- By monitoring and reviewing the changing surroundings and conditions, the Norwegian Barents Secretariat is constantly adjusting its financing program to make it suitable for the present and future cross-border co-operation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region, Alnes writes in her chapter “Connecting Barents People” in the Secretariat’s first Barents Review.
From a broad approach to targeted grants
The policy taken by the secretariat on distribution of grants has changed from a broad approach in the early years after the secretariat was established in 1993, to a more extensive use of targeted grants today:
- The attitude at the time [1994] was that almost any project idea and measure which involved joint work and contact between Russians and Norwegians in the Barents Region should be encouraged. «Let the thousand flowers bloom» was the slogan, and as long as some basic criteria were met, the applicant was likely to get support, Alnes says.
The basic idea in the Secretariat’s increased use of target programs is to stimulate contact in especially interesting areas or to meet the demands in areas with a major need for financial support. In addition to the Barents Regional Youth Program and the Barents Secretariat’s Health Fund, which have been running for some years, two new financing structures have been established - The BarentsKult program, which aims at contributing to the implementation of larger, professional art and cultural projects with a focus on the High North, and the Barents Sports Program, which is designed to meet an increasing demand among northern Norwegian sport clubs and associations to meet and compete with Russian colleagues.
Partners on equal terms
Margrete Alnes says in her article that Russia also has changed as a project partner. In the early days of the cooperation Russians were to a much larger extent development aid receivers than equal partners with financial contributions. In 2009, the situation was quite different. As opposed to in 1994, the project activity and management at the Secretariat is now strictly based on a principle of equal footing between the Russian and Norwegian partners. The Russian partners in a project are expected to take part in the planning and elaboration of the project plan, and to contribute actively in the project implementation. Thus, the Norwegian and Russian partners are experiencing a much stronger joint ownership in the projects. In spite of the global financial crisis, almost 40 percent of the projects supported by the Norwegian Barents Secretariat in the first six months of 2009 were cofinanced by Russian partners and Russian financial sources.
Preparing for the future
Barents Secretariat’s grant program is worth continuing because it gives results and positively contributes to the general development of the Barents Region, Alnes says. In the Norwegian government’s opinion, the Norwegian-Russian project financing gives the Barents co-operation a concrete content:
Bearing in mind the changing societies in the north, the grant program must continue to be a dynamic structure, Alnes states. In the years to come, we are most likely going to see a development where the project financing is more targeted. The Secretariat will continue the process of developing financing programs where the grants come from several sources, not only from the Ministry of foreign affairs and the Secretariat itself. To meet future challenges and contribute to wanted developments, the Secretariat will to a growing extent become a proactive project initiator.
Read also: Barents Review 2010 to be launched February 4th
