The Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation
The Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation (Norec) is an entity under the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. We are a centre of competence on international exchange. We finance exchanges of young professionals and volunteers between businesses, NGOs and state entities. The projects are in Norway and 25 countries in Asia, Latin- America and Africa, and is one of the tools of Norwegian Development policy, to give young professionals international work-experience and knowledge of agenda 2030.
NOREC is celebrating 20 years of mutual exchange. What are the most important lessons you have learned during all these years?
- We are an agency whose main pillar is learning, and we are constantly evaluating ourselves and the activities we support, making the lessons many. The most important one is that the world is full of knowledge. The organisations or businesses who use our exchange model are called partnerships, and swop junior staff members between Norway and a country in the Global south. The expectation is often that partners from Norway have more to contribute to the project in terms of knowledge. That simply is not the truth. Norwegian organisations can benefit from cooperating with partners in Africa as much as the other way around.
By hosting staff from the Global South, Norwegian staff and businesses have increased their cultural orientation and sensitivity, but also their expertise and specialisation specialication in their field of work has increased. Another lesson is the importance of international exposure, that individuals who are sent on exchange can use the experience as an important steppingstone in their careers. This also applies in a sense on the organisational organizational level: International exposure broadens your network and the number of opportunities.
For Norec, one of our key learning experiences has been that for a successful job-exchange to reveal results at organizational level, we must support the exchange of staff over years. Those that have been on exchange bring new knowledge and exposure to different working methods back to their organisation. At the same time, hosting staff from abroad also brings new knowledge and skills into the work environment. As this continues over the years, professional and personal relations grow into trust and openness towards other ways of thinking. Transferring knowledge becomes easier. For some organisations or businesses, this leads to new ideas and innovation.
NOREC Exchange programs
In what way do companies benefit from participating in NOREC exchange programs?
- We have already mentioned international exposure. A company using our program will receive thorough follow-up and training from Norec when it comes to reporting on the use of funds. Much of this training - in normal times - is done at venues where many organisations who participate get together. This provides an important meeting space where they can look further than their projects and make new connections.
The funding we are providing covers the cost of travel, salary and housing for the staff that are exchanged, so there are economic incentives here. Your company will also be strengthened in terms of manpower; while your staff members are working on their exchange for your partner company and will bring back new knowledge to you upon their return, you will have staff members from your partner company working for you.
Altogether, an exchange is a good opportunity to strengthen your ties with international partners you have, and to get better acquainted with new markets. In addition, Norec offers courses for both companies and the staff on exchange before and after a project period. During these courses, you will learn more about cultural differences, power imbalance and respectful collaboration. You will get tools that will help you in your daily work to better understand your international colleagues and overcome obstacles the company have. In addition, you will get to know other companies or organisations from all over the world, which expands your network.
Norec is working with different cultures: what would be your best advice (on working in different cultures) that Norwegian companies should take notice of?
- Make use of the knowledge that is out there! Whether you are an employee going abroad or a company looking to start working abroad, you can safely assume that you will increase your capability from the local knowledge. Through our partners, we see that the young population in many African countries is, innovative and tech-savvy. A working environment with a diverse working force fosters communication skills and broadens the perspectives of your employees, but also strengthens management and leadership skills.
Implications due to the pandemic
- During the pandemic, we have had to go completely digital. Almost all the staff on exchange through our 70 partnerships had to return home in March 2020. The travel advice and restrictions have stopped all mobility since then. However, we have continued an organisational level, where the partnerships have cooperated online. This is possible because all our projects have an element of organisational development. Training and follow-up has all been done digitally. The digital spaces have created more frequent communication in the partnerships. New working methods have been adopted, both digitally and on site. E-learning platforms have been developed, which in turn have led to the need for capacity and skill-building of staff and in the organsiations.
The most important thing when it comes to applying for NOREC exchange programs is that you must have the manpower and a good system for managing human relations, which enables you to receive and follow up staff members who relocate to your country.
- NOREC states that you must be able to give them meaningful working tasks and guide their integration in your society. You also need to show that your company or the services you deliver help contribute to reach the sustainable development goals. Beyond that, we have seen that many start-ups have made good use of our model, built on the experience they get and networks they develop to expand their activities. We encourage companies who have a strong sense of corporate responsibility to apply, and we would really like to see more companies working on climate and environment, as well as Blue Economy to become involved with us.
Learn more about NOREC: www.norec.no
