shebele Consulting
Engineers
Tadesse Mekonnen Manager Shebele
Tizita Secretary Shebele

FK Participant (Sent from Ethiopia)

Name Home – Host Organization

Makonnen Addisu ANPPCAN Ethiopia
Mesay Mekonen Shebelle Consulting –
Norplan/Multiconsult/Asplan Viak
Elisabeth Samuel EMWA
Fasika Zeleatem EMWA - TAMWA
Bethlehem Negash EMWA - ZAMWA
Beletu Bulbula EMWA
Liyunet Demsis Fereja EMWA – GSJ/NRK
Yilikal Shiferaw EOC - FECCLEHA
Shemsia Mohamed WAT – DF Norway
Ashenafi Tagash Sterling Tour and Travel
Baruck Yacob ANPPCAN Ethiopia – ANPPCAN Kenya
Mitike Molla Sisay* Yekatit 12 - HUH
Abaynesh Kibret CMC India - Yekatit 12
Meseret Ali EOC - NCA
Abat Sahlu Baleh ALERT - UIB (ESTHER)
Mengistu Ewnetu BOLSA – HIST/SCN
Mengistu Tadesse BOLSA – HIST/SCN
Aragu Ballu FECO - Malawi
 FK review 2009 NCG

FK Participants (Received in Ethiopia)

Name Host – Home Organization

Apollo Gumaoshabe WAT - NAWOU

Fidel Owino ANPPCAN Ethiopia - ANNPCAN Kenya
Jacklyne Agonda EWLA – Fida Kenya
Tike Mwambipile EWLA - TAWLA
Christina Mkutumula EEJA - FECO
Helene Onshuus EECMY - NCA
Kristina Albertsen EECMY - NCA
Nkatha Kobia EECMY - FECCLAHA
Rosa Wangui Kihara EOC - FECCLAHA
Salama Njani Khamis EMWA - TAMA 62
Irene Mwivano EMWA - AMWIK
Tormod Nuland EMWA - GSJ
Anne-Kari Knutsen Yekatit 12 – HUH Bergen

NEPAL
Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nepal Einar Rystad/Minister Counselor
Kristine H. Storholt/ Counselor
Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS) Ganesh Gurung/ Chairperson
Radha Gurung/ Deputy Director (FK network
coordinator)
Anita Manandhar/ Executive Director
Pourakhi Durga Gurung/ Program Coordinator
Bal Krishna/ FK project coordinator/ FK Participant
sent (Sr. program officer in NIDS)
Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalist Om Khadka / Executive Director
(NEFEJ)
Fair Trade Group Sunil Sainju/ Executive Director
College of Journalism and Mass Dr. Manju Mishra/ Founder/ Dean of CJMC
Communication (CJMC) Pradeep Bhattarai/ Faculty member

Nepal Red Cross Umesh Prasad Dhakal

Bipul Neupane/ Deputy Director
Rabila Bwnanjankar, Lalitpur District Desk officer
Bishnu Hari Devkota, Youth Department Director

Center for research training and international Rina Pradhan Shrestha/ Executive Secretary
relationship Geeta Pandey/ Faculty Member
Sakuntala Shakya/ HoD; Faculty
Kumar Banu, Admin Staff
Damodar Khatri, Admin staff
Dr. Bidur Chalise/ managing Director

Nepal Bishwobidhyalaya ChristiaBidhyarthi Krishna Prasad Devkota/ General Secretary

Sangati (Samual) Gunja Taman/Chairman of the Board
Tribhuvan University - Teaching Hospital Ram Bahadur Chand/ Faculty
Mukunda Prasad Humagain/ Associate Professor
Dr. Sunil Pradhan/ Head of Department
Federation of Nepalese Journalist (FNJ) Dharmendra Jha/ President
Sunil Bhattarai/ Coordinator
 FK review 2009 NCG

Kathmandu University Roshan M. Bajracharya/ Associate Professor,

Aquatic Ecology Centre
Chhatra Mani, post-doc fellow at Aquatic Ecology
Centre (previously at UMB)

Nepal Music Centre Santosh Sharma/Chair; Board of Directors

Rajendra B. Shrestha/ Advisor
Iman Shah/ Vice Principal
Liza Malla/ Administration Manager
Subha Bahadur Sunam/ Chief Administer

Transparency International Ashish Thapa/ Executive Director

Damodar Gautam/ President 63
Rosy Adhikari/ FK Program Coordinator
Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) Bijay Raj Gautam/ Executive Director
Namsaling Community Development Centre Hom Nath Adhikari/Executive Director

Monal Import and Export Bishnu Shimkhada/ Executive Director

FK Participant (Sent from Nepal)

