DanChurchAid

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Against government aid competition

30.11.2006: DanChurchAid and many Danish NGOs are very sceptical about the Danida funded project “Empower the poor – Engage the Danes”, initially known as the Copenhagen Consensus Competition. Civil society actors in five selected African countries are invited to participate in the government competition and submit project ideas within four thematic areas. Subsequently, five famous Danes will select five winner projects, which will be presented to Danida for funding.

Empower the Poor - Engage the Danes

The project seeks to explore innovative and practical ways to Empower the Poor by developing local solutions to global challenges. At the same time the intention is to actively Engage the Danes to establish a consensus for the best ways of supporting this.

Read more: www.empowerthepoor.dk

DanChurchAid is against the competition. Danish NGOs have not been involved in the process until a month ago where they were asked to have their local African partners submit project ideas for the competition.

“We are very sceptical”, says DanChurchAid’s General Secretary Henrik Stubkjær. “The competition concept has a condescending attitude not only towards the people in Africa who are asked to submit project ideas, but also towards the determined guidelines and procedures to which Danida (Danish development policy) normally refer.”

In the initial competition proposal, it was the general public in Denmark who were to decide which projects in Africa that were going to receive Danida (government) funding - an approach which many NGOs in Denmark critically attacked. Such an approach would imply that the local partners would have to compete about portraying their poverty and misery in the most heartbreaking way in order to be the lucky winner of a donation from the Danish government.

Five famous Danes will select the winner project

Now, the concept of the general public as decision makers has been left out. Instead five famous Danes will select which projects that - perhaps - will be funded by Danida, the Danish government.

“We were sceptical the first time we heard about the project and the competition, and our scepticism has increased ever since,” says Henrik Stubkjær.

For more information, please view our Danish website or contact General Secretary Henrik Stubkjær at hst@dca.dk.