From 'Indflydelse no. 2/2007

MS future in a long term perspective

On the 1st of June MS board decided to suggest the general assembly to begin a real investigation of the possibilities and risks in connecting with the new international Action Aid network, which is under development. We asked MS Chairman Søren Hougaard to elaborate on these considerations.

Peter Bischoff - translation Anne Mette Nordfalk

10. August 2007

What is the back ground for the suggestion?

”I would like to begin by emphasising that it is an open investigation, where decisions are not made before hand. However the board is suggesting the investigation because we believe it contains new and exciting possibilities for the future of MS. We have asked ourselves, if we can organise ourselves in a way, where we together with the partners in the South create a global community, that makes us stronger and make all more equal. 

The back ground is that the world around us is changing and or freedom to act is linked to our ability to follow. For some years we have been falling behind development and that must not happen again. Globalisation means that decisions move from the national to the international level, at the same time as the local level is important. And as a civil society we have to come along, to be able to tie strong global action with the local work. On the global scene MS is far too small a player.

Simultaneously we observe that civil society in the South has become a lot stronger and is able to do a lot of things independently.  Therefore it is natural to ask ourselves how long we should keep having independent offices in the South that works parallely with effective national organisations. There will be a time where we have succeeded in building strong organisations in civil society and where we are no longer needed in the same way. It is natural that roles and ways of cooperating develops and find new ways.”

What does an international network have to offer in this regard? 

”It will strengthen our lobby and information work. In areas like politics and fund raising it will give us a lot more energy, because so many others are working with the same questions. We will gain access to information and to a far greater analytical capacity. To a network of more than 100 political employees, most of them placed in the South, but where some are also placed in centers of decisions like Washington and Bruxelles. And to an energetic team of programme staff, who may increase the professional quality of our work and make it more effective.” 

Why Action Aid? 

”This is about placing MS in the world of the future. Action Aid is a network under construction, that we can take part in creating. They are similar to us politically and work with partnerships like we do. They started up as an English charity organisation working with child sponsorships, and that is still part of their image, but they have followingly landed on a more political approach, similar to ours. They have offices in 30 to 40 countries, and right now they are in the middle of a process where these organisations are made into independent organisations in the South.”

We have also investigated other organisations, for example the Oxfam-family, who are also similar to us politically. But Action Aid wishes to expand their member base in Europe, and they are very interested in getting us as a member, at the same time as they are creating these autonomous NGO's in the South, who will become equal members of the network. The process is open and interesting now, because it has just begun and very little has found its final shape. That gives us the opportunity for influence, and this is where we have a lot to offer, especially in terms of our democracy focus.

With this focus we will become a strong partner that has particular knowledge and is one of the relatively big ones. At the moment Action Aid UK and Action Aid Italy stands for 70 percent of the total international budget. We will become the third largest in the network, which means we will be in a better position than as part of Oxfam. In Oxfam we would disappear. In Action Aid we are large enough to be part of the game.

And what is really interesting is their heavy emphasise on the South. It is in reality a continuation of the aid reform that we ourselves began in the beginning of the 90ties and where we have now worked with partnerships in the south for 15 years. We have had the debate about placing power in the South ourselves. Action Aid has turned it up side down, so an unequal donor-recipient relationship no longer exists. They have even moved their head quarters to South Africa. All this creates more credibility than merely speaking on behalf of the poor in the South”. 

What does this mean to MS as a member organisation?

”For the board it has been paramount, that MS can keep its name and brand in Denmark, and we will. The membership organisation MS will not be touched. It is also a precondition that we can keep a program with development workers and maintain our focus on democracy. That is some of the things; we need to negotiate with the network. The view in Action is positive and our board has stressed that these demands are final.”

Let med describe the phases in the process. If the general assembly agrees to investigate the possibilities, we begin a more thorough debate about advantages and disadvantages and come closer to what it will concretely mean to our program in the South. The first year will be a”creating trust” process, where we investigate, have it works in reality.

The next phase begins when and if we sometime in 2008 formally decide to become an associated part of the network. From here a concrete plan of action will be made. Our country offices will be merged with the national Action Aid-departments – in some places with the MS office as a point of departure – that will probably take two to three years from the formal decision, where we still have the right to withdraw. After this we are full members of the network with a seat in the international board, but we can as an independent organisation always decide to leave the network.

Our country programmes are currently developing new country strategies with a point of departure in our focus in local democracy, land rights, anti corruption and fair trade. This proces will not be changed if we join the network. The programmes that are under development will continue even if their administration maybe changed.”

Is this a maneuver of survival? 

”Clearly the competition between the organisationens has intensified with a tendency towards connecting to an international network. Dan Church Aid, Red Cross and Care Denmark are all part of international networks. Save the Children in Denmark has become a part of Save The Children, and Ibis has joined Alliance 2015. So it is not new. 

But I would like to turn it positively. With our member increase, our successful national collection, our systematic process of reconstructing the programmes in the South and building key competences in a few teams and a travel program in expansive development we have a strong point of departure for becoming an active part of an international network.

As a representative of Action Aid said recently, they see MS as a great opportunity to network. We are not crawling, and we should only do this if we can see that it will strengthen our work and our goals. In the opinion of the board this has good chances and it is something we need to explore further together. We are not in a fight for our survival, but if we want a strong MS also in 15 years, we need to be ready to make some visionary and long term decisions now. Therefore I would like to urge all members to show up and discuss the issue at the general assembly”, Søren Hougaard concludes.