I. COMMITMENT TO DEVELOPMENT

Globalisation has changed the world significantly in recent years. Global prosperity has never been greater, yet at the same time global cohesion has come under steadily increasing pressure from the world’s inequality.

While 400 million people around the world during the last few decades have been lifted out of absolute poverty, the number of poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa has doubled. Where approximately 160 million people at the start of the 1980s lived on less than one US dollar a day in Sub-Saharan Africa, this figure has risen to more than 320 million at the start of the 21st century.

Fighting poverty – and its many faces, such as inhuman living conditions, the spread of infectious diseases and conflicts – is the key challenge facing Danish development policy. In the fight against poverty, it is Danish policy to carry out targeted efforts in areas where the need for, and effect of, development assistance is greatest.

In order to break out of poverty, it is crucial that the poorest developing countries also attain the benefits of globalisation. The most important building stone is a strong commitment to development from the countries themselves. The poor countries must take strong responsibility for ensuring good governance and for pursuing a sensible economic policy. Without this responsibility, the developing countries will not become part of the global economy – and thus will be unable to attain the full benefits of globalisation.

But even with a strong commitment, development will not come by itself. A number of challenges are global and require solutions that poor countries cannot implement on their own. Many developing countries will need massive assistance for many years to come – especially in Africa.

Here, the Government will meet its responsibility and maintain its strong involvement – and through a long-term and sustained effort contribute to enabling the poorest developing countries to break out of poverty.

Denmark’s development assistance will continue to amount to at least 0.8 per cent of GNP. With the present growth level of the Danish economy, this will mean that the Government in the Finance Act for 2007 will set aside approximately a further DKK 800 million in development assistance compared to the Finance Act for 2006¹. Consequently, the total Danish development assistance will amount to approximately DKK 13.6 billion, which will maintain Denmark’s position as one the world’s largest donors.

The increased development assistance will strengthen Denmark’s solid platform internationally; a platform that will also continue to be used to press other industrialised countries to increase their level of development assistance. The Government will, for example, use the strong Danish platform in efforts to ensure that EU Member States meet the new development aid targets that they adopted in spring 2005 – and which in total are expected to inject approximately DKK 150 billion per year in new development funds from 2010.

The Government will place Africa at the heart of its development policy priorities. This is where the need for assistance is greatest. The Danish development assistance to Africa will therefore be increased in the coming years. This will take place, for example, through the establishment of programme cooperation with Mali, to which will be allocated DKK 350 million in 2007, and through a substantial increase in Denmark’s contribution to international debt relief agreements.

In the assistance to Africa, the Government will place importance on maintaining and supporting the African countries’ responsibility for and ownership of their own development. The Government will help strengthen Africa’s own capacity to tackle conflicts and regional challenges through a contribution of DKK 65 million to the African Union in 2007.

Strengthened cooperation with the African Union is a concrete follow-up to the international Copenhagen Conference on Africa held in Copenhagen in May 2006. The conference placed focus on the importance of harnessing the strong resources of women in the work on building a stable and prosperous Africa. In the coming years, the Government will implement targeted efforts to strengthen Africa’s women in their endeavours to escape from poverty and conflicts.

The Government’s focus on Africa reflects the high priority assigned to the efforts to combat poverty. A massive effort against poverty is also an effort against radicalisation and extremism – and against national or regional conflicts.

Poverty and marginalisation to a high degree create the breeding ground for totalitarian forces. In Africa alone, more than 50 million young people have no prospect of finding a job that can provide a reasonable existence for a family. Danish development policy will actively contribute to giving Africa’s new generations hope of a better future.

Throughout the world, the Danish development policy will build on values such as respect for human rights, democracy, tolerance and cross-cultural understanding; values that are all absolutely fundamental in a globalised world.

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This plan presents the Government’s development policy priorities for development assistance in the period 2007-2011.

The plan outlines the Government’s vision of how Danish development assistance can contribute to establishing a better and more just world; a cohesive world – and a world where commitment to development and change is given favourable growth conditions.

The development policy priorities for 2007-2011 are based on the Government platform (regerings-grundlag) from February 2005 and further develops the development policy stance set out by the Government in the three policy papers, Globalisation – Progress through Partnership (2005), Security, Growth – and Development (2004) and A World of Difference (2003).

The core of the Danish development policy will be a long-term effort. Many years of experience clearly show that development assistance is at its most effective when provided in a long-term framework. The Government sees a long-term effort as a prerequisite for combating poverty and maximising the impact of development assistance. The point of departure for the Danish effort will be the developing countries’ own poverty reduction strategies, which aim to ensure strong national ownership.

With its development policy priorities for 2007-2011, the Government will continue the long-term cooperation carried out with the bilateral programme countries. This cooperation will include launching 21 new phases of sector programmes and other large-scale programmes within, for example, commerce, agriculture, health, environment and education, amounting to a total of around DKK 3 billion in 2007.

Table 1: New sector programmes and other major programmes in 2007

The long-term and targeted effort will also characterise Denmark’s substantial multilateral assistance efforts in the EU, the World Bank and the UN. A number of challenges are global and require solutions that individual countries cannot implement on their own. This applies, for example, to the efforts to combat poverty, anti-terrorism, cross-border environmental problems, and the struggle to ensure respect for human rights. It is a high priority of the Government that such problems are solved via strong multilateral cooperation in which Denmark plays an active role.

The Government will maintain its high priority of promoting a sustainable environment in developing countries with regard to both multilateral and bilateral development assistance. There is a close correlation between poverty and an impoverished environment – and it is the Government’s position that global poverty cannot be fought without simultaneously taking steps to address the environmental problems.

The strong Danish humanitarian involvement will also be continued. The efforts here are an expression of the strong will among Danes to help people in need; a will that was clearly demonstrated in the wake of the Asian tsunami in December 2004 and the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005.

In order to strengthen the long-term effort, the Government will continuously adjust the Danish development assistance to new global challenges. Danish development assistance must constantly relate itself to a changing world, in order to ensure that the Danish efforts are focused, effective and up-to-date – and thus support the countries that possess a strong commitment to development.

In order to strengthen Danish development assistance, the Government will assign special priority to three areas, all of which are crucial for sustainable development in the world’s poorest countries:

• Good governance – which itself is the fundamental prerequisite for progress and development
• Women, whose rights are far too often violated – and who have enormous resources that can be turned more effectively into a driving force for development.
• HIV/AIDS – which threatens entire communities, and where enormous gains are to be made from intensified and targeted Danish efforts

1 Approximately DKK 185 million of this allocation will stem from price and pay regulation of development assistance, while the remaining amount will be provided through the 0.8 per cent guarantee.