Together we are strong

It is in rural Afghanistan that DACAAR does the bulk of its work. Photo: Jan Kjær.

ALPE – Alliance for Poverty Eradication

MS is part of the steering committee in ALPE (Alliance for Poverty Eradication). ALPE links civil organizations in Ghana, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Zambia that work with strategies for poverty eradication. The work takes place through two networks. A gender network run out of Nicaragua, and an empowerment network run out of Ghana.

DACAAR – Helping Refugees in Afghanistan

MS, the Danish Refugee Council, and Danish People’s Aid, constitute the consortium DACAAR (Danish Committee for Assistance to Afghan Refugees). DACAAR works to improve rural living conditions in Afghanistan, and to facilitate the return of both external and internal refugees to their homes.

Particularly, MS contributes to long-term development activities and information work that is attended to by a development worker specialized in journalism. In 2004, MS also collaborated with a web designer who, together with DACAAR’s information department, launched the website www.dacaar.org in November of 2004.

DASS – Better conditions for refugees from South Sudan

Together with the Danish Refugee Council and ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency), MS is implementing the DASS (Danish Assistance to the Self-Reliance Strategy) program in northern Uganda.

The aim is to improve living conditions for Sudanese refugees and locals in the Adjumani district. It started off as a humanitarian relief project, but is now more oriented toward development.

At a number of Farmers’ Field Schools, the peasants receive advice on farming on their own terms. In the local communities, DASS has also created an extensive and well-run system for decentralized planning, which is praised throughout the country.

The program will be phased out in the middle of 2005, but important parts of it will be continued in a larger program administered by the Danish Refugee Council.

Povery is extensive in Nepal. This is why MS has joined the networks in the ALPE-program. Photo: Anders Thormann.

SusWatch – Following up on UN conferences

On November 1, 2004, MS co-founded Sustainability Watch (SusWatch) which, during the next 2 years, will be monitoring and influencing the follow-up to the decisions taken at UN conferences on the environment and development.

The work is based on experiences and networks established during Rio+10. These networks are now so strong that the project will be coordinated by an international steering committee based in Kampala.

Rio+10, which included a large number of civil society organizations from more than 30 countries, was concluded in the beginning of 2005. However, MS, Ibis, WWF, and our partners across the world, consider it necessary to monitor how national governments and international organizations followup on the decisions. Hence SusWatch.