Name Home – Host Organization

Radha Gurung NIDS – FIOH Sri Lanka
Bal Krishna Gurung Pourakhi – SHISHUK Bangladesh
Sushil Mainali NEFEJ – FIVH (2007/8)
Shobha Manandhar NEFEJ – FIVH (2008-10)
Sarun Tuladhar NEFEJ – FIVH (2008-9)
Sangeeta Lama NEFEJ – FIVH (2004-5)
Nav Raj Chalise College of Journalism and Mass Communication (CJMC)
Umita Bajracharya Nepal Red Cross – Norway Red Cross (2007-8)
Bhaumika Sharma Centre for Research Training and International Relations
Bishnu Bahadur Moktan Nepal Biswabidhalaya
Kedar Prasad Bhattarai Federation of Nepalese Journalist (FNJ), Sri Lanka 2003
Sushmita Sharma Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC)
Prabhu Raj Dhakal Nepal Music Centre – University of Agder (2009/10)
Rabin Lal Shrestha Nepal Music Centre – University of Agder(2009/10)
Suresh Raj Bajracharya Nepal Music Centre – University of Agder(2009/10)
Meeta Acharya Katmandu University - Development Fund/UMB/Noragric
(2009/10)

FK Participants (Received in Nepal)

Name Host – Home Organization

Linn Elisabeth Gjelsvik Monal import and export (2008-9)
Laurie MacGregor Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalist (NEFEJ) (2008-2010)
Klaus Stafto NEFEJ (2008-9)
Solveig H. Ottesen NEFEJ (2006-7)
Margunn Grønn NEFEJ (2004-5)
Knut Erik Helle NEFEJ (2003-4)
Camilla R. Dukefos Nepal Red Cross (2009-10))
Emil Flakk Nepal Red Cross (2009-10
Vibeke Vatne Nepal Red Cross
 FK review 2009 NCG

Md. Ruhul Amin Khan Center for research training and international relationship
Veronica Antosen Nepal Bishwobidhyalaya ChristiaBidhyarthi Sangati
Camilla Stokka Nepal Bishwobidhyalaya ChristiaBidhyarthi Sangati
Torun Bjorkas Tribhuvan University/Teaching Hospital
Jeanette Rindhal Tribhuvan University/Teaching Hospital
Sten Brand Kathmandu University
Svein Westad Nepal Music Centre – Agder University
Merethe Vadstein Nepal Music Centre – Agder University
Md. Kazi Ahshan Habib Zakir Pourakhi (2008-9)
Ms Sabiha Laizu Nishi Pourakhi (2008-9)
Mr. Aasif Shaqeel Transparency International (2009-10)
Momena Jalil* CJMC

64
Participants of Focus Group Discussion

Name Home Organization

Archana Gurung Pourakhi
Ananda Kumar Shrestha NEFEJ
Suraj Ratna Shakya CJMC- Power Communication
Jivanta Wagle INSEC
Prakash Gnyawali INSEC
Kishor Sharma CJMC
Yogendra Man Shrestha NCDC
Kamal Prasad Nepal NCDC
Hira Bahadur Ghale NCDC
Pravesh Prasad Chapagain NCDC
Bal Kumari Ghimire NCDC

* = email or phone interview

 FK review 2009 NCG

Annex III Interview guide

A. Partner level (institutional)

1. Background information
• Sector activities
• Type of partnership with FK (N-S, S-S) (partnership with other exchange programs?)
• Brief history of partnership – how did you hear about FK?
• Contact with donor (Norway) in other projects?
• Motivation for being part of FK partnership?
• Primary vs. secondary partnerships
65
2. FK program – experiences with sending of participants
• Total number of participants sent? (male/females)
o To North (institution, country)
o To South (institution, country)
• How many still working with organization? How many left?
• Why, and to where did they leave?
• Changes in participant’s professional and interpersonal skills before/after sending participant
• Changes in skills transfer?

3. FK program – experiences with receiving of participants

• Total number of participants received (males/females)
o From North (institution, country)
o From South (institution, country)
• Main activities conducted?
• Relevance of participant technical/professional and social skills to your needs?
• Changes in your institution before/after receiving participant?
• Sustainability of what has been achieved in FK partnerships? Areas of improvements?

4. FK has 4 goals. Share with us any changes observed at participant/institutional level that
relates to these goals:
o Institutional capacity-building
o Networking
o Young leadership
o Peace and bridge-building

5. Areas of improvements for improving or sustaining the results?

B. Participant level (individual)

Background:
1. How did you hear about FK? Staff of partner or externally recruited?
2. Why did you join FK (motivation)?
3. Where did you go? (country, institution, year)

Assessment of results
4. What are the changes after your FK participation?
o Personal level (growth, career, technical and cultural skills)
 FK review 2009 NCG

o Institution that you are affiliated to

o Did you take on a different position after your FK participation?
o Society level – has your participation in the community changed as a result of FK
participation?

5. FK has 4 goals, share with us any changes observed at your institution related to these goals:
Institutional capacity-building, Networking, Young leadership, Peace and bridge-building

6. Is there a system of transfer of skills at institutional level? (Was there anybody who worked with
you at the organization whom you transferred skills to? Who would take over your role/tasks
when you leave the host organization?)

Sustainability – questions for former participants: 66

7. Sustainability of what has been achieved at your institution as a result of the FK partnerships?
8. Did you conduct any follow-up activities when returning to home organization? In case yes, what
kind of activities?

