Simplification and Digital Administration of Arrangements for NGOs (NO0044)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Norway Action Plan 2013-2015
Action Plan Cycle: 2013
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Culture
Support Institution(s): NA
Policy Areas
Capacity Building, Civic Space, E-Government, Freedom of AssociationIRM Review
IRM Report: Norway End-of-Term Report 2014-2015, Norway Second IRM Progress Report 2013-2014
Starred: No
Early Results: Did Not Change
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information
Implementation i
Description
NGOs are independent players in civil society. At the same time, Norway has a long
tradition for close interaction between the voluntary sector and the public authorities in
a number of different areas. In order to promote greater predictability and a common
understanding in the interaction and dialogue between the authorities and the NGOs, a
declaration of principles is to be prepared. The declaration of principles is to include the
role of the NGOs in Norwegian society and the special characteristics of voluntary
work. The declaration of principles will be based on the fundamental principles laid
down in the Council of Europe’s “Code of Good Practice for Civil Participation in the
Decision-Making Process” prepared by international NGOs
The Ministry of Culture will make efforts to ensure that the requirements regarding
applications and reporting for voluntary organizations are simplified where
appropriate, that information concerning state grant schemes is easily available and
that, in the long term, more schemes are linked to the Register of Non-Profit
Organizations.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
9. Simplification and digital administration of arrangements for NGOs
Commitment Text:
[…]
COMMITMENT DESCRIPTION
The Ministry of Culture will make efforts to ensure that the requirements regarding applications and reporting for voluntary organizations are simplified where appropriate, that information concerning state grant schemes is easily available and that, in the long term, more schemes are linked to the Register of Non-Profit Organizations.
KEY IMPACT BENCHMARK
More support schemes for voluntary organizations are, in the long term, to be linked to the Register of Non-Profit Organizations.
Responsible institution: Ministry of Culture
Supporting institution(s): None
Start date: 1 January , 2013 End date: 31 December, 2015
Editorial note: The text of the commitments was abridged for formatting reasons. For the full text of the commitment, please see http://bit.ly/1QlVIja.
Policy Aim
As in most countries where civil society organizations receive grant funding from governments, processes and paperwork surrounding applications and reporting for such funding can be cumbersome. In December 2013, the Association of NGOs in Norway (Frivillighet Norge), issued 11 demands for simplification in the relations between Norwegian government and civil society.[Note 52: ”Frivillighet Norges elleve krav til forenkling og avbyråkratisering,” Frivillighet Norge, December 6, 2013, accessed September 9, 2016, http://bit.ly/L6ph8Y. ] Nevertheless, the civil society representatives consulted for this report indicated that cumbersome paperwork and bureaucratic processes were less problematic for Norwegian government funding than other government funding.[Note 53: Stian Slotterøy Johnsen (General Secretary, Norwegian Association of Voluntary Organizations), interview by Christopher Wilson, phone interview, September 13, 2016; Joachim Nahem (Director of Financial Politics, IKT-Norway), interview by Christopher Wilson, in-person meeting, Offices of the International Law and Policy Institute, March 23, 2016; and Liv Freihow (Executive Director, Transparency International Norway), interview by Christopher Wilson, in-person meeting, Offices of the International Law and Policy Institute, March 12, 2016.] Nonetheless, this commitment aims to simplify grant scheme procedures for civil society organizations (CSOs) to apply for government financial resources by pulling information automatically from the national registry in which all Norwegian CSOs are registered. This procedure makes it unnecessary for CSOs to re-enter the same information each time they submit a grant application.
Status
Mid-term: Substantial
The Ministry of Culture reported that it published an overview of grant schemes for volunteer organizations and a guide for how to improve grant schemes for child- and youth-focused organizations. The ministry encouraged all government agencies to review their processes for civil society support in order to identify opportunities for simplification.
