Principles for Delegated Co-operation in Norad

The following principles form the basis for NORAD's work with delegated co-operation:
All activities should be in line with our partner country's priorities with regard to poverty reduction. This common policy-basis must be shared with our partner donor(s), as well as with the partner country
Delegated co-operation arrangements should strengthen the partner country's ownership to its own development process. This normally presupposes a certain degree of leadership, motivation and willingness to manage the process of development, and the process of donor harmonisation
A delegation arrangement should support the partner country's capacity building efforts and -needs
Our co-operation arrangements should contribute to the partner government's accountability to its people. NORAD believes that donor co-ordination will result in increased openness on government spending and prioritisation

In order to achieve real benefits from delegation arrangements, the collaborating donors should make use of the partner country's administrative systems for accounting, audit, statistics etc. whenever possible. If these are not sufficiently well developed, capacity building should be prioritised.

The donors should harmonise their administrative requirements around one set of procedures. Only the lead donor should maintain a direct dialogue with the partner country's authorities. The interaction between the donors should be described in the agreement between them.

The partner country should be responsible for identifying possible needs for technical assistance, and such assistance should be subject to competition. The collaborating partners on their side must assure that the group of donors together has the necessary capacity and competence to carry out their obligations. The individual donor is responsible for fulfilling its designated role in the delegation agreement, with regards to own capacity and competence.

The legal and administrative requirements of the collaborating donors must be assessed prior to delegation.