Our advocacy work
There are significant gaps in human development both between and within countries. The growing disparity between rich and poor increases instability. NCA works to address the root causes of poverty and injustice, empowering people to influence decisions affecting their development and hold governments and companies accountable.
How we work on economic inequality
Norwegian Church Aid work both to eradicate poverty and to reduce economic inequality in its programs and through our influencing work. Economic inequality is increasing within most countries. Economic inequality hinders economic growth, undermines democracy, and harms gender equality. NCA works for inclusive growth, progressive taxation, social protection and against debt-induced austerity.
Our goal
Reducing economic inequality requires a coherent mix of national and global policies. Politically, NCA advocates for the Government of Norway to make the reduction of economic inequality a key objective of Norwegian Official Development Assistance (ODA).
We work for global tax reforms that enable developing countries to effectively tax multinational companies and extreme individual wealth. In addition, we promote the establishment of an international debt workout mechanism, binding principles for responsible lending and borrowing, and a UN debt convention.
Reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement targets will be impossible for countries trapped in debt crises.
NCA has been engaged in the UN Financing for Development (FfD) process since its inception in 2002, focusing on tax, aid, and debt justice.
Who we work with
NCA works through broad coalitions and global networks, including Eurodad, Afrodad, the Tax Justice Network (TJN), the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, and the ACT Alliance.
Together with Oxfam and other partners, we apply the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRI) in Southern and Eastern Africa to monitor and advocate for fairer economic policies.
In Norway, NCA collaborates with Tax Justice Norway, Debt Justice Norway, and the Norwegian Forum for Environment and Development, among others. Changemaker remains a key partner on economic justice issues.
Our regional partners, organised through Afrodad and Tax Justice Africa, play central roles in the Stop the Bleeding campaign, which addresses illicit financial flows from Africa.
History
NCA has a long history of promoting economic justice, with inequality as a central concern.
During the Jubilee 2000 campaign (1998–2006), NCA was instrumental in advocating for international and Norwegian debt cancellation. Since then, we have continued to push for debt workout mechanisms and rules for responsible lending and borrowing.
NCA has also championed fair trade rules and corporate respect for human rights.
In 2010, NCA intensified its focus on tax transparency and country-by-country reporting. Ahead of the Addis Ababa FfD Conference in 2015, we campaigned for the creation of a UN Global Tax Body, a proposal that fell short but laid the groundwork for ongoing advocacy for a UN Tax Convention.
Together with partners, NCA has fought corporate tax abuse, particularly in the mining sector, and co-founded the Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) in 2012, now Africa’s largest civil society forum on mining, tax, and environmental issues.
Our programmes continue to link company taxation with social protection, ensuring that tax revenues contribute directly to reducing inequality.
In Norway
Reducing inequality, particularly in relation to climate change, has become an increasing priority for Norad, which now treats inequality and poverty reduction as twin goals.
Building on Norway’s leadership in international tax justice, NCA works with the Tax Justice Network and other partners to promote fair taxation and combat illicit financial flows. Through advocacy and support to global initiatives such as the Mbeki and FACTI Panels, NCA helps keep inequality and tax justice high on the international agenda.
Although Norway remains progressive, it has stepped back from leadership on debt issues since the conclusion of the UNCTAD Guidelines process (2013). NCA is advocating for the Government of Norway to re-engage and champion solutions to the growing global debt crisis.
The 2025 Financing for Development Conference, where Norway served as co-facilitator, represented a key milestone in this effort.
Globally
Since 2018, NCA has collaborated with Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) on the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRI), which identifies and promotes policies proven to reduce inequality.
The CRI is used for global and regional advocacy, particularly in Southern and Eastern Africa, where NCA co-publishes regional reports.
In 2025, NCA and partners released Tackling Inequality at Its Epicentre: Eastern and Southern Africa, together with DFI, ACT Church of Sweden, Felm, AACC-CETA, and Save the Children Norway.
NCA continues to advocate for Norway to remain a global champion in forums such as the UN FfD process, the World Bank, and the IMF, focusing on tax and debt justice.
As a faith-based organization, NCA also mobilizes faith leaders and communities to engage in these issues and influence policy debates.
The Division for Politics and Society leads NCA’s global advocacy, working closely with country offices when relevant. NCA regularly participates in the annual FfD Forum and World Bank/IMF Meetings.
Recent results:
- 2025: Launch of Tackling Inequality in Eastern and Southern Africa: Will the BWIs step up? At the Civil Society Policy Forum at the Annual Meetings in 2025.
- 2025: Launch of the regional CRI- report The crisis of extreme inequality in SADC: fighting austerity and the pandemic
- 2022-2024: Launched the report “A Nordic Initiative to Resolve the New Debt Crisis” at the Annual Meetings in 2022. The report set the agenda for discussion solutions and for defining the growing debt problem. It kickstarted work on a CSO-led initiative Debt Service Watch creating a database of debt service vs spending for most countries. The report was updated in 2024.
