Partnerships and Engagements

DanChurchAid (DCA) engages the private sector in multiple ways in countries across Africa, Asia and in Denmark. We have experience working on private sector engagements within the food and agriculture sector, renewable energy sector and IT and tech sector. However, DCA has knowledge and experience with multiple other sectors and a multitude of local and international partners that can be mobilised for various types of networks and partnerships when relevant. At the moment, we are therefore also expanding our private sector work and expect this development to continue in the years to come. DCA is open to new partnerships and types of engagement as long as these live up to our principles and policies and partners are interested in supporting the most vulnerable people.

Responsible Business and the Sustainable Development Goals

DanChurchAid (DCA) is fully committed to the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and strives to ensure the realisation by also furthering advocacy and strategic engagements with the private sector.

DCA holds extensive expertise on responsible business conduct, respect for human rights and the climate, which are key components to consider in securing sustainable development. We see great potential in integrating this knowledge as an integral part of our private sector engagements, as we experience a growing interest from the business community to engage on devising sustainable solutions though the establishment of partnership approaches. Partnerships like these are a sustainable development goal in themselves (SDG 17) and bring value to the new projects by providing the opportunity for sparring on applied business models and project implementations to ensure a holistic approach to sustainability.

In addition to engaging in partnerships, DCA also seeks to provide constructive contributions to broader policy debates on the role of business in promoting sustainable development, responsible investments and secure global climate action in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights and the 2015 Paris Declaration. The global advocacy work includes contributions to and monitoring of SDG implementations on a Danish, European and international level to e.g. ensure policy coherence in the Danish foreign and development policies. DCA is also represented in the ACT Alliance European Union (EU) focal group on the SDGs, which monitors the EU’s implementations towards the SDGs and the Paris Principles (2030 Agenda).

Examples of our work

The Sustainable Food Platform

The Sustainable Food Platform is an ideation and innovation platform led by DanChurchAid, along with Arla Foods Ingredients. The partnership aims to rethink market-based solutions for food and nutrition security in Africa. The partnership will tap into existing knowledge, and bring together local producers with global partners to develop and test low-tech and energy-efficient food solutions (e.g. nutritious and affordable products like healthy biscuits and porridge). The partnership will be formed by two parallel tracks: a local sourcing track to promote sustainable production of local ingredients by smallholder farmers; and an industry-led track on product innovation for the bottom-of-the-pyramid segment. The main country focus will be on Ethiopia with cross links made to Kenya and Uganda to enable scale-up and replication.

This partnership builds on the GAIN Nordic partnership with a focus on the whole value chain from small-scale farmer to consumer.

Dairy

Together with Arla Foods Ingredients and the Nordic network of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), DCA is working with local farmers to produce a nutritious and affordable yoghurt in Ethiopia. Using the partners’ various technical skills and knowledge resources, the aim is to reduce undernutrition and improve local livelihoods by using local dairy farmers’ milk to bring a yoghurt to the market by 2019.

Read more about our partnership with Arla Foods Ingredients

Organic Fruit

In partnership with a Ugandan and two Danish companies, we have developed an inclusive business project, which will boost local production of organic fruit and vegetables for export. Funded by the Danish government and the partners’ own contributions, the project will create much-needed improvements in livelihoods and income opportunities for refugees and host communities in an area, which has received more than 1 million refugees in 2017.

Read more about the Organic Fruit project

Quinoa

We work with private and public partners and research institutions to introduce the draught-resistant and high-value crop ‘quinoa’ in Ethiopia. The goal is to reduce malnutrition and food insecurity and to create new business opportunities for smallholder farmers and local businesses.

Sustainable Energy

DCA has previously worked with M-PAYG, a start-up company delivering mobile solar systems, to give rural communities access to energy. Using our expertise with climate change, human rights and responsible business conduct, DCA also provides input to large-scale energy investment projects.

Financial Inclusion

In our humanitarian efforts, we work with private partners to deliver cash-based solutions, via bank cards or mobile phones, to deliver effective and secure assistance to refugee groups while also supporting local markets and livelihoods.