Evaluation of the Norwegian Resource Bank for Democracy and Human Rights (NORDEM)

Evaluation of:
NORDEM’s activities in the period 1993–2000 regarding its secondment of personnel to international organisations such as the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and other international actors.

NORDEM is now made up of a resource bank and a stand-by force. The resource bank consists of approximately 120 persons who are ready to render assistance and advice in various areas, such as election assistance, minority protection, human rights education, rule of law, democratic organisations, news media and good governance. The stand-by force, consisting of approximately 250 persons, was established to ensure the rapid deployment of trained personnel in frequent demand, i.e. for election assistance and observation, human rights monitoring, investigation of human rights abuses and democratisation projects.

NORDEM is financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) at a rate of approximately NOK 20 million a year, a total of some NOK 136 million since 1993.

Purpose:
The purpose of the evaluation was to investigate and report on NORDEM’s secondment of personnel 1993–2000. Keeping in mind NORDEM’s mandate to promote human rights and democratisation globally, the evaluation team explored impact, effectiveness, capacity and competence building. Other areas looked at were cost-efficiency, management and administration. The evaluation team was to recommend steps that could strengthen NORDEM and make it more professional, streamlined and institutionalised.

Evaluation Summary:
The findings of the team are generally positive when it comes to NORDEM’s efficiency and effectiveness to second staff to international organisations, and to prepare and support them. Staff were also found to be suitably and adequately trained to meet the demands of actors like the UN. However, more could have been done to stimulate further development and upgrading of secondees.

Although the team found that the secondees had a positive impact on the democratic values of the seconded organisations and country of assignment, a definitive conclusion could not be drawn due to methodological difficulties. Another task was to assess whether local personnel could substitute for NORDEM staff. The evaluation finds that, theoretically, they could, but for political reasons, neutral "outsiders" are to be preferred for tasks in sensitive political areas. NORDEM is cost-effective when compared to similar organisations, though in some areas there is room for improvement. For instance, more could be done by NORDEM to develop Norwegian human resources and to promote contact with relevant partners abroad. The team also found that NORDEM’s current management structure was not optimal.

Recommendations:
The report recommends that a NORDEM Steering Committee made up of five members be created, comprising two representatives from the MFA, one each from the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights and the Norwegian Refugee Council and a chairman from outside the constituent parties. This committee should prepare a mandate and policy guidelines for NORDEM. It should further develop a system for benchmarking NORDEM performance. Other recommendations cover competence building of NORDEM members, a lowering of the tax burden for secondees, and facilitating smoother communications between NORDEM and the seconded organisations. NORDEM should avoid complex operational management roles in specific projects but work instead with NORAD to provide support when needed.

Follow-up:
There are plans to establish an advisory NORDEM contact group comprising one member from the MFA, one from the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights and one from the Norwegian Refugee Council. NORAD and the head of the NORDEM secretariat will be permanent observers. Several other recommendations will be seriously considered, such as the elaboration of a mandate and the improvement of practices related to communications and information.