1.8.3 The routines for handling applications

far. More specific objectives for each of the areas of work will be identified.

1.8.3 The routines for handling applications

The Barents Secretariat receives roughly 400 applications each year, and around half of these are approved. The applications are distributed to the advisors according to each advisor’s main policy field of responsibility (environment, youth, industrial development etc) or type of project competence. Applications for projects with a budget below 200,000 NOK are treated when they are received in the Secretariat. Applications above 200,000 NOK must be submitted before a deadline (four deadlines each year). Board meetings that decide upon the applications are called four to five weeks after the deadline, and after the decision is taken a letter is sent to applicants within a week. This must be considered a relatively fast procedure. For the applicants and project holders this is very useful and allows them to work without unnecessary delays. Some of the respondents in the web-survey (see next chapter) would like the final decisions on approval/rejection of applications to be announced on the Barents Secretariat web-site immediately after the decisions was made. Others would have liked to have more thorough explanations for rejections and clearer criteria for selection of projects. Others found the communication with the Barents Secretariat to be open and un-bureaucratic. The advisors in the Secretariat benefit from the fact that project co-operation has gone on for 12 – 13 years. This means that most applicants and their project record are already known to the advisors. In most cases, the Russian applicants have been in contact with the offices in Russia (Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Narian-Mar and Petrozavodsk). The role of the field offices of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat in Russia in handling applications are less clear than that of the Head office in Kirkenes.

When assessing the applications, the Barents Secretariat advisors draw on each others’ knowledge and experience. No external reviewers are invited to assess the applications. With very few

exemptions the Board approves the recommendations presented by the advisors. The prevalence of small projects characterises the Barents Secretariat project portfolio. This is explained by the need to allow for people-to-people co-operation. Some of the receivers of funds through the Barents Secretariat would like to have the Secretariat included in the project group. Most often, such offers are declined in order for the Secretariat not to mix roles. However, the Secretariat is not categorically against joining in a project. Reports and follow-up Reports are being used as a monitoring tool. The advisor who examines the individual project application is the one who reads the project reports. The advisors follow up their projects by visits. The Barents Secretariat practices a relatively strict policy as to the reports, and do not approve them before all items in the report form have been completed satisfactorily. The Secretariat’s economist goes through the expenses in detail before the report is approved, which secures control of the economic aspect. Nevertheless, when it comes to the description of the project activities the reports are often sub-optimal. The close communication between the advisor and the applicants, especially the Norwegian applicants, secures the flow of information between these actors. But for external institutions or observers, having to rely on project documentation, the written material is unsatisfactory. Moreover, there does not appear to be any systematic compilation of information from the reports that are used for learning processes about successful or more problematic aspects of project implementation. Recruitment of project holders There has been a certain recycling of project holders. Over the last few years the circle of project holders has not been significantly expanded. More recently, however, new applicants have started to submit project proposals. Most probably the Norwegian government’s Strategy for the High North has called forth new interest in co-operation.