UNDP Oslo Governance Centre

Welcome to the Oslo Governance Centre!

UNDP established the Oslo Governance Centre in Oslo, Norway in 2002 as part of its global policy network for democratic governance, at a time when it had become clearer than ever that the fundamental issues of democratic governance are critical for meeting the Millennium Development Goals adopted at the Millennium Summit in 2000.

Institutionally the Oslo Governance Centre is part of the Democratic Governance Group in UNDP’s Bureau of Development Policy, but we work closely with other parts of UNDP as well.

The overarching purpose of the work of the Oslo Governance Centre is to position UNDP as a champion of democratic governance, both as an end in itself, and as a means to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This is done through knowledge networking and multi-disciplinary team work, as well as through close partnerships with leading policy and research institutions in different parts of the world.

As a global UNDP thematic facility, the objective of the Centre is to facilitate knowledge sharing and networking on democratic governance as well as to provide policy guidance and technical support to the more than 130 UNDP Country Offices around the world. The Centre has a special focus in addressing new and emerging areas of democratic governance and in building the capacity of UNDP’s front-line staff to address these new challenges.

The mandate for the work of the Oslo Governance Centre during the 2005-2009 period covers activities in four focus areas: Governance and poverty eradication; Governance and conflict prevention; Civil society, empowerment and governance; Learning and capacity development. Each of the focus areas is headed by an international advisor. Most of the information on our website is organized according to these four focus areas.

However, you will note that we have also highlighted a number of ‘flagship’ activities like the Governance Indicators project, our work in the area of Access to Information, the Fellowship Programme and the Bergen Seminar series. In addition we are proud to be hosting the Human Rights Policy Network, Huritalk, of the United Nations Development Group.

While it is the primary responsibility of the Oslo Governance Centre to work with and provide services to the UNDP system, this can only be done effectively and with quality if we also work closely with organizations and institutions outside the UN system that believe in the vision expressed by the Secretary-General of the UN at the top of this page.

Bjørn Førde
Director, UNDP Oslo Governance Centre