a movement for solidarity with Africa
AfrikaKontakt (AK) was founded in 1978 by a number of Danish politicalparties, trade unions and organizations to unite efforts againstcolonialism and suppression in the countries of Southern Africa. Withthe liberation of Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe our work increasinglybroadened our focus to include the fight against Apartheid in SouthAfrica and Namibia. For many years AK worked for an economical andcultural boycott of the white regime in South Africa.
With the end of Apartheid our focus shifted to information andcampaign work towards the Danish public and the decision makers. Inaddition to our information work in Denmark, we support to thedemocratic movements in the whole of Africa. We apply a rights basedapproach and work with social and economic rights.
We are a member based organization with 990 individual members and59 collective members (like trade unions) representing more than 1.5million people. The secretariat has 2 fulltime employees, and currently60 volunteers are involved in our working groups: Aids, Land Rights,Fishery, Cape Town Flat with the National Students Operation a Dayswork, Debt, trade/EPA, information and campaign group, Zimbabwe,Swaziland and so on. Currently we have four projects in the southernAfrica, and we hope to start up a few more.
Vision:
AK supports marginalized peoples social, economic and political rights for a new global development.
AK takes a critical stand to the decisions makers in Denmark, EU,governmental bodies in Africa as well as international institutions andhereby contributes to a change of the political power balance andaccess to resources.
AK is characterised by a critical solidaritywith the people in the South, who are working for a change in their ownliving conditions.
AK offers political and financial support todemocratic forces in Africa through different forms, e.g. projectcooperation, seeking to change the present distribution of resourcesand the political systems that are keeping it.
AK valorises the voluntary effort and contribution as an important element in our work.
The 5 objectives of AKs project work:
To strengthen the contact and cooperation with partners in Africa.
To strengthen the democratic movements in Africa, and thereby create abase for the marginalized to organize and empower themselves to makechanges in their livelihood.
To access knowledge that can be used for information work and lobby in Denmark.
To strengthen the professional skills in AK as well as within our partners.
To create contacts in the Danish society for an involvement in the solidarity work with Africa.
In Denmark we are part of: Projektrådgivningen (The Project Advisor NGO Network),
92-group (On Trade), AIDSnet, North South Coalition, Thematic Forum, Fishery Network and the Stop EPA EU-network.
AK is active in the public debate on development issues. This isdone as a communication strategy to comment and discuss on importantdevelopment political announcements, public meetings, café evenings andpublications. Through our network we constantly strengthen our publicpresents. This can be seen e.g. with our cooperation with OperationDagsværk (Operation a Days Work National Students Support Campaignfor the South). Often we do debates at schools, high schools and folkhigh schools.
With the many years of active involvement with the democraticdevelopment in all its aspects of Africa, AK has build a strong base ofknowledge and experience in Denmark and with partners, institutions andindividuals in Africa.