Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) is the brand used by the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (, , ) and its overseas representations (the Danish embassies, diplomatic missions, consulates and trade offices) are in charge of the Danish Realm's foreign policy and Foreign relations, relations. Amo ...

when it provides

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

and development assistance to other countries, with focus on

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

. There is no distinct Danida organisation within the Ministry. According to the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

, Denmark’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 2.9 billion) increased in 2022 due to in-donor refugee costs. It represented 0.7% of gross national income (GNI). Most of Denmark’s official development assistance (ODA) is provided as bilateral co-operation, primarily to fragile partner countries in Africa.

Origin of name

The organisation's name was originally DANAID. In Greek mythology, the Danaids were daughters of

Danaus In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; ''Danaós'') was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's ''Iliad'', " Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and " Argives" comm ...

who killed their husbands and were condemned to fill a

bathtub A bathtub, also known simply as a bath or tub, is a container for holding water in which a person or another animal may Bathing, bathe. Most modern bathtubs are made of thermoformed Acrylic resin, acrylic, porcelain enamel, porcelain-enameled s ...

with water to wash away their sins. Because the buckets they were given to do this were actually

sieve A sieve (), fine mesh strainer, or sift is a tool used for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet m ...

s, they worked for all

eternity Eternity, in common parlance, is an Infinity, infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside tim ...

Tartarus In Greek mythology, Tartarus (; ) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato's '' Gorgias'' (), souls are judged after ...

without making any progress. For this reason, the aid agency's name was changed from DANAID to DANIDA at the last minute when this unfortunate connotation was discovered. The term Danida appeared in 1963.

Overview

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

has been granting development assistance since the end of the Second World War. It is one of the five countries in the world that meets the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

' target of granting 0.7% of

gross national income The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total amount of factor incomes earned by the residents of a country. It is equal to gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes received from ...

(GNI) in development assistance. In 2011 Denmark disbursed roughly DKK:15.753 billion (US$2.98 billion) in development assistance to countries in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, and Denmark's

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

neighbors. Furthermore, DANIDA works in collaboration with many Danish NGOs such as Global Medical Aid. According to the

, 2020 official development assistance from Denmark increased 0.5% to USD 2.6 billion.

Focus areas

DANIDA focusses on four areas of interest: *

Human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

Green growth Green growth is a concept in economic theory and policymaking used to describe paths of economic growth that are environmentally sustainable. The term was coined in 2005 by the South Korean Rae Kwon Chung ( de), a director at UNESCAP. It is based ...

Social progress Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...

* Stability and protection. As of 2015, DANIDA was involved in a total of 73 countries and regions across the world, with 21 countries of high priority. Most of the priority countries are among the poorest of the world, located in Africa and Asia. The sectors receiving the largest amount of financial bilateral support is government and civil society, and humanitarian aid, at roughly 28% and 14% respectively. Most of the goals of DANIDA's projects gets fulfilled, with an annual success rate between 79% and 88% since 2005.

History

Danish development assistance in the 1950s was nearly exclusively channeled through the

. In 1962, Denmark established its first bilateral development assistance programme for developing countries under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2010, about 40% of Denmark’s bilateral assistance went to social sectors, including

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

. Danida also works in collaboration with the

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

, regional development banks and the

References

External links