Goals and Reality in Norwegian Aid to Education 2005-2015

Abstract

This research investigates the purposes and the disbursement of Norwegian aid to education during the last ten years. The first part analyses the main documents that guided the strategy of Norwegian aid to education in the last decade. Two main documents, Education Job Number One and Education for Development, were reviewed in order to identify the main goals behind the Norwegian government’s distribution of aid to education. The research found that Norway distributes aid to education according to four main goals: a) Improving basic education, b) Improving the enrolment of girls in education, c) Fostering economic development, and d) Assisting fragile and conflict affected countries. The goals are associated with international strategies for educational development such as Education For All and Millennium Development Goals. The second part identifies the countries most in need of education support based on the formulated Norwegian goals. The analysis of the disbursement according to the goals revealed that Norwegian aid to education was not distributed evenly among all the neediest countries, but most priority has been given to fragile and conflict affected countries.