How we work
NCA's Programme Framework 2020-2030 is guided by the organisation’s global strategy, Faith in Action, and contributes to reaching ambitions mapped out in the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the national strategies and plans in the countries NCA and its partners operate.
Our long-term goals
Norwegian Church Aid connects humanitarian response, long-term development, and peacebuiling together for lasting change through comprehensive programs and initiatives. All our programs and initiatives are supported by the following goals.
Saving lives
The poorest are always hit the hardest in times of crisis. Many lives are lost each year due to the lack of clean water in emergencies. This is why we provide clean water first. Together we save lives and protect the vulnerable.
Changing lives
To be poor is to lack opportunity. But where there are challenges, we also find the best solutions. Permanent access to clean water is one of them. Together we can help people find their own way out of poverty.
Changing the world
Poverty is injustice. There is enough water, food and work for all, but global structures help keep the rich rich and the poor poor. Together we can advocate for change where decisions are made.
Everything NCA does is built on the framework, and the ten-year timeframe ensures organisational commitment and predictability for NCA’s partners. The range of our Programme Framework reflects the varying needs of the rights-holders and civil society where NCA and partners operate, and the in-house expertise NCA has built up over the past years. Each thematic area also holds a different but equal level of importance in the contexts NCA works. Strengthening civil society is mainstreamed throughout NCA’s Programme Framework as six cross-cutting goals designed to capture and give direction to the organisation’s diverse partnership approach.
NCA delivers results through its holistic approach as a development, humanitarian and advocacy actor. Preparedness and resilience are included in long-term development programmes and protracted crises, transition to early recovery strengthened in humanitarian responses, and structural inhibiters to just solutions addressed. In line with the 2030 Agenda, NCA will adopt the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’.
The framework will also increase synergies between thematic areas through integrated programming by promoting co-localisation of interventions in the same geographical area. Working with faith-based actors and strengthening civil society have also been included as a strategic priority for the whole organisation. How NCA partners, and with whom NCA coordinates and collaborates, is detailed in NCA’s Partnership Policy.
Strengthening civil society
Civil society is at the core of NCA’s goals to save lives and seek justice. NCA believes that strong civil society actors and an enabling environment for civil society are prerequisites for the development of participatory democracy, accountable governance and social justice. Contributing to strong and independent civil society is therefore a goal in and of itself for NCA.
Related Suistainable Development Goals
NCA's response
All NCA’s work aims to strengthen civil society and local capacities through a rights-based approach. Together with its partners, NCA empowers rights holders to participate in the transformation of their communities in solidarity with others, upholding human dignity and human rights. NCA enhances partners’ ability to participate in formal and informal civil society networks, strengthens their organisational and financial capacities, and increases their advocacy capacity. NCA also strengthens civil society partners’ competency in areas integral to NCA’s programmes. NCA has developed six cross-cutting goals for SCS that are integrated into all of programming and tailored to the context of each intervention.
Civil society actors and space are strengthened to
- foster human rights and dignity and empower people to participate in the development and implementation of public policies, development plans and humanitarian responses
- make sure rights holders are organised and empowered for collective action on common interests
- hold duty bearers accountable
- empower underrepresented groups to participate in decision-making
- build multi-actor platforms to work together for social change
- make sure local actors and national NGOs increase their participation in humanitarian response
- make sure institutional capacities of partners are strengthened
NCA's sustainability standards
Certified under the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS), NCA commits to implementing the CHS commitments and other sustainability standards in all aspects of its work. For NCA, sustainability standards refer to the rights-based approach, gender sensitivity, conflict sensitivity, anticorruption, environmental sustainability and accountability. Non-discrimination and inclusion of all marginalised populations is at the core of these standards.
Climate and Environment charter commitments
In 2021, Norwegian Church Aid signed the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations and committed to set targets and develop action plans in response to the climate and environment crises.