- UN Achievement: Adoption of a resolution to begin work on a UN Tax Convention, a milestone for global tax justice.
How we work on climate politics
NCA is advocating for climate justice in Norway and globally. Through participation in international and Norwegian policy processes, we build alliances with civil society, mobilize people, and provide policy recommendations to decision makers. We are lobbying the Norwegian government, political parties in Parliament, and delegates from different nations in international negotiations. Our policy asks are developed based on the latest science and thorough analysis. We organize campaigns in our ecumenical network in Norway and globally to increase the pressure on our politicians – for climate justice.
Our goal
Our goal is climate justice - when those responsible for the climate crisis takes their just part in solving the problem. Norway and other polluting nations need to respond to climate change in line with our fair share of meeting the Paris Agreement. This means drastically reducing emissions at home, while contributing with substantial financial support to vulnerable countries that are experiencing the worst effects. This is an obligation under the Paris Agreement.
According to a report commissioned by NCA, and written by Stockholm Environment Institute, Norway’s Fair Share of meeting the Paris Agreement is:
- Reducing at least 53 % of emissions domestically by 2030
- Contribute with 65 billion NOK a year between 2020 and 2030 in climate finance
This is based on the principal in the Paris Agreement of common but differentiated responsibilities. All nations are responsible of responding to the climate crisis, but our responsibilities are not the same. Based on our historical emissions and financial capacity, developed countries are obliged to take the lead.
Who we work with
Together with our partners all over the world in ACT Alliance, we participate in international processes like the UN climate negotiations, where we lobby delegates to advocate for climate justice.
In Norway we are closely linked to civil society and the broader climate movement. The churches in Norway are the most important partners in mobilizing people for climate action. Through the Lenten Campaign and other political campaigns, we mobilize our ecumenical network for a just world.
History
Climate Justice has been a longstanding goal of NCAs advocacy effort. We advocated for a fair and equitable Paris Agreement, together with our faith-based network all over the world. In Paris in 2015, 1.8 million signatures were handed over to the UN climate chief Christiana Figueres. Almost two million people around the world where NCA and ACT Alliance work, was demanding climate justice.
But the fight is not over. The Paris Agreement is a bottom-up agreement, that gives a lot of room for governments to identify national ambitions and responsibility in the global climate response. The need to continue the fight for climate ambition will be there for years to come.
In Norway
In Norway NCA has engaged in a long list of political processes for climate justice. The debate about national emissions targets, state budgets and the level of climate finance, advocating for the political parties to be more ambitious in their political platforms before national elections, and continuously challenging the government to implement and follow up their responsibilities under the Paris Agreement.
Results
Over many years NCA has been the main voice for increased climate finance in Norwegian civil society. We have managed to get a steadily increase in Norwegian climate finance the last 10 years. The biggest win was when the Støre government in 2021 promised to double the climate finance before 2026, from 7 to 14 billion NOK a year. As a part of this they would triple their adaptation finance. There is still a way to go for Norway to deliver its fair share of finance, being 65 billion NOK yearly.
In 2020, Norway decided to strengthen their 2030 climate target under the Paris Agreement from 40% to 55%. After years of advocating for at least 53 %, this was a big win for NCA. The NCA commissioned report “Norway’s Fair Share of Meeting the Paris Agreement” became an important reference point for politicians, the media, and the broader civil society in the push for a stronger target. After the press conference where the new target was launched, two ministers from the government separately thanked NCA for the advocacy push for a strong climate target.
In 2023, NCA together with the five other big humanitarian organizations in Norway, commissioned a report from an expert group that we put together, Klimafinansieringsutvalget. The goal was to find ways to mobilize climate finance without putting pressure on the development aid budget. One of the recommendations was a Norwegian green state guarantee, to increase investments in climate solutions in least developed countries. The government is suggesting this in the state budget for 2024.
How we work on global tax politics
NCA is working both nationally and internationally to achieve a UN Tax Convention. We are doing lobbying to influence the Norwegian Government and the UN General Assembly, we reach out to media, we do social media campaigns and make communication material to our grass-roots network. Several people in different NCA divisions are working on this cause – mainly the division for international programmes, the division for politics and society, and the division for communications.
Our goal
Currently the world lacks a truly global convention to stop tax abuse. We need to fill that gap with a legally binding UN Tax Convention negotiated by the UN members on an equal footing. This convention must include mechanisms to ensure that the taxes are paid where the value is created.
Who we work with
In 2023, Norwegian Church Aid initiated a new Community of Practice under ACT with the aim to strengthen the coordination for a UN Tax Convention in the international ecumenical network. Members of the CoP are diaconal organisations and church federations in Europe and Africa, but we are working to recruit members from all continents.
