The Serbian Yoga Association, a marching band in South Africa and the Chinese Ministry of Trade were among recipients of Norwegian aid funds last year, according to an overview made by newspaper Dagens Næringsliv.
Large, well-known organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Norfund, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Red Cross and the Global Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) received the largest sums last year. 20 of the 26 billion from Norway went to 70 participants, who all received more than 50 million.
The other six billion were allocated to no less than 1,400 recipients.
Dagens Næringsliv asked the State Department about what the money has been used for.
Among other things, the Yoga Federation of Serbia received 8,000 kroner for a women’s project which aims to help abused women back into the workplace.
The Norwegian Band Federation (Norges Musikkorps Forbund) received 2.1 million for collaboration with the South African Field Band Association, and the Ministry of Trade in China stood as the beneficiary of 28 million.
According to the Foreign Ministry, this money went to fund nine different cooperative environmental projects.
State Secretary, Tone Skogen, at the Foreign Ministry, said that the number of recipients had been reduced in recent years, and that they want to reduce it further, because it can be just as difficult to manage and make good achievements by the small agreements as by major.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
