New Danida fund to support "Sustainable Value Chains and Vocational Training"
As part of the Government’s priorities for development assistance in 2015, new funds to strengthen social dialogue in developing countries through multi-stakeholder approaches will be available for project applications. The facility Sustainable Value Chains and Vocational Training with a total amount of DKK 55 million is now open for competitive bidding.
Promoting social dialogue and workers’ rights as a lever for poverty reduction is a priority in Denmark’s development cooperation. Human rights are a means to an end when contributing to building societies that ensure people’s rights and promoting equality, including access to decent work, education, health and social protection. Moreover, working for sustainable and inclusive economic growth and employment creation is a core element in Denmark’s development cooperation (“Right to a better life”, June 2012). The promotion of social dialogue and responsible business practice in developing countries is also in line with the Responsible Growth – Action Plan for Corporate Social Responsibility(March 2012).
Promotion, respect and protection of human rights at work are of particular importance. Work is a source of personal dignity, family stability and peace in the community; productive employment and decent work are key elements to reducing poverty and achieving equitable, inclusive and sustainable development.
Sustainable Value Chains and Vocational Training focus on promoting social dialogue by fostering dialogue and collaboration between governments, business market organisations, trade associations, training institutions, companies and NGOs on initiatives at both institutional and sector level. The aim being to promote decent job opportunities, qualified work forces and greener productions methods among local producers/companies that are part of local, regional or global value chains. Focus on social dialogue in relation to creating better vocational training opportunities includes an assumption that lack of skills among producers or employees in developing countries is a significant general weakness in value chains.
It is a deliberate aim with this facility to engage Danish organisations’ as development agents in partnerships in order to transfer their knowledge and experiences related to public-private collaboration and social- and business development dialogue to partners in developing countries. Ultimately, the beneficiaries of this facility should be the large youth cohort and local producers, employers and employees – also in the informal sector – experiencing income generation and productive employment.
Denmark can largely be characterized as a nation of sub-suppliers. Consequently, there exists much experience and knowledge to tap on regarding being part of local, regional and global value chains. In addition, Denmark has a business community known for being socially responsible, focusing on sustainable and energy-efficient solutions and influenced by a long tradition of dialogue among the social partners. These features are perceived valuable to disseminate to partners in developing countries, and starting point for this call for project proposals.
Objective
The overall objective of the Sustainable Value Chains and Vocational Training facility is to contribute to inclusive green growth and decent employment in developing countries. The long-term goal for this facility is to pave the way for systemic changes and possibly development of new partnership models to be scaled up or replicated along supply chains and throughout local economies. The immediate objective of this facility is to support development partnerships that seek solutions to:
Reduce policy, institutional and production technology obstacles for sustainable value chain development incl. to address vocational education and training constraints and challenges with special focus on youth and disadvantaged in developing countries.
Story from Ministry of Foreign Affairs.