 |
| Steffen Smidt, Danish Ambassador in Geneva, and ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder |
The agreement between Denmark and the ILO was signed yesterday by the Danish Ambassador in Geneva, Mr Steffen Smidt, and the ILO Director-General, Mr Guy Ryder.
Traditionally one of the most progressive donors, Denmark has again set an example of how the principles of aid effectiveness embodied in the Paris Declaration, Accra Agenda for Action and Outcome Document of the 2011 High Level Forum in Busan can be operationalized through donor practices. Through this new commitment, the Danish Government puts action behind words and provides the ILO with fully flexible and unearmarked resources. Earlier this year, the ILO signed similar agreements with Norway and the Netherlands.
“Denmark is one of our very close and supportive partners, both at the level of policy and in terms of voluntary contributions. Through the Permanent Mission in Geneva we are constantly involved in the dialogue on improving the way of cooperation and delivery of development assistance to our constituents”, said Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General. “The new contribution offers great support to the ILO’s efforts to further improve our performance, allowing the Office to address the most important priorities and providing internal incentives for cooperation, in line with our results-based management system.”
“In Denmark, we generally believe that voluntary contributions to the core budget and activities of an international organization ideally should be provided with a maximum of flexibility, allowing the organization to allocate the funds towards the priorities set by the governing bodies. This is also important in light of the latest Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review of UN operational activities for development being conducted by the UN General Assembly, which calls on donors to increase unearmarked resources to the UN,” said H.E. Steffen Smidt. “The decision of the Danish Government demonstrates our commitment to good donorship, including flexibility and predictability of development funding. We would encourage other ILO donors to follow our example.”
Denmark has been a long-standing partner of the ILO, ranking as the seventh largest donor in voluntary contributions during the period 2008-11. It was also one of the first donor countries to enter into a partnership programme with the ILO in 1996.
In addition to the new RBSA contribution, the ILO is implementing a number of individual projects funded by Denmark. This includes the follow up to the recommendations of the Africa Commission on “Realising the Potential of Africa’s Youth.” With a total value of DKK 204 million (over US$40 million), this programme aims at generating decent jobs for young women and men in Africa through two concrete initiatives: Promoting Post-Primary Education and Skills Development, and Unleashing African Entrepreneurship, including green entrepreneurship and sustainable business development.
Contact: Pawel Gmyrek, ILO Partnerships and Development Cooperation Department (PARDEV)
Print
Email