Norec (from English ''Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation'') is a
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
*Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
*Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including the ...
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
al body financing two-way mutual personnel exchange between companies and organisations in Norway and similar companies and organisations in the
global South
The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify region ...
- that is countries in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
and
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
. Previous to 2018, the organisation was named FK Norway.
Norec was founded as Fredskorpset (meaning ''the Peace Corps'' in Norwegian) in 1963, based on ideas of
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
's American
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...
. It was relaunched in 2000 to promote mutual international exchange of young people.
Norec is an administrative body, reporting to the
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian (Bokmål): ''Det kongelige utenriksdepartement''; Norwegian (Nynorsk): ''Det kongelege utanriksdepartement'') is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on June ...
. It funds exchange programmes between various colleges, organisations, businesses etc. in the southern and northern hemispheres.
By 2018, more than 9000 participants had been posted abroad for an average period of one year.
FK Norway has regional networks in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Norway.
Tor Elden was
secretary general
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
and later director of FK Norway in the period 2000-2008. He was succeeded by
Nita Kapoor
Nita Kapoor (born 24 November 1956) is an Indian-Norwegian cultural director. She has worked extensively with culture, media and communications as well as immigrants' issues in Norway and women's issues globally.
She migrated to Norway from India ...
, who was the director from 2009 to 2018. Jan Olav Baarøy has served as the Director General since 2018.
Until 2018, the head office was located in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
. That year it was moved to
Førde
Førde is a former municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative center was the town of Førde which in 2016 had 10,255 inhabitants. Other villages in Førde ...
as part of the national government’s decentralisation policy. It also has regional offices in
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
and
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
.
See also
*
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...
*
CUSO
Cuso International (formerly CUSO, Canadian University Service Overseas) is a Canadian international development organization that connects communities around the world with skilled Canadians to help end poverty and inequality. Established in 1961 ...
*
AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps (officially the Corporation for National and Community Service or CNCS) is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work prog ...
*
British Romanian Educational Exchange BREDEX is the British Romanian Educational Exchange. It is a volunteer organisation which sends university students from the UK to a number of cities in Romania to teach conversational English.
The programme runs during the summer vacation and stud ...
*
European Voluntary Service
The European Solidarity Corps (ESC), known until 2016 as European Voluntary Service (EVS), is an international volunteering program by the European Commission for young people to go individually or in teams to another country, usually from one Eur ...
*
International Voluntary Services
International Voluntary Services (IVS) was an American private nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that placed volunteers in humanitarian and development projects overseas. It operated from its founding in 1953 to its dissolution in 2002. It placed vo ...
*
JICA
The is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and the promotion of international co ...
(Japan International Cooperation Agency)
*
Korea International Cooperation Agency
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA, Korean: 한국국제협력단, Hanja: 韓國國際協力團) was established in 1991 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea as a governmental organization for Official Development ...
*
National Peace Corps Association
National Peace Corps Association is an American nonprofit organization for future, current, and returned Peace Corps Volunteers, former Peace Corps staff, host country counterparts, and family and friends of the Peace Corps. It works to support ...
*
Provincial Reconstruction Team
A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) was a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRT ...
*
United Nations Volunteers
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a United Nations organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide.
Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and i ...
*
United States Cultural Exchange Programs
United States cultural exchange programs, particularly those programs with ties to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the United States Department of State, seek to develop cultural understanding between United States citize ...
*
Voluntary Service Overseas
Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) is a not-for-profit international development organization charity with a vision for "a fair world for everyone" and a mission to "create lasting change through volunteering". VSO delivers development impact throug ...
References
External links
Official siteSocial site for the global FK network
International volunteer organizations
Organisations based in Oslo
Government agencies of Norway
Organizations established in 1963
1963 establishments in Norway
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