9. Are you still in contact with other participants from FK programmes? If yes, how do you utilize
networks these networks?

8. Areas of improvements for sustaining/enhancing results?

Questions to Norwegian Embassy

Complimentarity
• To what extent are the FK programmes and partnerships complementary to other parts of Norwegian
development cooperation in Nepal and Ethiopia?
• To what extent are there complementarities to other exchange programmes in the South/North?
• Which strategic areas could Norway explore new cooperation with FK?

Society level
• How can FK’s relevance and efficiency as an instrument for Norwegian development aid be further
improved?
• How can FK’s relevance as an instrument for bridge-building and increased mutual knowledge and respect
between nations, cultures and religions be further improved
 FK review 2009 NCG

Annex IV Case studies

Overview of FK Youth Programs in Nepal and Ethiopia

Primary Countries Since Own training Verified results Verified results at Comments
partner involved participants level partner level
29
Norwegian Ethiopia, Kenya, 1996 (was BOLK at Exposure to new No direct benefit For Ethiopia
Church Tanzania, funded SunnmøreFolk culture for Ethiopia no South
28
Aid Philippines, directly High School, Learning language partner yet. participants
Nicaragua by Norad Sunnmøre Coping in Strengthens exchanged to
before 3 weeks challenging recruitment (via Norway.
FK) training in environment Changemaker) to South
Kenya Skills in information NCA and Y Global participants
work, do not access 67
communication, the
campaign work educational
credits

Norway Nepal, Colombia, 2005 YBT one week Leadership skills Youth activities at Red Cross
Red Cross Rwanda, Sudan Experience from branch level identity
projects (HIV, AIDS, New activities in strong, weak
trafficking, country, incl. IGA contact with
Community and trafficking FK both in
development etc) “Best practices” country and
Improved CVs exchange Norway.
Many working in Challenging RC Red Cross
Red Cross/IFRC leadership on wants longer
youth period (8-9
representation months not
Recruitment base enough)
for Red Cross Many results
at partner
level,
including CP
NKSS Nepal, Kenya, 2003 Prep course at Exposure new No direct North
30
Uganda, Brazil Hald culture, language institutional partner has
+ some Christian faith and benefits for South sent girls age
personal leadership in cross- partner. 18-19, South
coaching cultural setting Strengthens links partner sent
Leadership skills btw NKSS and men age 25-
Entrepreneurs. Nepali partners 28 years
Progress in their Helps recruitment North
careers and incentives for participants
membership in not working
both students in host
bodies partner

28
NCA has a co-partner agreement with YWCA-YMCA Global (Norges KFUK-KFUM)
29
BOLK = Bible and Leadership training
30
Hald International Centre is a school owned by the Strømme Foundation, the Norwegian Missionary Society and NKSS.
The school offers a course in cross-cultural understanding and international work. The study is a good mixture of theory and
practice, where all the students have a 6-7 months placement in a different culture. FK pays for the six months stay abroad.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Sabina Singh (Program Officer, Fair Trade Group)

Institutionalization of Learning

Sabina Singh, a staff member of Fair Trade Group (FTG), was hosted by Thai Craft as FK
participant (Oct 2007- Aug 2008). The main attraction for Sabina was the opportunity to learn
the Fair Trade CraftCert (a part of Sustainable Fair Trade Management System, which was
planned to be piloted in the host organization by World Fair Trade Organization.) When she
arrived however, due to some internal problem in the host organization the piloting was
cancelled. Though disappointed, she continued her exchange in the development wing of Thai
Craft, which kept her engaged with challenging task such as learning and supporting with the 68
producers assessment process and organizing 19 trade fairs in 10 months. Sabina volunteered
in the commercial wing of the host organisation to support with event management and
learning product design, marketing and promotional strategies of Thai Craft which she found
very impressive.
When Sabina returned back to FTG in Nepal with new zeal and enthusiasm, new challenges were waiting for her.
But she felt out of place and an outsider in her own organization, she shares “I felt that my space was taken over by
somebody else and I no longer belonged here”. Her previous supervisor had left the job and she had lost track of the
progress back home. Comments during the meeting like “we no longer do it this way; you don’t know about the decision
that has been made; or you don’t understand the context of this discussion etc” made Sabina feel a strong sense of
alienation and hence was often demoralised. For FK this is a well-known and recorded homecoming effect to which FK tries
to prepare the participants in the seminars.
It took her more than three months to gain back her confidence and retrieve her space in the organization.
Besides the follow up activities, which included sharing with board members, she spend three months doing nothing just
pondering over what to do and how to begin. Gradually she got herself engaged in organizing the “Annual Fair Trade Fair
2008”. Drawing upon her experience of organizing the trade fair in Thailand, she aimed for professionally managed high
profile event. She was able to convince her management to book a more attractive venue with better stalls, invest more in
its promotion with better quality communication and promotional materials, advertisements and designer invitation cards.
The results was increased visibility and credibility for FTG with increased number of exhibitors, diversified visitors which
included students, expatriate and I/NGO representatives and increased sales by 20% (as stated in the substance of the
program document). Her further contribution was developing a systematic assessment for membership application,
evaluation and monitoring system based on her experience in Thai Crafts. FTG Nepal membership procedures have now
been integrated with WFTO Asia and simplified which has resulted in additional 5 applications for membership. Self
assessment and evaluation tool for member organizations has also been developed.
Sabina’s supervisor Sunil shares “Sabina is indispensable to this organization now. She is very confident in what
she does and completely independently. In-fact I am dependent on her until I learn the new system from her”. Sabina has
also been able to extend her learning to other member organizations and community groups through the trainings she
conducts for them. Sunil further adds “Sabina is always referring to her experience in Thai Craft. While discussing new
approaches or delivering training she shares the tools and approaches of Thai Craft. Recently she was orienting the
producers groups on promoting their product and promptly took out and shared Thai Craft’s promotion tool”
Though the exchange program has not meant any increase in position or salary for Sabina, as the organization
structure does not allow space for vertical promotion, she is extremely happy for the learning opportunity and is highly
motivated because of the additional responsibilities she has been entrusted with, the changes she has been able to initiate
in the organization and the appreciation and recognition she has received. She has also experienced a change in herself, as
a person and a manger, being exposed to the un-hierarchical working environment in the host organization.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Archana Gurung (POURAKHI)

