UNHCR Standing Committee: 95th Session, 24 - 26 March 2026.
UNHCR SC95 Item 4: Strategic partnerships including coordination.
Statement delivered by Mr Svenn WROLDSEN First Secretary, Humanitarian Issues Permanent Mission of Norway.
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25 March 2026
Thank you, Chair.
Norway thanks UNHCR for the update on strategic partnerships and coordination. We welcome UNHCR’s efforts to strengthen collaboration and align its work with the broader UN reform agenda. We are eager to hear more about the supply-chain pilots with WFP, UNICEF, IOM and WHO, initiatives for a joint vehicle fleet, and for example work started on a common system for identification. We encourage frequent updates on status. As a donor with a large percentage of core- and flexible funding, we expect our partners to prioritize reforms that will increase the efficiency of not only the UN-system, but the humanitarian system as a whole. Common services are an important part of this.
We appreciate UNHCR’s ambition to create a portal that will show, in near real time, how funding is being used. We hope that this will include flexible funding. This could contribute as a potent incentive for countries to increase flexible funding, and, more generally, for increasing public support for aid in donor countries. We hope that you will develop this tool in close cooperation with other UN-agencies.
Norway also strongly supports UN reform aimed at more coherent, efficient and accountable responses at country level. In this context, we commend UNHCR’s engagement in inter-agency coordination, including efforts to simplify planning and coordination structures, reduce duplication, and strengthen the role of Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators.
We also welcome UNHCR’s emphasis on strategic partnerships that better connect humanitarian action with development responses. Transition to the use of national systems rather than parallel humanitarian systems is essential in today’s funding environment, and to move towards sustainable solutions. Meaningful collaboration and consultation with civil society, including refugee-led and women-led organizations, is equally central to ensuring responses reach the most vulnerable.
Norway values UNHCR’s engagement on internal displacement, including its role—together with UNDP and IOM—as a solutions champion and co-chair of the inter-agency Solutions Hub. Beyond advancing solutions for IDPs, the Solutions Hub shows promise as a model for stronger inter-agency cooperation, in line with the ambitions of UN reform.
A long-term perspective is crucial. As the High Commissioner has emphasized, displacement should not become a permanent condition. We support the ambition to reduce the number of refugees in protracted situations dependent on humanitarian aid by 50 per cent by 2035, which underscores the need for stronger, more predictable engagement by development actors in coordination with host governments to reduce long-term dependency on humanitarian support.
Thank you.