Five stories about how Danida Fellowship Centre engages in North-South partnerships
06-03-25
In this newsletter, we have compiled a selection of stories offering insight into how Danida Fellowship Centre, alongside our partners, engages in North-South partnerships. The stories do not cover all aspects of North-South partnerships, but we hope they offer both inspiration and insight into the diversity of the partnerships we support and participate in.
When the Danish government introduced its new Africa strategy, Africa’s Century, last year, it did so with great emphasis on supporting more equal partnerships between Denmark and African countries. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, boldly took the lead, declaring that Denmark’s and Europe’s partnership with Africa urgently needed a reset, one that would bring it up to speed with current realities.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), nine of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies are African. By 2050, Africans will make up around a quarter of the global population and, as early as the next decade, Africa will have the world’s largest workforce—surpassing both China and India. By the 2040s, it is expected that around 40% of all children born globally will be African.
In other words, there is immense potential for political and economic collaboration and it is high time to move beyond the attitudes of the colonial era. The global challenges we face, from the climate crisis to economic inequality, are so enormous that no nation can tackle them alone. Alliances and partnerships are not just beneficial; they are essential. For too long, Europe has clung to an outdated view of Africa as a continent in need of aid rather than recognising it as an equal partner in building a more sustainable future.
At Danida Fellowship Centre, we welcomed the new strategy. Collaboration and partnerships have been at the core of our values and operational approach for decades. Simply put, our experiences from the learning programmes we coordinate, the research projects we manage and the Danida Fellows Network, that brings all of the Danida fellows together in an extended global knowledge network of skillful professionals, shows us that everyone brings something valuable to the table, and that solving global challenges is only possible through collective action.
In this newsletter, we have therefore gathered a selection of stories offering insight into how we and our partners have approached partnerships so far and into some of the key lessons we have learned along the way. While these stories represent a broad selection, it is important to say that they do not cover all aspects of the North-South partnerships we support, – and that we are continuously working to improve and develop the ways in which we support and engage in partnerships. However, we hope the stories we have selected here give insight into the diversity of the partnerships we engage in, their various forms and their value, as well as some of the challenges they present.
Here is an overview of the selection:
The Africa’s Century strategy highlights Danida Fellowship Centre’s role in expanding exchanges between Danish and African universities. We have already taken the first steps with a pilot programme, welcoming 17 African Master’s students in September 2024 and 11 in February 2025. Read about a Kenyan Master’s student and his collaboration with a Danish and a Norwegian fellow student on their academic journey.
In 2024, 1,150 professionals joined Danida Fellowship Centre’s learning programmes, gaining expertise in fields like green transition, waste management and conflict resolution while engaging in mutual knowledge exchange. The learning programmes provide a very valuable input to Denmark’s Sector Coorporation programmes. Read what a sector counsellor and programme officer at the Danish Embassy in Kenya say about the role of Danida Fellowship Centre’s learning programmes.
Since its launch in 2011, the Building Stronger Universities programme has fostered long-term North-South research collaborations. Now in its fourth phase, the programme demonstrates that sustained partnerships give lasting benefits in spite of the challenges that crop up along the way.
Achieving true equity in research partnerships is challenging but vital. In 2023, we gathered Danish and African researchers to discuss solutions. Get insight into the researchers’ key recommendations for promoting equal partnerships.
Our direct North-South partnership with MS TCDC in Tanzania highlights both the benefits and the challenges of North-South institutional partnership. We sat down for a discussion with our colleagues to unfold both the benefits and challenges.