Enabling Environment for Participants - Support System

Archana Gurung, was volunteer in POURAKHI for about 2 months when she was offered the
opportunity for FK exchange program in South Asian Research Development Initiative (SARDI),
India. She was placed in the community based outreach section, working directly with the
community (Reaching across boarder project: Reducing migrant workers vulnerability to
HIV/AIDS funded by FHI and DFID). Nepali language was her advantage for working closely with
the community, mostly Nepalese migrant worker.
Gradually she ended taking up full-fledged responsibility as a key staff member of the
Project, involved in testing, care taking, supporting and counseling migrant workers and their
families including Nepalese sex workers in Delhi as well as interacting with stakeholders and
community members. She also supported with radio program and field activities, which was in addition to the initially
69
agreed scope of work. This experience gave Archana a good exposure and experience of working with migrant workers and
understanding their issues and challenges. Since the other staff members with whom she was teamed to work with
apparently were not oriented on the FK program, Archana’s role and their support to her, she was treated as a regular staff
member of SARDI. Her team members tended to compete with her, comparing their salary with hers, being jealous and
hence uncooperative, which made her work often challenging. She feels that she was overloaded with works, delegated by
her team members, and hence had to work beyond the regular work hours. She remembers the incident when she was
asked to attend to a dead body at night and arrange for the cremation all by herself. Because of the extensive work load, it
was difficult for her to attend regular learning seminars and workshops. Archana recalls her visits to red light areas as part
of the job, where she had to face harassing comments from passers bys. She says that she accepted all this challenges with
all the strength and determination for the sake of her people (Nepali workers) and the reputation of her home organization
and FK Norway. Being a Nepali but born, brought up and educated in India itself, it was easier for her to cope with the
situation there as she could relate more with the migrant workers and their issues there.
Coming back, she continued her job with POURAKHI with follow up activities such as sharing experiences with
staff members, returnee female migrant workers groups and other organizations as arranged by POURAKHI as well as giving
radio interview. But Archana feels that there was not enough space to fully utilize her skills and expertise. Since there was
no regular project with POURAKHI which she could join, she was assigned to work with a Community Based Organisation as
a volunteer and without any formal position or responsibility, and no regular activities there was very little she could
support the group with. Hence with less opportunity for utilizing her learning the job gradually got frustrating. In the mean
time she got married and had to take extended maternity leave. Later she was able to get a new job as a coordinator in one
of the leading NGO of Nepal, Women Rehabilitation Center (WOREC) which works with female migrant workers and she
believes that her experience in SARDI was valuable for her to get this opportunity. She states “I was more confident in the
interview and was even able to quote my salary with conviction. Now I am more confident about my competency and do not
hesitate to negotiate”. But unfortunately, due to some family problem, she could not join the new job and hence returned
back to POURAKHI as a volunteer, supporting the organization in office management, proposal development and counseling
the migrant returnees.
Now looking back to the FK experience she believes that all the challenge and hardship was worth it as Archana
says “I feel the experience has made me stronger as a person, giving me different perspective to see life, being more open to
challenges, developing my strength to seek options to address problems rather than avoiding it”. The skills she has gained
such as HIV/AIDS testing, care taking and counseling, understanding the issue (HIV/AIDS and gender), project management
and document is valuable for her. She shares that the whole experience of FK was very enriching and hence there should be
some evidence to attest her genuine experience “I completed the program with such dedication and determination, and my
experience was also recognition as the best in the debriefing workshop and included in the FK bulletin, other than that there
is nothing to prove my contribution, no letter of acknowledgement or appreciation. My host organization also refused to
give me any certificate. They were other FK participants who got it – even if they were less committed than me. I took
additional risk and challenges but at the end their contribution and my contribution seems to be equal. What is my incentive
for the extra effort that I have put into it and how do I prove that I actually gained that experience in SARDI without any
formal documentation”. She strongly recommends FK to formally recognize the extra efforts and contribution from
participants like her, which can be capitalized upon for their further career growth and development.
 FK review 2009 NCG