End-of-term: Substantial
The Ministry of Culture published the results from its review processes in a government report in May 2016.[Note 54: “Enklere tilskuddsordninger for frivillige organisasjoner,” Ministry of Culture, updated May 26, 2016, accessed September 4, 2016, http://bit.ly/1DnGbtv. ] Though the ministry published this report after the action plan implementation period, its contents suggest that broad efforts were underway to identify simplification opportunities during the implementation period. These efforts included nearly 30 initiatives across nine government agencies. Of these, details are available for 16 of the initiatives, which tend to be articulated in general language about reviewing frameworks, without measurable outputs, and with few direct linkages to the national registry, as described in this commitment.[Note 55: Ibid. ]
Ministry focal points for this commitment describe a close collaboration between the ministry, the National Council for Youth and Children’s Organizations (Landsrådet for Noregs barne- og ungdomsorganisasjoner), the Norwegian Association of Civil Society Organizations, and the Norwegian Confederation of Sports (Norges idrettsforbund og olympiske og paralympiske komité).This collaboration prioritized work to integrate individual civil society registries with the national registry of volunteer organizations. This led to simplified reporting processes on the national registry,[Note 56: “Forenklet skjema for foreninger,” Brønnøysundregisteret, accessed September 9, 2016, https://www.brreg.no/produkter-og-tjenester/skjemakatalog/skjema-for-foreninger/. ] though integration work is ongoing. As such, this commitment is understood to have made substantial progress to completion.
Did it open government?
Access to information: Did not change
As implemented, the commitment did not change government practice in either the quantity or quality of information disclosed to civil society. The processes targeted by this commitment largely impact the activities and allocation of resources to CSOs and only indirectly impact the interaction of civil society and government. Interviews with Norwegian CSO representatives indicate that CSO actors do not see application and reporting processes to be particularly problematic in the first place, or to impact open government in other ways. [Note 57: Stian Slotterøy Johnsen (General Secretary, Norwegian Association of Voluntary Organizations), interview by Christopher Wilson, phone interview, September 13, 2016; Joachim Nahem (Director of Financial Politics, IKT-Norway), interview by Christopher Wilson, in-person meeting, Offices of the International Law and Policy Institute, March 23, 2016; and Liv Freihow (Executive Director, Transparency International Norway), interview by Christopher Wilson, in-person meeting, Offices of the International Law and Policy Institute, March 12, 2016.] Norwegian civil society representatives note that the most important improvement to their relationships with government would be a prioritization of core and restricted funding rather than project funding. This prioritization would allow NGOs to perform a watchdog role that is necessary for democratic and open societies, but increasingly difficult in times of austerity and with project-specific funding. Though the government has indicated a willingness to move in this direction in meetings with civil society, no specific actions have been taken. Civil society actors describe the activities in this commitment as an important start to improving and simplifying administrative processes.[Note 58: “God start på et viktig arbeid,” Frivillighet Norge, November 4, 2014, accessed September 9, 2016, http://bit.ly/1ztIQOH. ]
Carried forward?
This commitment has not been carried forward in the Norwegian government’s third national action plan, which is available on the OGP website.[Note 59: ”Norway’s third action plan Open Government Partnership (OGP),” Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, accessed September 4, 2016, http://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Norway_2016-17_NAP.pdf.]
