Her Royal Highness Princess Marie has been the patron of DanChurchAid since 2011. In other words we are enjoying more than a decade of support from one of the organisation’s strongest standard-bearers.
Princess Marie has been on several major trips with DanChurchAid. Trips to Cambodia, Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Uganda, where the Princess visited projects and gained greater insight into how DanChurchAid works.
These experiences had a big impression on the Princess.
“My position gives me the opportunity to raise awareness around people in need and to explain how development aid is beneficial. I like to put my heart into what I do. And I can do that here,” says Princess Marie.
At work with DanChurchAid
In 2016 Princess Marie visited two villages in Myanmar. Here the Princess learned how families organised themselves into savings and loans groups to provide money for small investments. The project helps to lift communities out of extreme poverty because it ensures that more families receive a steady income, money for education, as well as healthy and nutritious food.
Tackling climate change from the classroom
In 2020, Princess Marie travelled to Uganda to meet a group of young climate activists from the student movement “Fridays for Future”.
The Princess gained insight into how climate change (Danish) is already having major consequences for the country’s poorest families when disasters such as drought or floods affect villages.
“We often talk about climate change having major consequences for our children and grandchildren. But it is already having major consequences for many people. I have experienced this myself this week. Something must be done now,” said Princess Marie after her visit to Uganda.
Pictures of the princess’s visit in Uganda:
Wefood and the fight against food waste
Princess Marie also takes part in DanChurchAid’s work on sustainability and climate. She does this through the fight against food waste (Danish).
The first step in the fight against food waste was in 2016, when the Princess opened Wefood Amager – Denmark’s first shop with surplus goods.
The Princess and Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen, General Secretary of DanChurchAid, officially declared the store open. Since 2016, the Princess has been involved in opening several of the now six Wefood stores in total.
Wefood is a sustainable supermarket chain that sells surplus goods that supermarkets and suppliers often discard. The profits support DanChurchAid’s work in the world’s poorest countries.