Save the Children was one of the organisations that demanded that the Government Pension Fund Global (the Oil Fund) sell its shares in Caterpillar because of the company’s connection to Israel’s occupation. It is now contributing to new demands that could prove costly for Norway.
On 4 June, Norwegian People’s Aid (Norsk Folkehjelp) is organising a gathering at Eidsvolls plass, right beside the Storting, in connection with the Storting’s consideration of the Oil Fund report that day. Save the Children is also involved here.
Elin Espmark Wibe is a senior adviser at Save the Children, which is organising Thursday’s demonstration. She is a former leader of Sunndal Socialist Youth (Sosialistisk Ungdom).
Former Mayor of Oslo Marianne Borgen is Chair of the Board of Save the Children. Borgen has pursued her political career within the Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti). Just like the organisation’s Secretary General, Henriette Westhrin, who is a former Deputy Leader of SV.
Westhrin served as Secretary General of Norwegian People’s Aid from 2016 to 2023. In 2018, Norwegian People’s Aid entered into a settlement under which it paid NOK 16 million because it had cooperated with terrorist organisations such as Hamas, the PFLP and the DFLP. In addition, it had assisted Iran with “training, advice and assistance”, Med Israel for Fred wrote at the time.
The Forum for Development and Environment (Forum for Utvikling og Miljø) will also participate. Among its members is Mercy Ships Norway, which operates hospitals, including in Africa. Save the Children is also represented here. In addition, Digni (the Norwegian Mission Council Development Committee), the Mission Alliance (Misjonsalliansen), the Stromme Foundation (Strømmestiftelsen) and the Christian Council of Norway (Norges Kristne Råd) are members.
Each year, the Forum for Development and Environment receives NOK 7 million in support from Norad to conduct “information activities” – in Norway!
They are not alone. Norad distributes a total of NOK 376 million in information support to such organisations during the new agreement period. At the top of Norad’s homepage when I checked it, there was information about “life-saving aid to Gaza”.
These have been granted information support
A total of 23 organisations have been granted Norad support. The recipients for the forthcoming five-year period are:
This illustrates how uncontrolled Norwegian aid is in reality. One may support or oppose aid, but few would support aid that ends up with terrorists, or in the tyrannical state of Iran.
Moreover, it is interesting to see how large a share of aid ends up in the pockets of Norwegians. The example above is merely a small drop in a large tank.
The aid budget for 2026 amounts to NOK 56.6 billion.