In 2018 ADRA Norway received NOK 73 million (7.48 million Euros) from Norad, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, for education programs in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Niger, Mali, and Myanmar. This included helping children with special needs to gain an education.

Now a recent report from the Office of the Auditor General of Norway highlights ADRA Norway as an example of an organization with good reporting routines on results achievement in education programming. The Office of the Auditor General states that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should learn from organizations like ADRA.

In a discussion about the work of the Norwegian Government to ensure education for children with special needs, the Office of the Auditor General points to ADRA and Save the Children as good examples of how achievements and results may be measured and reported.

The report, available online, states “the civil society organization ADRA is considered to have the most relevant performance information” of all the organizations reviewed (p. 71).

The report further states: “In the annual report for 2016, ADRA reports good results on eleven indicators. Good results here mean both achievement of ADRA’s own set targets and that ADRA has several indicators measuring quality in education. ADRA reports on several indicators at the outcome level, such as learning outcomes, schools that meet different quality requirements and the proportion of people with increased income after vocational training. A distinction is made between the pupils that ADRA fully supports and the number of pupils ADRA supports indirectly. ADRA also reports on the number of children with disabilities receiving education” (p. 87).

“ADRA Norway has worked hard to build systems that measure performance in our programs, states Birgit Philipsen, Secretary General of ADRA Norway. “This enables us to learn and continually improve our work.” She finds it gratifying that Norwegian authorities recognize the information reported by ADRA as being an example of excellence.

Norway is strongly committed to development support and education has been a particular priority for the government since 2013. In 2018, Norwegian development assistance amounted to NOK 35.3 billion (3.63 billion Euros). A large portion of these funds is distributed by Norad through organizations like ADRA.

The recommendation from the Office of the Auditor General states: “The Office of the Auditor General recommends that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs require that the aid administration systematically learns from projects and other actors who achieve good results and have good results information.”

ADRA Norway is a member of the global ADRA network with work in 130 countries.

This article was originally foundon the Trans-European Division’s news site