Historical archive

Development cooperation with Clinton Health Access Initiative and Clinton Climate Initiative

Historical archive

Published under: Stoltenberg's 2nd Government

Publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Since 2007, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) have been important partners for Norway in the areas of health and forestry / clean energy, respectively. The first payment was made by the previous government, and Norway's cooperation with the Clinton Foundation has continued under the current government. This funding is channelled to projects in developing countries, and is not a donation to the Clinton Foundation.

The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) was founded in 2002, with the aim of making antiretroviral treatment of hiv/aids available for adults and children in developing countries. Since then, CHAI has launched programmes in a range of areas in global health in developing countries, and now operates in more than 30 countries.

Global health is a priority area for Norway in its development policy. Through its cooperation with CHAI, Norway has provided NOK 533 million to health projects in a number of developing countries during the period 2007–15. Since 2010, Norway has primarily supported projects seeking to accelerate progress towards reaching Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 on child mortality and MDG 5 on maternal health, in countries with pressing needs.

For example, in Malawi, a country that has had major problems in the areas of maternal health and child mortality, Norway has – through CHAI – supported the training of midwives, nurses and birth attendants with a view to strengthening primary health care services and reducing mortality rates. Most of Norway's agreements with CHAI ended in 2015. One agreement with CHAI in Malawi will continue until 2018, and one agreement in Nigeria will be extended until the middle of 2016. Under these two agreements, disbursements of around NOK 37 million are planned for 2016.

Through its cooperation with the Clinton Climate Initiative, Norway has contributed NOK 51 million to climate-related projects in developing countries. The funds have been channelled to projects in the areas of forestry and clean energy. One important programme area has been the phasing out of diesel generators in small island developing states. These states often have to use 20-30 % of their budgets on imports of fossil fuels, despite having great potential in the area of renewable energy. Norway's contributions through CCI have triggered a tenfold increase in investments from the private sector. Cooperation agreements have now been entered into with 21 small island developing states. In 2016 Norwegian funds totalling around NOK 19 million are expected to be disbursed via CCI.

No funding was provided to the Clinton Foundation, CCI or CHAI before 2007. Norway's cooperation with CCI and CHAI is considered to be in line with normal procedures and is followed up in the usual way. It has produced good, well-documented results in developing countries .