In Norway we are a part of a network of civil society organisations coordinating our efforts for a UN Tax Convention with monthly meetings.
History
The work for a UN Tax Convention is a part of a much broader fight for for tax justice going way back, but the specific idea of a UN Tax Convention is relatively new. In The State of Tax Justice 2020 report from Tax Justice Network, the call for a separate convention was framed, perhaps for the first time, as a “UN Tax Convention”. The expert panel FACTI published its report in 2021 and concluded that a UN Tax Convention is needed. After this report, NCA stepped up the campaigning for such a convention.
In 2022, the 54 members of the African Group submitted a resolution on “Promotion of inclusive and effective tax cooperation at the United Nations”. The resolution was unanimously adopted. In July 2023, Latin American countries followed up and established the Regional Tax Cooperation Platform for Latin America and the Caribbean. In August 2023, as instructed by members states, the UN Secretary General published a tax report as the basis for further discussions during the UN General Assembly’s 78th session. The negotiations for a UN Tax Convention have not started, but the momentum for it to happen is growing.
In Norway
To cooperate with, lobby, and if needed criticise the Norwegian government is an important part of NCA’s work on a UN Tax Convention. We also lobby parties and members of parliaments. Media outreach and campaigning is also an important part of the work.
Globally
An important part of NCA’s work for a UN Tax Convention is the cooperation with partners in several African countries and the global ecumenical network. Together we have organised events about a UN Tax Convention at Alternative Mining Indaba in Cape Town, the Luteran World Federation General Assembly, and at the World Council of Churches General Assembly, and we have organised several training sessions on the issue together.
In 2023 NCA attended the UN General Assembly campaigning for a UN Tax Convention – we organised lobby meetings, and distributed campaign materials together with partners and allies in the international network. We took part in the international civil society network aiming to keep the resolution text from the African group as strong as possible while negotiated at the UNGA.
How we work on achieving 1 percent of GNI for ODA
The Politics and Society Division works to influence and change the decisions and actions that produce poverty and injustice. Over the last few years, securing at least 1 % of GNI for the Norwegian aid budget annually, has been a part of our main policy and advocacy work in Norway. NCA write inputs and attend parliamentarian hearings during the budget negotiations. Further, together with other humanitarian NGOs, we invite ourselves to meet with the political parties in parliament, to influence the negotiations.
Our goal
Our goal is that the Norwegian Government allocate at least 1 % of GNI to the aid budget annually, and in doing so uphold their own promises. This is not the time to lower our ambitions for humanitarian efforts and development aid.
Further, we work to ensure that the Government follows up on their commitments under the Paris Agreement and make sure the necessary increase in climate finance will be delivered in addition to the 1 % aid budget. Over the last few years there has been a growing global trend that climate finance eats into the aid budgets.
In addition, more than NOK 3.7 billion of the aid budget in Norway is spent on receiving refugees in Norway. This is an allocation that should not be taken from highly needed humanitarian efforts and development aid.
Who we work with
In Norway, we are a part of a network of the six largest humanitarian organizations in Norway, as well as topic-based cooperations with other organizations. Securing at least 1 % of GNI for the Norwegian aid budget annually, has been one of the focus areas for these cooperations over the last few years.
History
The 1 % of GNI to development aid is a symbolic goal with a long tradition in Norway. Over the past decade, the goal has been one of the main subjects of many budget negotiations between the parties in the Government and budget partners. The last ten years the approved aid budget has remained at around 1 % of GNI. In December 2016, the goal was also “formalized” in a historic agreement between the left and centre parties in the Parliament. The current Government also included the goal in their declaration.
Over the past years, there has been an increasing trend that other allocations, such as climate financing and allocations for receiving refugees in Norway have been taking a larger part of the aid budget. NCA and other organizations, continue to advocate that these allocations must be additional.
Results from 2022
In 2022, the Norwegian Government presented a budget proposal for 2023 where only 0,75 % of GNI were allocated for the aid budget. NCA, together with the network of other humanitarian NGOs advocated for an increase, and succeeded when the mid-term budget was passed in June 2023. The mid-term-budget included the Nansen programme with additional funding for Ukraine and for countries in the South affected by the war. However, in 2023 the government presented a budget proposal for 2024, not in line with their own promises. NCA are working for and hoping that the socialist left party (SV) will manage to negotiate the budget up to 1%. As many of you know, the Government does not hold the majority in Parliament and needs to seek support to pass the budget. NCA have handed in written inputs and will attend the parliamentarian hearings over the next few weeks. Further, we are currently inviting ourselves to meet with the political parties in parliament, together with other humanitarian NGOs, to influence the negotiations. The final budget will most likely be approved in December.