Annex V Results FK Survey to Partners

FK Norway Partner Survey 2009

Published from 12.10.2009 to 21.11.2009

124 responses (121 unique)

Your program
Alternatives Percent Value

1 FK North-South 57,4 % 541

2 FK-Youth 18,0 % 170

3 FK South-South 24,6 % 232

70
Total 943

Your participant status

Alternatives Percent Value

1 North-participant 63,1 % 442

2 South-participant 36,9 % 259

Total 701

1. Did you answer this survey in 2007?

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Yes 44,8 % 52

2 No 55,2 % 64

Total 116

3. What is your position in the partner institution?

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Director or CEO 32,3 % 40

2 FK Project Coordinator 46,0 % 57

3 Other, please specify 21,8 % 27

Total 124

4. Which FK program(s)
program(s) are you engaged in:
Alternatives Percent Value

1 North-South Program 52,4 % 65

2 South-South program 46,0 % 57

3 Youth program 14,5 % 18

4 ESTHER 0,8 % 1

Total 124

5. What kind of partner do you represent?

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Primary partner in the North 37,1 % 46

2 Secondary partner in the South 45,2 % 56

3 Primary partner in the South 18,5 % 23

4 Secondary partner in the North 2,4 % 3

Total 124
 FK review 2009 NCG

6. Which sector do you represent?

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Civil society 57,4 % 70

2 Commercial / business sector 11,5 % 14

3 Public/semi-public service 31,1 % 38

Total 122

7. Your FK Norway exchange program operates within the field(s) of:

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Environment 30,1 % 37

2 Peace building 15,4 % 19

3 Governance 14,6 % 18

4 Human rights 16,3 % 20

71
5 Media 8,1 % 10

6 Health (including HIV/AIDS) 17,1 % 21

7 Education 33,3 % 41

8 University / Research 16,3 % 20

9 Agriculture 10,6 % 13

10 Business development 13,0 % 16

11 Women and gender equality 19,5 % 24

12 Culture and sports 21,1 % 26

13 Other: 22,0 % 27

Total 123

8. How many exchange rounds have you completed?

Alternatives Percent Value

1 0 10,6 % 13

2 1 23,6 % 29

3 2 10,6 % 13

4 3 15,4 % 19

5 4 14,6 % 18

6 5 10,6 % 13

7 6 or more 14,6 % 18

Total 123

9. How many participants have you received in total, including the current participants?
Alternatives Percent Value

1 None 5,6 % 7

2 1-3 33,9 % 42

3 4-6 28,2 % 35

4 7-10 14,5 % 18

5 11-15 3,2 % 4

6 15-20 6,5 % 8

7 21 or more 8,1 % 10

Total 124

participants?
10. How many participants have you sent in total, including the current participants?
Alternatives Percent Value

1 None 5,6 % 7

2 1-3 31,5 % 39

3 4-6 29,0 % 36
 FK review 2009 NCG

4 7-10 13,7 % 17

5 11-15 6,5 % 8

6 15-20 5,6 % 7

7 21 or more 8,1 % 10

11. How satisfied is your organization with the capacity building related to the FK exchange?
Institutional capacity building

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 39,5 % 49

2 Quite satisfied 33,9 % 42

3 Satisfied 21,8 % 27

4 Less than satisfied 1,6 % 2

72
5 Not satisfied at all 0,8 % 1

-1 Don't know 2,4 % 3

Total 124

12. What concrete results of the FK Norway exchange have you seen so far?
You may tick several boxes.
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Staff language skills have improved 52,5 % 63

2 Staff technical skills have improved 56,7 % 68

3 The staff is better trained 43,3 % 52

4 The staff is more motivated 57,5 % 69

5 The organization has developed 58,3 % 70

6 The quality of the leadership has improved 36,7 % 44

7 The informational work/PR has improved 44,2 % 53

8 The organization takes part in more strategic 45,8 % 55

international networks

9 The org. gets more international exposure 58,3 % 70

10 The staff knows more about other cultural traits 78,3 % 94

(e.g. values, beliefs, perception of time, arts)

11 The intercultural acceptance has improved 58,3 % 70

12 The knowledge on North/South issues has increased 60,8 % 73

13 The staff has developed friendships across borders 83,3 % 100

Total 120

14.1 Where did you

you recruit participants to send abroad? - External recruitment (from outside of the organization)
organization)
Alternatives Percent Value

1 All participants 18,3 % 11

2 Most participants 26,7 % 16

3 Some participants 33,3 % 20

4 None 21,7 % 13

Total 60

14.2 Where did you recruit participants to send abroad? - Internal recruitment (from the staff of the organization)
organization)

Alternatives Percent Value

1 All participants 49,5 % 50

2 Most participants 23,8 % 24

 FK review 2009 NCG

3 Some participants 15,8 % 16

4 None 10,9 % 11

Total 101

14.3 Where did you recruit participants to send abroad? - Network based recruitment (from members or other
network)
Alternatives Percent Value