Commitments
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Archiving Documents
NO0054, 2019, Capacity Building
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Making Energy Statistics Available
NO0055, 2019, Anti-Corruption
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e-Access and Expansion
NO0056, 2019, Access to Information
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Open Cultural Data
NO0057, 2019, Access to Information
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Digital Spatial Planning
NO0058, 2019, E-Government
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Streamline Public Procurement
NO0059, 2019, Anti-Corruption
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Preventing Corruption
NO0060, 2019, Anti-Corruption
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Beneficial Ownership Registry
NO0061, 2019, Anti-Corruption
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User Orientation
NO0045, 2016, Capacity Building
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Electronic Public Records (OEP)
NO0046, 2016, E-Government
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Transparency Regarding Environmental Information
NO0047, 2016, E-Government
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Disclosure of Financial Data
NO0048, 2016, Access to Information
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Transparency Regarding Rainforest Funds
NO0049, 2016, E-Government
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State Employees’ Ownership of Shares
NO0050, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Promote Freedom of Expression and Independent Media
NO0051, 2016, Civic Space
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Country-By-Country Reporting
NO0052, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Register for Ultimate Beneficial Ownership
NO0053, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Public Review and Public Consultation
NO0020, 2013, Capacity Building
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Registering and Preserving Digital Documentation Produced by Public Bodies
NO0021, 2013, Access to Information
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The Norwegian Citizen Survey (Innbyggerundersøkelsen)
NO0022, 2013, Public Participation
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Whistleblowing
NO0023, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Strengthened Information Exchange for More Efficient Crime Prevention and Combating
NO0024, 2013, Justice
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Strengthening the Transparency of Public Authorities and Administration
NO0025, 2013, Access to Information
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Egovernment with an End-User Focus
NO0026, 2013, E-Government
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Plain Legal Language
NO0027, 2013, Capacity Building
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Norwegian Grants Portal (MFA)
NO0028, 2013, Aid
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An International Convention or Agreement on Financial Transparency
NO0029, 2013, Private Sector
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Reducing Conflicts of Interests – Post-Employment Regulations
NO0030, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector
NO0031, 2013, Security & Public Safety
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A Better Overview of Committees, Boards and Councils – More Public Access to Information and Better Opportunities for Further Use
NO0032, 2013, E-Government
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Modernizing Public Governance
NO0033, 2013, Capacity Building
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Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues
NO0034, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Transparency in the Management of the Government Pension Fund (GPF)
NO0035, 2013, E-Government
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Transparency and Anti-Corruption Efforts
NO0036, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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The Municipal Sector
NO0037, 2013, Education
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“Simplify” (“Enkelt Og Greit”)
NO0038, 2013, E-Government
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Electronic Public Records (OEP) – (Offentlig Elektronisk Postjournal)
NO0039, 2013, Access to Information
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Re-Use of Public Sector Information (PSI)
NO0040, 2013, Access to Information
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Access to Health Data
NO0041, 2013, E-Government
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Renewal of the Government’S Website (Regjeringen.No – Government.No)
NO0042, 2013, E-Government
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Declaration of Principles for Interaction and Dialogue with NGOs
NO0043, 2013, Capacity Building
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Simplification and Digital Administration of Arrangements for NGOs
NO0044, 2013, Capacity Building
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An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government
NO0001, 2011, Anti-Corruption
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Measures to Promote Gender Equality and Women’S Full Participation in Civic Life, the Private Sector, the Public Administration and Political Processes.
NO0002, 2011, Gender
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Gender Equality – Participation in the Private Sector
NO0003, 2011, Gender
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Increase Women's Representation in Local Government
NO0004, 2011, Gender
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Gender Equality Program
NO0005, 2011, Gender
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Gender Equality – Inclusion of Immigrant Women
NO0006, 2011, Gender
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Gender Equality – Combat Gender Stereotypes
NO0007, 2011, Gender
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Gender Equality – Youth Initiatives
NO0008, 2011, Gender
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Gender Equality – Combat Domestic Violence
NO0009, 2011, Gender
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Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency
NO0010, 2011, Aid
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Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency – Government Global Pension Fund
NO0011, 2011, Fiscal Openness
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Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency – Combat Tax Evasion
NO0012, 2011, Fiscal Openness
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Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency – Multi-National Companies
NO0013, 2011, Fiscal Openness
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An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – Create Central Communication Policy
NO0014, 2011, Fiscal Openness
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An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government
NO0015, 2011, E-Government
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An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – Public Data Use
NO0016, 2011, Public Participation
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An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – National Statistic Publication
NO0017, 2011, Access to Information
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An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – National Public Opinion Survey
NO0018, 2011,
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An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government
NO0019, 2011, Public Participation