Emergency response Long-term development work Influencing attitudes and decisions More about Norwegian Church Aid’s strategies and plans can be found under official documents.
NCA bases its work around five core values:
Compassion is inspired by God’s unconditional love for all people, and the teachings of Jesus Christ who calls upon all people to express this love through service to others and to stand up for those oppressed and in need.
Justice - all people should have access to enough food, clean water, work, health and a home. These are resources that are necessay o live a meaningful life. Our work is inspired by God's commandment that poor and oppressed peoples shall have their fair share of God's gifts to humanity.
Participation - all human beings have the right to take part in building the society in which they live. This is why we fight against manifestations of power that violate human dignity and deprive people of resopnsibility over their own lives.
Integrity of Creation is inspired by the belief that everything belongs to God and is embraced by God’s love. God has given the earth, its resources and diversity of nature to the whole of mankind. No one generation or group has the right to exploit these resources for their own greed or at the cost of future generations.
Peace is inspired by God’s vision for humanity – a world in which swords are turned into ploughshares and the poor and oppressed have justice. Compassion, justice, participation and the integrity of creation can only be achieved in the absence of violence.
An ecumenical organisation
Norwegian Church Aid has Norwegian church societies and congregations as their employers. Atle Sommerfeldt is Norwegian Church Aid’s Secretary General, and Thor Bjarne Bore is the head of the organisation’s board, consisting of ten members. The NCA Constituency elects seven of the board members, two are elected from the NCA staff, and one represents the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations.
The Constituency is NCA’s highest organ, and is made up of:
- Representatives from each diocese council in the Church of Norway, six members of the Church of Norway’s Church Meeting (including one representative from the Sami Council, and a youth representative younger than 26 years old.)
- One representative from NORME
- Five representatives from national home mission organisations, children and youth organisations.
- One representative from each of the following organisations: The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway, The Free Evangelical Assembly of Norway, The Baptist Church of Norway, The Pentecostal Church of Norway, The Salvation Army and The Methodist Church of Norway.
Day-to-day business
Around 120 persons are employed at NCA headquarters in Oslo, as regional consultants in Norway, in Changemaker (NCA’s youth movement) and at offices in various parts of the world.
In addition to this, we have an Emergency Team of 60 persons who regularly travel to work in catastrophe situations.
International co-operation
Internationally, NCA co-operates with other churches from all around the world, particularly through the worldwide ACT Network (Action of Churches Together).
Funding
Norwegian Church Aid has two main sources of income: Private donors and the Norwegian authorities.
Annually, we receive around 110 million Norwegian Kroner from private donors. More than 25 million (2003 figures) is collected during the annual Lenten Campaign, a fundraising drive organised before Easter every year.
Norwegian Church Aid receives about 120 million Norwegian Kroner from NORAD (The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) for development projects all over the world. To be entitled to this support, we have to provide 20 per cent of the finance ourselves. These permanent percentages to not apply to the support we receive from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for emergency aid, but a good, local network on the ground in the disaster zone is necessary. The grants we receive – and use - for emergency aid vary annually. Most years the figure is between 100-150 millions Kroner. Norwegian Church Aid is the non-governmental organisation that receives the highest public allowances in Norway, and we are grateful for the trust placed in us.
Over the last few years, Norwegian Church Aid has had a total annual budget of around 430 million Norwegian Kroner. Our books are accessible to anyone, at any time, and are of course revised by a state authorised auditor. Norwegian Church Aid is also a member of the Norwegian Fundraising Control (Innsamlingskontrollen).