1 All participants 22,6 % 14

2 Most participants 17,7 % 11

3 Some participants 25,8 % 16

4 None 33,9 % 21

Total 62

73
15. Are you satisfied with how the FK participants contribute to institutional capacity building in your organization?
Alternatives N

1 Participants sent abroad 120

2 Participants received 110

15.1 Are you satisfied with how the FK participants contribute to institutional capacity building in your
organization? - Participants sent abroad

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 37,5 % 45

2 Quite satisfied 30,8 % 37

3 Satisfied 21,7 % 26

4 Less than satisfied 2,5 % 3

5 Not satisfied at all 0,8 % 1

-1 Don't know 6,7 % 8

Total 120

15.2 Are you satisfied with how the FK participants contribute to institutional capacity building in your
organization?
organization? - Participants received

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 22,7 % 25

2 Quite satisfied 36,4 % 40

3 Satisfied 30,9 % 34

4 Less than satisfied 6,4 % 7

5 Not satisfied at all 1,8 % 2

-1 Don't know 1,8 % 2

Total 110

16. As a host partner, what have been the major challenges in integrating participants you receive at the work
place? (You may tick several boxes.)

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Language barriers 45,3 % 48

2 Cultural barriers 38,7 % 41

3 Lack of skills 17,9 % 19

4 Socializing with them 15,1 % 16

 FK review 2009 NCG

5 Professional challenges 22,6 % 24

6 Personality challenges 21,7 % 23

7 Different technical knowledge 16,0 % 17

8 To make use of their knowledge 32,1 % 34

9 Other, please specify 18,9 % 20

Total 106

17. What happened to the participants you recruited after their exchange period finished?
You may tick several boxes.

Alternatives Percent Value

1 They got promoted 49,2 % 60

2 They kept the same job 33,6 % 41

3 They left our organization 25,4 % 31

74
4 They stay in touch with us informally 37,7 % 46

5 At times we use those who left as a resource 29,5 % 36

to improve our capacity building

6 Other: 27,0 % 33

-1 Don't know 2,5 % 3

Total 122

19.1 Please indicate how satisfied you are with FK Norway's services to your organization: - Obtaining information
on how to become a FK partner
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 29,3 % 36

2 Quite satisfied 31,7 % 39

3 Satisfied 18,7 % 23

4 Less than satisfied 4,9 % 6

5 Not satisfied at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Not applicable 15,4 % 19

Total 123

19.2 Please indicate how satisfied you are with FK Norway's services to your organization: - Processing time of
application: Feasibility/preliminary study
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 24,6 % 30

2 Quite satisfied 37,7 % 46

3 Satisfied 23,8 % 29

4 Less than satisfied 0,0 % 0

5 Not satisfied at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Not applicable 13,9 % 17

Total 122

19.3 Please indicate how satisfied you are with FK Norway's services to your organization: - Guidance throughout
the planning period
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 35,8 % 44

2 Quite satisfied 32,5 % 40

3 Satisfied 22,8 % 28

4 Less than satisfied 2,4 % 3

5 Not satisfied at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Not applicable 6,5 % 8

 FK review 2009 NCG

Total 123

19.4 Please indicate how satisfied you are with FK Norway's services to your organization: - Processing time of
application: Collaboration Agreement
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 41,5 % 51

2 Quite satisfied 30,1 % 37

3 Satisfied 17,1 % 21

4 Less than satisfied 2,4 % 3

5 Not satisfied at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Not applicable 8,9 % 11

Total 123

75
19.5 Please indicate how satisfied you are with FK Norway's services to your organization: - Program staff
accessibility
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 35,5 % 43

2 Quite satisfied 30,6 % 37

3 Satisfied 24,8 % 30

4 Less than satisfied 1,7 % 2

5 Not satisfied at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Not applicable 7,4 % 9

Total 121

19.6 Please indicate how satisfied you are with FK Norway's services to your organization: - Follow-
Follow-up and
monitoring
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 28,7 % 35

2 Quite satisfied 32,0 % 39

3 Satisfied 27,9 % 34

4 Less than satisfied 4,1 % 5

5 Not satisfied at all 0,8 % 1

-1 Not applicable 6,6 % 8

Total 122

19.7 Please indicate how satisfied you

you are with FK Norway's services to your organization: - Guidance throughout
the exchange period
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 29,5 % 36

2 Quite satisfied 36,9 % 45

3 Satisfied 19,7 % 24

4 Less than satisfied 6,6 % 8

5 Not satisfied at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Not applicable 7,4 % 9

Total 122

19.8 Please indicate how satisfied you are with FK Norway's services to your organization: - Reporting routines
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 17,2 % 21

2 Quite satisfied 33,6 % 41

3 Satisfied 33,6 % 41
 FK review 2009 NCG

4 Less than satisfied 4,1 % 5

5 Not satisfied at all 0,8 % 1

-1 Not applicable 10,7 % 13

Total 122

19.9 Please indicate how satisfied you are with FK Norway's services to your organization:
organization: - FK web pages
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 19,3 % 23

