53 There are quite large differences between respondents in Russia and Norway in terms of their satisfaction with the Secretariat along the dimensions mentioned. Russians are on average more satisfied with the information about funding opportunities (66% are ‘very satisfied’ in comparison with 29% of the Norwegians), application procedures, access to Secretariat staff and funding levels, while the Norwegian respondents express much more satisfaction than Russians in terms of the flexibility and the level of bureaucracy of the Secretariat staff.
2.8
Perspectives on the collaboration
Collaboration between partners from different countries, with differences in culture, language, political and administrative systems and economic levels, to mention some of the most obvious, may be enriching but may also entail some difficulties. In the survey we wanted to find out to which extent the collaboration between Russian and Norwegian partners had been characterised by positive as well as negative features. Thus, we presented a battery of questions regarding collaboration (every other item a possible obstacle and every other a possible asset), and asked the respondents to what extent each of them had been characteristic of their own project. The following were the potentially negative aspects: •
Imbalances in resources
•
Misunderstandings due to cultural differences
•
Language difficulties
•
Professional differences, diverging views on project implementation
while the potentially positive aspects listed were the following: •
Shared understanding of problems and challenges
•
Openness and transparency between the partners
•
A good balance between the different partners in the project
•
Development of closer relations throughout the project period
NIBR Report 2008:4