Where we work

Guatemala

Our work here focuses on agricultural development, disaster prevention and relief aid, human rights and strengthening the legal system.

Sudan

Among other things, our work here includes mine clearance, protecting the civilian population and relief aid in Darfur.

India

Here we work with fighting hunger and poverty, disaster preparedness, democracy, rights and the caste system.

Angola

Our work here focuses on clearing areas of landmines and unexploded ammunition as well as mine risk education.

Congo (DCR)

Our work here focuses on demining, fighting hunger and helping women who are victims of violence.

Ethiopia

Our work here focuses on disaster risk reduction, equal rights for men and women, strengthening civil society and fighting hunger, HIV and AIDS.

Malawi

Our work here focuses on the prevention of HIV and AIDS, food security and women’s rights.

Uganda

Our work here focuses on agriculture, disaster preparedness, combating HIV and AIDS and supporting a democratic development.

Zambia

Our work here focuses on women’s right to participate, fighting poverty, HIV and AIDS, climate change adaption and democracy.

Bangladesh

Our work here focuses on disaster preparedness, climate changes, democracy, women’s rights and protecting migrants.

Burma/Myanmar

Our work here focuses on empowering civil society, development and education, emergency relief aid and supporting refugees.

Cambodia

Our work here includes, among other things, fighting hunger, HIV/AIDS, supporting women’s rights and climate change adaption.

Nepal

Our work here focuses on democracy and rights, disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction and safe migration.

Pakistan

Our work here focuses on relief aid, health care, medicine and reconstruction following the floods.

Haiti

Here our work focuses on rebuilding schools and helping the rural poor with income generating activities after the violent earthquake in 2010.

Honduras

Our work here focuses on agricultural development, disaster preparedness, climate change adaption, human rights and democracy.

West Bank/Gaza

Our work here focuses on relief aid, women’s rights and improving the Palestinian population’s living conditions.

Kazakhstan

Our work here focuses on supporting the poor that travel from town to town on foot. We establish self-help groups and influence laws and procedures.

Kyrgyzstan

Our work here focuses on supporting poor immigrant families, education for marginalised children and young people and self-help groups for the elderly.

Lebanon

Our work here focuses on clearing cluster bombs, neutralising mines and enabling the population to manage on their own.

DanChurchAid believes

Henrik Stubkjær, Secretary General

"Hunger is an inevitable consequence of poverty. Hunger is the most grotesque example of inequity in the world. DCA is fighting hunger with all of the means we have, both in the short and longer term."

A struggle to survive

Kazakhstan was the last Soviet republic to declare its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the country remains closely attached to Russia.

Challenges

Kazakhstan is the 9th largest country in the world with only 6 inhabitants per square kilometre – a total of 16 million inhabitants. The country has large oil and natural gas deposits (approximately 3.2 % of the world’s known reserves). This entails large revenues, but despite positive financial key figures the number of poor people keeps growing, and the extreme gulf between the newly rich and the country’s poor population grows.

Kazakhstan has signed several international agreements regarding social and financial development and human rights, and their constitution states that all citizens are equal before the law. But words and actions are not the same thing, and there is a need of reforms as regards what the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs refers to as an authoritarian ‘clan-based oligarchy with limited freedom of speech’.

Poverty has made large parts of the rural population leave the hopeless conditions in the rural areas for the cities. But the conditions in the cities are not better than in the country, and many newcomers are left with no job or accommodation in a country that, by and large, has no social safety net.

What we do in Kazakhstan

DanChurchAid has worked in Kazakhstan since 1996.

In Kazakhstan the overriding purpose is to strengthen civil society. Therefore, DanChurchAid focuses on:

Influencing laws and the public authorities’ administrative procedures
Qualifying the local organisations
Ensuring transparency in the public economy

Our work in Central Asia is part of a consortium that includes DanChurchAid’s sister organisations in Great Britain, the Netherlands and Norway with the name ”ACT-Development in Central Asia”.

Articles about FKN

07/07/2008 Kazakhstan women met to combat loneliness, then tackled government

Margarita Zobnina, a medical biologist in the nursing profession, joined a women's group in her native Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union, at a time when women faced not only increasing impoverishment but also loneliness.

26/06/2008 Self help groups along Asia's forgotten Old Silk Road

If the main bridge across the Rhone River in central Geneva collapsed and was not repaired, or attended to within days, or even hours, residents of the Swiss city would be up in arms, lobbying and harassing local, regional or federal authorities to act. Action would likely soon be taken.

25/08/2006 Curse of the cotton factory

When the Soviet Union broke down in 1991, the Kazakhs had the opportunity to create their own state. However, the price of independence has been high for Kazakhstan’s large working-class population.

02/08/2006 The strength of community

The establishment of self help groups is an efficient method to fight poverty; this is the experience of DanChurchAid’s partners in Kazakhstan.

11/07/2006 House building and women self help groups

DanChurchAid works in Kazakhstan through two organisations, Baspana and Moldir. Both working in Almaty, Baspana is focusing on improving conditions for poor people, and Moldir is mainly working towards improving poor and vulnerable women’s conditions.

07/06/2006 Cooperation gives results in Central Asia

DanChurchAid works with a regional approach in Central Asia. To improve the impact of the work, DanChurchAid cooperates closely with three European sister organisations in the Ecumenical Consortium for Central Asia, ECCA. The cooperation has proven to be very effective showing good results in the work for the poorest people in the region.

16/05/2006 Strengthening local NGOs

A large part of DanChurchAid's work also focuses on strengthening local NGOs by teaching administrative skills and promoting democratic leadership as well as guidance in dealing with the authorities.

10/05/2006 Deterioration of education and health

A fifth of the population in Kazakhstan is living below the poverty line. Children in particular are affected as are pensioners and people on low incomes. Though the country is oil-rich, the surplus isn’t distributed equally.

23/04/2006 An authoritarian presidency

Until 1991, Kazakhstan formed part of the Soviet Union. After the independence process, the country has struggled to get back on its feet.