The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its task is to ensure effective foreign aid, with quality assurance and evaluation. NORAD both finances NGOs, and does its own research and projects. The current director general is Tove Strand. NORAD used to be the official development assistance organization in Norway. As of mid-2004, the responsibility for state-to-state official development assistance has been transferred to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while NORAD continues to fund NGO activities in developing countries.

NORAD consists of the following sections:

• Department for Environment and Private Sector Development
• The Department of Rights, Agents of Change and Civil Society
• The Department of Social Development and Service Delivery
• The Department of Governance and Macroeconomics
• The Department for Quality Assurance
• Department of Evaluation
• Information Department
• Department of Human Resources and Administration

External link

• Agency official homepage (http://www.norad.no)