Annual Meeting: Refocus and rethink

MS’ biggest challenge is to prove the impact of their work in the south

MS programmes need to be refocused to match the shortages brought about by the cuts in its operational budget. And MS must rethink over the direction it should take for the future. It also faces the challenge of raising the individual membership within Denmark up to 6.500 by the year 2006.

The statements were made by delegates from MS Copenhagen during the MS Uganda annual general meeting in February – namely vice chairperson Pia Olsen and head of administration Charlotte Friis.

They explained that the current government in Denmark has prioritised putting more resources into the education sector and welfare for the elderly in Denmark as opposed to development aid. MS depends almost entirely on the Danish Foreign Affairs Ministry for funding. This makes MS vulnerable to changes in government attitude.

Charlotte Friis said that as a result, MS Copenhagen retrenched staff and closed the minority programme as well as the information department. She pointed out dependency on Danish government funding as the biggest weakness of MS.

The evaluation exercise of MS programs worldwide has highlighted gaps resulting from overstretching of resources due to lack of focus. Therefore, Pia Olsen revealed, MS Copenhagen has decided to concentrate on democratic governance and poverty reduction from now on.

The delegates from Copenhagen said budgetary cuts in development aid, always severely affect bigger international NGOs like MS. The biggest challenge lying before MS now is to be more visible back home in Denmark to be able to convince the government that their existence is worth its while. And there is need to identify alternative funding sources to fill up the gaps.

According to Charlotte Friis, country offices are being encouraged to initiate fundraising drives so that if the Danish government makes further cuts, the programmes do not shut down.

In Uganda, MS is already phasing out some of its partner organisations to remain with a flat number of 30 partners. The country director, Ulla Str¢bech, said that as a result of the budget cuts, MS Uganda will now concentrate on the existing partners so as to build synergy and make an impact. 

She commended the Policy Advisory Board (PAB) for commissioning the good governance baseline survey as well as their contributions to policy discussions at local and Copenhagen level.

Ulla called on partners to always make constructive criticism to the country office. This, she said, will certainly improve collaboration between partners and MS Uganda.