The 3rd edition of the Ambrela Development Forum (ADF) with the subtitle ‚Building Bridges, Building Solutions‘ took place in the first half of October in Bratislava. It responded to current global challenges with four panel discussions, four deep talks, five workshops, two exhibitions and several bilateral meetings. One of them was a networking event for Ambrela Platform member organisations with a 7-member delegation from Norway. A 7-member delegation from Norway also played an active role in the preparation of the conference, sharing their experience with development cooperation challenges and establishing partnerships in various discussion formats.

The Slovak Platform for Development Organisations – Ambrela welcomed over 250 participants from twenty-five countries at its international conference Ambrela Development Forum (ADF) in Bratislava, seeking common solutions as well as recommendations for the sector of humanitarian aid, development cooperation and global citizenship education.

“It was an excellent space to connect communities of practitioners from the civil society sector. The ADF brings together a diverse range of stakeholders to foster mutual collaboration, to bring forward proposed solutions to current global crises, and to identify new ways to support CSOs. We are therefore pleased that a 7-member delegation from Norway, led by our project partner – the Norwegian Forum for Environment and Development (ForUM), visited the event and actively contributed to its quality,” said Daniel Kaba, Executive Secretary of the Slovak Ambrela Platform.

Approaches to supporting CSOs

Johan Aron Niklas Halfen, Head of Politics at the Norwegian Forum for Development and Environment (ForUM) in Oslo, together with his colleagues, conducted a workshop on ‘Collaboration for Impact: Strengthening Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)’ at the ADF 2024 conference in Bratislava. As the theme suggests, the workshop was about how to build stronger partnerships with a focus on civil society, but also building alliances with the public and private sector.

Marie Vistnes Hektner is a central figure in Changemaker – a Norwegian political youth organisation working to address the structural causes of global injustice. As part of the ADF conference, she was a speaker in a deep talk entitled ‘Importance of global citizenship education in today’s world: Competences for the future in times of crisis’. She shared with other global education experts her experiences in addressing global challenges and meeting the UN Agenda 2030 Global Goals (SDGs).

Senior Adviser at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation – NORAD, Anatolii Kyryliuk has experience in building partnerships and addressing development cooperation challenges from both Ukraine and Norway. That is why he spoke at the ADF deep talk on ‘Rebuilding Ukraine together: Business and civil society’, where he shared his perspective on linking civil and private sectors in Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.

Norway as one of the largest donors

The Kingdom of Norway, with a similar population to the Slovak Republic, spent NOK 58.6 billion in official development assistance (ODA) in 2023, which translates to €4.97 billion. Norwegian development organisations receive funding for the implementation of their projects in low-income countries primarily from the state – through grant calls by the Norwegian Directorate for Development Cooperation – Norad, which functions as an administrative and technical body for international aid and helps to implement Norway’s development policy objectives.

In 97 countries of the Global South, a total of 1605 development projects were implemented by 864 partners last year. The number and regional distribution of Norway’s ODA programme countries, as well as the (much longer) history of international development cooperation itself, differentiates Norway from Slovakia. However, this can be an added value in sharing Norwegian experience with Slovak development organisations, as the Norwegian delegation hinted several times to the members of the Slovak Ambrela platform during the discussions at the ADF conference.

It should be noted that most foreign donors are lagging behind their international commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI on ODA, while Slovakia is rather far behind this target – last year Slovakia spent only 0.14% of its GNI on ODA. And then there are the donor countries of the Global North, such as Norway, which spent 1.09% of its GNI on international development cooperation in 2023, according to OECD-DAC data. In this respect, Slovakia certainly has a lot of catching up to do, and a lot to learn from its Norwegian partners. The presence of Norwegian organisations in Bratislava and the sharing of their direct experience at the ADF conference was therefore more than beneficial.

Written by: Boba M. Baluchova and Ambrela, Photos: Ambrela and ADF Archive

Note: The coverage of the Norwegian-Slovak bilateral meetings at ADF 2024 was carried out as one of the activities of the ongoing project ‘Unlocking Potential: Discovering collaboration opportunities for Slovak and Norwegian Development Organizations‘ supported by an EEA and Norway Grants.

„Together for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe“. The initiative is funded by the Fund for Bilateral Relations at National Level financed by the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021. For more information, please visit: www.eeagrants.sk.