Norfund (Norway)
- Score:
- 24.9
- Position:
- 14 / 21
Overview
The Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund), is the Norwegian development finance institution. It was established by the Norwegian Parliament in 1997 and it is owned entirely by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Norfund joined the European Development Finance Institutions Association (EDFI) in 2001.
Analysis
Norfund came fourteenth from 21 non-sovereign DFIs assessed with a score of 24.9 out of 100. It came eighth in the Impact Management component but in the bottom five for the other four components of the index. Norfunds’s overall performance was negatively affected due to the fact that it does not disclose a bulk download export of investment data and does not publish to the IATI Standard.
Norfund came sixteenth in the Core Information component, with 5.71 out of 20. It scored for thirteen out of the seventeen indicators, failing to score for disclosure/access to information policy, funding source, E&S risk category, and progress dates. It dropped points for format of publication for many indicators due to there not being a bulk download available and for not publishing to the IATI Standard.
Norfund came seventh in the Impact Management component with a score of 9.25 out of 25. It got 100% for the impact measurement approach and additionality statement indicators. It also scored for country/sector strategies indicator but lost points for not publishing them to IATI. However, Norfund did not score for the three other indicators including evaluations, activity indicators/metrics, and results.
Norfund scored 7.67 out of 30 in the ESG and Accountability to Communities component. It scored 100% for its E&S and project-level grievance (PGM) community disclosure policies. It also scored points for E&S global disclosure policy. However, it did not score for any other indicators in this component, including project-level indicators.
Norfund came joint second-last in the Financial Information component, with 1 out of 15. Significantly, it was the only bilateral DFI to score for share of equity. It also scored for the financial reports/statements indicator. However, it did not score for the remaining five indicators of the component.
Norfund came joint second-last in the Financial Intermediary (FI) Sub-investments component, with 1.25 out of 10. It was one of five non-sovereign DFIs to score for disclosing private equity fund sub-investments. It did not score for any other indicator in the component.
Recommendations
- Norfund should create a disclosure/access to information policy in line with industry best practices and the DFI Transparency Tool.
- It should become an IATI publisher and disclose all investments to the IATI Standard.
- It should make its data available in a bulk download format to improve useability and accessibility.
- Norfund should disclose further Core Information data including unique identifier, sub-national location, sub-sector, total investment cost, disbursement data, funding source, E&S risk category, date of activity disclosure, approval date, signature date, and last update date. It should consistently disclose the project objectives, client description, and client contact details.
- It should disclose project-level Impact Management indicators, including activity indicators/metrics and results.
- Norfund should disclose project-level ESG and Accountability to Communities indicators, including summary of E&S risks and E&S documentation.
- It should develop an early disclosure policy covering, at a minimum, high risk projects and disclose investments in line with the policy.
- Norfund should create an independent accountability mechanism (IAM), following best practice examples and incorporate disclosure requirements for an IAM into existing policies.
- It should provide assurance of community disclosure for investments when disclosure is required.
- For Financial Information indicators it should disclose for repeat investment, currency of investment, concessionality, mobilisation, and other instrument-specific details (interest rate and loan tenor). It should consistently disclose for the co-financing indicator.
- Norfund should create a policy for the disclosure of FI (bank) sub-investments in line with Publish What You Fund’s DFI Transparency Tool.
- It should consistently disclose the FI (bank) use of funds.