FRANCAISNorwegian Church Aid - Comments
2) The way it works
-NCA either sends expatriates in Third-world countries, backs local partners or joins the fundraising actions of other international NGOs such as BFDW (Bread for the World), ACT (Action by Churches Together) and LWF (Lutheran World Federation). In order to help building local capacities for development or reconstruction, the organisation often avoids sending volunteers abroad. The advantage of this strategy is that it leaves recipient populations decide for their own projects. Yet, a “remote control” also carries risks of not being able to prevent the humanitarian logistics from being used for political purposes. Marc Vachon explains for instance that transmitter-receiver radios given to the population in Southern Sudan are to be operated by the SPLA’s guerrilla. In South Africa, NCA’s aid to the anti-apartheid movement is also political, as shown by testimonies in Tor Sellström’s book. According to Garth Strachan, a Communist member of the ANC’s armed wing MK (Umkhonto we Sizwe), “the only form of support that to the best of my knowledge was not given was literally the military hardware itself. But without all the other elements, the armed struggle would not have been possible anyway. As ANC itself always said, the political and the mass struggle as well as the international struggle was more important”. Lindiwe Mabuza, the ANC Chief Representative to Sweden and the Nordic countries, also explains: “everyday we had contributions coming in to the ANC fund without any tags attached. Individuals and organisations were saying ‘use the money as you see fit’. If we decided to buy guns or whatever the military wanted —which we did by the way— no government actually stopped the unmarked contributions, and it was assumed that if they were unmarked, ANC reserved the right to use them as it saw fit. These contributions came from all sectors of the Nordic societies: from political parties, trade unions, church organisations… They were there and without any conditions. I know, because we also had to make certain procurements in the Nordic countries related to the military, using these funds”.
-NCA, which funded up to 10% of the LWF, is the humanitarian branch of the Lutheran Church of Norway and shares human resources with its Council on Ecumenical and International Relations (CEIR). In 1994, for instance, the CEIR’s secretary-general, Atle Sommerfeldt, was to become NCA’s secretary-general. Affiliated to the WCC (World Council of Churches), LWF (Lutheran World Federation) and ACT (Action by Churches Together), NCA has an ecumenical vision of aid. It collaborates with non-confessional trade unions in Norway, Islamic authorities in Mauritania or the Orthodox Church in Russia, with whom it signed a co-operation agreement in 2002 regarding programmes for AIDS victims. Unlike some Christian NGOs in the United States or Islamic charities in the Arab world, NCA doesn’t seem to try to convert directly those who benefit from its aid. Today, the organisation helps the Muslim populations in countries like Iraq or Afghanistan, its second biggest programme in 2002.
-Yet at the beginning, NCA targeted Christian victims, especially in Germany after the Second World War, Latin America in the 1960s or Sudan in 1973. Moreover, some programmes were designed to evangelise the population. Amongst the Ikwo of Abakaliki in Nigeria, for instance, the agricultural project of the Norwegian Church Relief was used to teach the Bible and was eventually given to the local Presbyterian Church in 1977. NCA also built Lutheran churches in Romania after an earthquake in 1977. In general, the organisation works with protestant partners such as the SSID (Servicio Social de Iglesias Dominicanas) amongst Haitian immigrants in Dominica sugar plantations from 1982 onwards, the CEPAD (Consejo Evangélico Pro-Ayuda al Desarrollo) amongst peasants in Nicaragua from 1983 onwards or the Mekane Yesu Church in Southern Ethiopia after 1985. According to its statutes, NCA “provides assistance to churches in need” and, sometimes, missionary organisations. In theory, these grants do not come from public funds and should not exceed 10% of private giving. Yet a good number of local partners are churches which try to convert the population in developing countries. As for the new head office building that NCA bought in Oslo in 2004, it is shared with a well-known proselytising organisation, the Bible Society.
