Focus on combating poverty

With the financial crisis threatening to put the world’s poorest countries into reverse, global development assistance is more important than ever. Denmark has taken the lead as one of a handful of countries meeting the UN goal of providing 0.7 per cent of GNP in development assistance.

By Jeppe Villadsen

Out among the baobab trees, they notice it. Nowhere does the international financial crisis hit harder than among the world’s poorest. In Burkina Faso’s villages. Or in Nairobi’s slums. They didn’t have much to lose to start with, and last year’s food crisis as well as galloping food and petrol prices had already drained resources.

No development assistance can completely alleviate the impact of the financial crisis, but the solid support it provides will become more important than ever if the significant progress of recent years in some of the world’s poorest countries is not to be lost – especially in Africa’s Sub-Saharan countries which have seen continuously high economic growth over the last ten years.

In 2008, Danish development assistance increased by DKK 524 million, approx. EUR 70 million to reach DKK 14.47 billion approx. EUR 1.9 billion, or 0.82 per cent of GNP. That makes Denmark one of only five countries which exceed the UN target of 0.7 per cent.

In recent years, the focus of Danish assistance has increasingly been directed at Sub-Saharan Africa, and now Africa is at the centre of Denmark’s development policy. The Danish government has set the objective that 66% of its bilateral development assistance must be earmarked for Africa. In 2008, the proportion was 61 per cent.

The government has established an Africa Commission, which in May presented its proposals on how development assistance can help create more growth and jobs in Africa, not least for the continent’s enormous group of young people. Their recommendation is to put the primary focus on the business community, to provide the driving force for creating new jobs.

A strong private sector will assist in achieving the overriding goal of Danish assistance: combating poverty and helping the world’s penniless towards a decent existence. This concerns a lot more than economics: conflict and bad government are actually among the biggest barriers to development.

If the world is to fight off poverty, developments have to happen on a broad front that will give populations access to health, nutrition, political freedom, social rights, education and safety. So Denmark is working with a broad understanding of poverty that includes both the political and social aspects of combating poverty.

Equality pays
A high priority in Danish development assistance is gender equality and empowering women, for which there are powerful development policy arguments. Investments in women have a major positive impact on conditions for future generations. Women invest more than men in their children’s nutrition, education and health. And increased incomes and education for women result in lower population growth, greater poverty reduction and economic growth. Educated women simply have fewer children and are better at taking care of the children they do have.

All this is well-documented. For example, studies from Asia show that children of whose mothers have completed their primary education have a 25 per cent lower risk of permanent disability due to malnutrition. And a survey of farming families in Kenya documents that more education leads to higher agricultural yields. This effect was 22 per cent greater for women than for men.

In 2008, Denmark initiated the MDG3 (United Nations Millenium Development Goal 3) Global Call to Action campaign which, headed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, obliges 100 government leaders and representatives of international organisations, the private sector and civil society to make an extra effort for gender equality.

Denmark’s strategic priorities

• Combating poverty is the fundamental objective of Denmark’s development work, i.e. for all country programmes, strategies and other efforts
• Work on combating poverty is carried out via national development strategies or poverty strategies formulated by the countries’ governments
• Promotion of democracy and respect for human rights is an essential consideration in all Danish development assistance Consideration for the environment is incorporated into all Danish assistance programmes
• Focusing on women’s access to and control over resources. Promoting equal opportunities to achieve economic influence for women and men.
• Agricultural and business sector development with a view to creating economic growth and employment are important priorities in Denmark’s work with combating poverty
• Emergency aid relieves acute hunger and needs in crisis areas

Read more about Denmark’s development policies on: http://www.um.dk
(the official homepage for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark).

Collaboration is the way forward
The aim of Denmark’s development work is the UN Millennium Development Goals, which were adopted by the world’s heads
of state and government in 2000 for achievement by 2015. These goals include combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and discrimination against women. Last year, a global mid-way review was conducted, which showed that special efforts are needed in a number of areas to reach the goals.

Africa in particular is falling behind. Here there is a need for not only cooperation between donor countries and recipient countries, but also coordination between donors. Denmark puts weight on harmonising its assistance with other donors, adjusting it to the recipient countries’ own development plans and ensuring that it can function in their own systems. Experience has shown that this is the most durable and efficient way to provide assistance.

Previously it was more the case that each donor supported specific projects, which were not always that well coordinated with local political structures or other donors. This type of assistance made it easy to follow the funds from payment to completion of for example the building of a school.

Since assistance today increasingly consists of contributions to coordinated shared programmes or to budget support that is channelled into the recipient countries’ public sector systems, one has to look more closely at what has jointly been achieved with other donors and cooperation countries. But ultimately, it is the results that count: Is poverty being reduced? Can more children read and write? Is health being improved?

United Nations Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Read more on http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals

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More than catastrophes
It is often the catastrophes and the acute need for help that steal the headlines. But the long-term objectives of ensuring peace, stability and democratic development are just as important. Experience shows that countries with political stability have the best economic development. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) concluded in a survey in 2005 that armed conflict is the most significant cause of hunger in the world.

Peace and stability are directly related to the opportunities countries have for development and for meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals. So working for democracy, human rights, peace and stability also play a notable and growing role in Danish development work.

In 2008, Denmark used DKK 1.4 billion, approx. EUR 188 million of the total assistance funds of DKK 14.5 billion, approx. EUR
1.95 billion on activities directly promoting good governance, democracy and human rights – a 50 per cent increase compared to 2004. The money was spent on preparations for and holding of elections, combating corruption, building up a free press and systems of justice as well as teaching in democracy.

The objective of development cooperation is ultimately to render assistance unnecessary. That is how it has transpired in a number of countries in Asia, and preferably how it should go in Africa. When a cooperating country has experienced prolonged positive development, the assistance will gradually be phased out.

After many years of preparation, Denmark phased out Egypt as a programme cooperation country last year, and in a few years the same will happen for Bhutan and Vietnam. The Danish government has no plans to scale down development assistance however, and Denmark will remain among the global leaders in the coming years.