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Rotary World Service - District 5950 Group Study Exchange 2003
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Rotary World Service - District 5950 Group Study Exchange 2003 |
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| Norway - April 2003 | May 16, 2003 - Day 25 | |
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Meet
the Team Photos: click a photo to see it full size. Use your browser BACK button to return to the journal page.
Contact the Team THE TRIP
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May 16, 2003 Today the team had individual professional visits. This is my first opportunity to write on a professional day. Therefore, I will try to briefly recap my experiences visiting various places in the Norwegian public sector. Be forewarned, there is a lot to read today…. Two countries, two different approaches to governance Having followed our travels, perhaps you noticed Norway and the United State’s governments are structured quite differently. There are others who could explain the differences far better than I. Among the key differences in governance is that all laws in Norway are developed by the state government. Regional and local laws do not exist. In the United States we practice local self-governance. Also, note that in both countries there are units of government called counties and municipalities but they aren’t the same. Okay, enough political science. Norwegian counties Buskerud County Administration is the organization I visited for my first professional day. It is one of t18 counties. In Buskerud County the people are represented by 55 elected officials representing seven parties! Norwegian counties are responsible for lower secondary education, some regional development planning, culture and more. Until recently counties were also responsible for health care but the national government has assumed responsibility for health care. There is speculation about the future existence of Norwegian counties. This was mentioned in passing during my visit to the county and mentioned several more times when I visited municipalities. An important issue on the agenda of Buskerud County staff is presenting itself as an attractive place to work and live. The county competes with the neighboring county to the east, Oslo. Norwegian municipalities In all, I have visited four municipalities. There are over 400 Norwegian municipalities and this level of government is responsible for many key functions we in Minnesota might expect to have executed by other units of government. For example, education for children in grades kindergarten through seventh grade and social welfare programs are the responsibility of municipalities. During my visits to the municipalities of Kongsberg and Hønefoss I had the opportunity to learn more about how municipalities deliver services to refugees and immigrants. In both municipalities educators described the challenges of teaching Norwegian language and culture to immigrants and refugees. In short, many of the people who arrive and need to learn Norwegian have varying levels of education and some have come through dangerous and traumatic circumstances. Following a pilot in 29 municipalities, beginning next year all municipalities by law must take a new approach in the integration of immigrants. Under the new approach known as the Introduction Program, individuals newly arrived in Norway will complete a individualized two year program intended to give them basic qualifications in language and work readiness. The receipt of a wage is tied to contract the individuals make to fulfill their plans. Evaluation of the pilots stressed the importance of two things: 1) having one individual worker to closely follow the participants throughout the program and to act as primary support AND 2) the experience of earning a wage contingent on the level of participation. Norwegian state (i.e. national) government Today I had the opportunity to visit two different ministries (departments). In the morning I learned a bit about cooperative higher education programs among European countries. Later in the day I had the opportunity to talk with employees in the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration. The Directorate is responsible for helping municipalities integrate immigrants. I read an insightful thought from the Director General’s letter in the 2001 annual report, Immigration administration is about dealing with people, not cases. Actually “case” is the bureaucratic expression of the wish for protection, employment, studies or general residence in our [Norway] country. The main focus must be on people…. This reminds me of the work we are doing in Hennepin County focusing on results ad outcomes. Similarities As is the case in Minnesota, Norwegian citizens have come to expect and demand high quality services from government. Like Minnesota, local elected officials and public sector professionals here in Norway arehaving to figure out how to fund all that is demanded and expected. For example, there is concern in Norwegian municipalities that the Introduction Program will be expensive and there will not be sufficient funding. Also, in Hønefoss, the Balanced Scorecard management system is being implemented in the schools to measure how well the municipality is faring in this responsibility. It was really exciting to talk with my hosts Dagfinn & Anne-Lise Rian about this aspect of my work. So that is it for now. This is a pretty long posting. Thanks for hanging in and reading until the end. |