The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0016/00168.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 33KB | 575 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00168}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Denmark
Assistance to Developing Countries}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Henning Dehn Nielsen}
$Affiliation{Ministry of Foreign Affairs}
$Subject{danish
denmark
world
years
international
copenhagen
large
ballet
first
research}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Title:       Denmark
Book:        Facts about Denmark
Author:      Henning Dehn Nielsen
Affiliation: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Date:        1990

Assistance to Developing Countries

     It is a widespread opinion in Denmark that the world's richer nations
must assist the poorer and less developed countries and that Denmark should
make its sizeable contribution to cooperation with developing countries.

     Danish development assistance has its origins in modest official grants
to the assistance programmes begun by private organizations after the Second
World War and contributions to the United Nations programme for technical
assistance to the Third World.

     The Danish Parliament in 1962 passed its first act on international
cooperation for economic development, but it was not until 1971 that a new
act included objectives for official development cooperation.

     A separate department of the Foreign Ministry, Danida, (Danish
International Development Agency), administers the aid.

     Denmark is one of four Western nations fulfilling the United Nations
target to contribute 0.7 per cent of the country's gross national product
(GNP) in the form of official aid to developing countries - the three others
being Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands. Denmark's contribution in 1986 was
0.83 per cent of GNP, and Parliament has agreed that Danish aid will steadily
increase by 0.03% of GNP in the coming years, reaching the equivalent of 1 per
cent of GNP in 1992.

     Danish development assistance is bilateral as well as multilateral, and
in 1986 the total assistance amounted to DKK 5.35 billion.

     Bilateral aid, which is carried out through direct cooperation between
the government of the recipient country and that of Denmark, is allocated
primarily to those countries which the UN has ranked as the least developed.
The four largest recipients for several years are Tanzania, Kenya, India and
Bangladesh. Zimbabwe and Mozambique also rank high on the list.

     Danish multilateral assistance is carried out principally through UN
organizations, the EC development programme and the World Bank Group.

     Approx. 450 trained Danish experts and 350 volunteers, recruited by the
Danish Association for International Cooperation (Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke),
work in those countries receiving aid, and several hundred persons from these
countries are invited to Denmark for training and studies each year.

Nobody Must be Left in the Lurch

     If you come to Denmark, you will hear many complain about the high taxes,
but at the same time you will encounter a broad consensus among Danes that
this is the price one has to pay to live in a society where social welfare
has the highest priority of perhaps any other country - Sweden and Denmark are
a little at odds over which of the two takes first place.

     To fall sick or become old or to lose one's job always exacts a human
toll, but in an economic sense such a misfortune in Denmark is not all that
great as a rule.

     No less than one-third of the State's total expenditure - in 1988, the
figure comprised DKK 64 billion out of DKK 185 billion - goes to social
services, and over and above this the local health services are financed with
an additional DKK 25 billion from the county authorities. In other words,
around 18,000 DKK - roughly equivalent to UK 1,600 pounds or US$2,400 - each
year is invested in the social and medical wellbeing of every Dane.

     On falling ill, anyone can go to a doctor for no fee. In fact, the public
health system entitles everyone of the five million Danes to his own doctor
among the 3,000 or so general practitioners in town and country. The doctor
can, if he deems it necessary, refer the patient to a qualified specialist for
treatment, or he can, if the case is serious and perhaps requires surgery,
have the patient admitted to a hospital. Here there is expert medical and
surgical aid available as well as qualified nursing staff to assist in the
best possible way - at no expense to the patient. A hospital bed may well cost
between DKK 3,000 and 4,000 per day, but the costs are borne by the public
authorities.

     Older citizens - all those past 67 years of age - receive a pension from
the State, enough to pay for life's basic necessities, while a similar scheme
applies to those persons under 67, who on grounds of physical handicap,
disability or bad health, are not able to seek full employment.

     It is a common fact that not only making ends meet, but also keeping in
good health, can prove more and more difficult as the years go by, and for
some it can prove a considerable hardship to manage the daily chores. In
these cases, the general policy of the public authorities is to try to help
the aged to remain in their homes for as long as possible by lending them
practical assistance in many diverse ways. If this no longer is possible, a
place in an old people's home is advised. Here each person is entitled to his
own room and can furnish and decorate it as he sees fit.

     As in most other countries, Denmark has its own regrettably large share
of those out of work and wishing to find a job - at the end of 1988 around
nine per cent of the total workforce. Thanks to a national insurance scheme,
to which both employees and - to a large degree - the state contribute, the
unemployed receive paid-out benefits, which are somewhat below what they would
otherwise earn. By offering training and retraining schemes, the State
attempts to assist the unemployed and particularly the young among them to
find a job.

     While on the topic of the labour market, it also can be mentioned that
the working week recently was reduced to 38 hours and that everyone is
entitled to five weeks' paid holidays each year. A female employee can in
connection with giving birth receive up to 24 weeks' maternity leave with
partial compensation. She can if desired allocate part of this leave to the
father.

     The main thread running through social legislation is that no-one needing
assistance should be left in the lurch, and in the Ministry of Social Affairs
fresh initiatives are constantly being made to help achieve this aim.

A People Constantly Learning

     If you come to Denmark from an English-speaking country, you will have
few difficulties in making yourself understood, particularly among the younger
people. This is because English is included in the school curriculum from the
fifth grade (i.e. from the age of 11), and of course everybody wants to
demonstrate his gift for languages towards strangers.

     Compulsory schooling in the Danish primary school system, known as the
Folkeskole, has a nine-year duration, and many opt for an additional 10th
year. The word "Folkeskole" in English can be translated into "People's
School", and this description is not entirely misleading, because as many as
over 91 per cent of all Danish children belong to this form of primary school.

     The fixed aim of Folkeskole teaching is to assure the child a harmonious
development and make it a responsible member of a democratic society. This is
formulated in the Education Act of 1975 as follows:

     The aim of the Folkeskole, in cooperation with parents, is to give pupils
the opportunity to acquire knowledge, skills, methods of working and forms of
expression which will contribute to the all-round development of the
individual child.

     In all aspects of its work the Folkeskole shall seek to create such
opportunities for experience and accomplishment as will enable the pupil to
increase his desire to learn, expand his imagination and practise his ability
to make an independent evaluation and form an opinion.

     The Folkeskole shall prepare pupils for sharing in the a