2 Quite satisfied 28,6 % 34

3 Satisfied 29,4 % 35

4 Less than satisfied 10,1 % 12

5 Not satisfied at all 2,5 % 3

-1 Not applicable 10,1 % 12

76
Total 119

21.1 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your organization? - The FK Forum
in Oslo
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 37,3 % 44

2 Quite useful 20,3 % 24

3 Useful 16,9 % 20

4 Less than useful 5,1 % 6

5 Not useful at all 1,7 % 2

-1 Not applicaple 18,6 % 22

Total 118

21.2 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your organization? - Network
meetings
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 26,7 % 32

2 Quite useful 30,0 % 36

3 Useful 19,2 % 23

4 Less than useful 6,7 % 8

5 Not useful at all 0,8 % 1

-1 Not applicaple 16,7 % 20

Total 120

21.3 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your organization?
organization? - Participant
blogs
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 5,2 % 6

2 Quite useful 16,5 % 19

3 Useful 26,1 % 30

4 Less than useful 8,7 % 10

5 Not useful at all 7,8 % 9

-1 Not applicaple 35,7 % 41

Total 115

21.4 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your organization? - Preparatory
courses
 FK review 2009 NCG

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 39,2 % 47

2 Quite useful 30,8 % 37

3 Useful 17,5 % 21

4 Less than useful 2,5 % 3

5 Not useful at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Not applicaple 10,0 % 12

Total 120

21.5 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your organization? - Homecoming
seminars (debriefing)
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 32,5 % 39

77
2 Quite useful 23,3 % 28

3 Useful 15,8 % 19

4 Less than useful 1,7 % 2

5 Not useful at all 3,3 % 4

-1 Not applicaple 23,3 % 28

Total 120

21.6 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your
your organization? - Participant
events
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 14,0 % 16

2 Quite useful 30,7 % 35

3 Useful 21,9 % 25

4 Less than useful 2,6 % 3

5 Not useful at all 1,8 % 2

-1 Not applicaple 28,9 % 33

Total 114

21.7 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your organization? - Thematic
conferences
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 13,0 % 15

2 Quite useful 24,3 % 28

3 Useful 20,9 % 24

4 Less than useful 2,6 % 3

5 Not useful at all 0,9 % 1

-1 Not applicaple 38,3 % 44

Total 115

21.8 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your organization? - Local network
events (in Norway)
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 7,1 % 8

2 Quite useful 14,3 % 16

3 Useful 17,9 % 20

4 Less than useful 3,6 % 4

5 Not useful at all 1,8 % 2

-1 Not applicaple 55,4 % 62

 FK review 2009 NCG

Total 112

21.9 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been
been for your organization? - Planning
meeting
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 37,6 % 44

2 Quite useful 17,1 % 20

3 Useful 17,1 % 20

4 Less than useful 0,9 % 1

5 Not useful at all 1,7 % 2

-1 Not applicaple 25,6 % 30

Total 117

78
21.10 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your organization? - Mid-
Mid-term
review
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 28,2 % 33

2 Quite useful 21,4 % 25

3 Useful 20,5 % 24

4 Less than useful 1,7 % 2

5 Not useful at all 1,7 % 2

-1 Not applicaple 26,5 % 31

Total 117

21.11 How useful have FK Norway's network activities and resources been for your organization? - Partner
meeting
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very useful 50,8 % 60

2 Quite useful 24,6 % 29

3 Useful 16,1 % 19

4 Less than useful 0,0 % 0

5 Not useful at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Not applicaple 8,5 % 10

Total 118

23. Do you keep in touch with FK Norway partner organizations outside your exchang
exchangee project?
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Yes 69,4 % 86

2 No 30,6 % 38

Total 124

24. What characterizes this form of contact?

You may tick several boxes.
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Give each other practical information 75,9 % 63

2 Discussion of issues within our professional field 73,5 % 61

3 Support when challenges erupt within the program 53,0 % 44

4 Other, please specify: 18,1 % 15

Total 83
 FK review 2009 NCG

thee regional offices)? - We receive visits from FK

26.1 How often do you communicate with FK Norway (including th
Norway (or its regional offices)
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 15,6 % 10

2 Every year 46,9 % 30

3 Every two years 18,8 % 12

4 Every three years 1,6 % 1

5 More seldom 17,2 % 11

Total 64

26.2 How often do you communicate with FK Norway (including the regional offices)? - We send and receive
letters / mail
Alternatives Percent Value 79
1 Several times a year 81,3 % 52

2 Every year 10,9 % 7

3 Every two years 4,7 % 3

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 3,1 % 2

Total 64

26.3 How often do you communicate with FK Norway (including the regional offices)? - We keep in touch with
people at FK Norway or its regional offices through email
email or phone
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 84,4 % 54

2 Every year 7,8 % 5

3 Every two years 3,1 % 2

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 4,7 % 3

Total 64

26.4 How often do you communicate with FK Norway

Norway (including the regional offices)? - Network meetings and
conferences
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 30,6 % 19

2 Every year 51,6 % 32

3 Every two years 9,7 % 6

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 8,1 % 5

Total 62

26.5 How often do you communicate with FK Norway (including the regional offices)? - Planning meetings and
evaluations
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 13,8 % 8

2 Every year 63,8 % 37

3 Every two years 13,8 % 8

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 8,6 % 5

Total 58
 FK review 2009 NCG

26.6 How often do you communicate with FK Norway (including the regional offices)? - Preparatory courses and
homecoming seminars
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 20,6 % 13

2 Every year 69,8 % 44

3 Every two years 6,3 % 4

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 3,2 % 2

Total 63

27.1 How often do you communicate with your primary (lead) partner? - We receive visits from our partner
Alternatives Percent Value 80
1 Several times a year 32,7 % 17

2 Every year 34,6 % 18

3 Every two years 7,7 % 4

4 Every three years 1,9 % 1

5 More seldom 23,1 % 12

Total 52

27.2 How often do you communicate with your primary (lead)

(lead) partner? - We send and receive letters / mail
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 85,7 % 48

2 Every year 5,4 % 3

3 Every two years 0,0 % 0

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 8,9 % 5

Total 56

27.3 How
How often do you communicate with your primary (lead) partner? - We keep in touch with partner
representatives through email or phone

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 94,5 % 52

2 Every year 5,5 % 3

3 Every two years 0,0 % 0

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 0,0 % 0

Total 55

27.4 How often do you communicate with your primary (lead) partner? - Network meetings and conferences
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 27,8 % 15

2 Every year 57,4 % 31

3 Every two years 5,6 % 3

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 9,3 % 5

Total 54

27.5 How often do you communicate with your primary (lead) partner? - Planning meetings and evaluations
 FK review 2009 NCG

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 23,1 % 12

2 Every year 65,4 % 34

3 Every two years 5,8 % 3

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 5,8 % 3

Total 52

27.6 How often do you communicate with your primary (lead) partner? - Preparatory courses
courses and homecoming
seminars
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Several times a year 19,2 % 10

2 Every year 65,4 % 34

81
3 Every two years 0,0 % 0

4 Every three years 0,0 % 0

5 More seldom 15,4 % 8

Total 52

28. How satisfied are you with the communication between your organization and FK Norway (including the
regional offices)?
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 48,5 % 33

2 Quite satisfied 30,9 % 21

3 Satisfied 16,2 % 11

4 Less than satisfied 0,0 % 0

5 Not satisfied at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Don't know 4,4 % 3

Total 68

30. How satisfied are you with the communication within your partnership?
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 31,5 % 39

2 Quite satisfied 42,7 % 53

3 Satisfied 21,0 % 26

4 Less than satisfied 3,2 % 4

5 Not satisfied at all 1,6 % 2

Total 124

31. What have been the greatest challenges regarding the communication within your partnership?(You may tick
several boxes.)
You may tick several boxes.
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Language barriers 14,5 % 16

2 Location in different time zones 12,7 % 14

3 Technical problems (phone, internet, fax, power cuts) 40,9 % 45

4 Participants are intermediaries, so we have 4,5 % 5

little direct contact

5 Changing of contact persons 19,1 % 21

6 Not get along with other partner 4,5 % 5

7 Having different values and beliefs 12,7 % 14

8 Other, please specify: 38,2 % 42

 FK review 2009 NCG

Total 110

33. What have been the challenging issues within

within the partnership?(You may tick several boxes.)
Alternatives Percent Value

1 The payments are irregular 18,1 % 17

2 There are unclear roles in the partnership 11,7 % 11

3 We do not get along with the people from the 2,1 % 2

partner

4 The partner does not act in accordance with 17,0 % 16

the contract

5 The professional knowledge of the participants 12,8 % 12

we sent abroad is not acknowledged

6 Communication problems 34,0 % 32

82
7 Other, please specify 48,9 % 46

Total 94

34. How satisfied are you with the equality, reciprocity and transparency in the management of your partnership?
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very satisfied 37,1 % 46

2 Quite satisfied 37,9 % 47

3 Satisfied 20,2 % 25

4 Less than satisfied 3,2 % 4

5 Not satisfied at all 0,8 % 1

-1 Don't know 0,8 % 1

Total 124

35. If any, what have been the challenges to maintaining equality, reciprocity and transparency in the
management of your partnership?
Alternatives Percent Value

1 Lack of consultation 13,7 % 14

2 Lack of cooperation by a partner 15,7 % 16

3 Domination by a partner 6,9 % 7

4 Other, please specify 22,5 % 23

-1 Not applicable 55,9 % 57

Total 102

37. How likely is it that you would recommend FK Norway's exchange program to others?
Concluding remarks

Alternatives Percent Value

1 Very likely 83,1 % 103

2 Quite likely 13,7 % 17

3 Likely 2,4 % 3

4 Less than likely 0,0 % 0

5 Not likely at all 0,0 % 0

-1 Don't know 0,8 % 1

Total 124