Who are the DE actors and what are their themes?

• humanitarian NGOs
• missions
• the labour movement, institutions and individual trade unions
• youth, student, women's, sports organisations, etc.

NGOs focusing on development issues

Another group of the category are the missions, of which the first was founded in 1822. Their activities comprise a combination of evangelical work, development projects and DE all interwoven, but more emphasis has been given to DE as the `unified man' has increasingly become a key concept in their approach. More than 1,000 grassroots groups throughout Denmark are engaged in the work of the missions besides cooperation with congregations, scouts and youth organisations. In DE, they are concerned with different themes such as mutual respect in the meeting between religions, human rights, environmental issues, trade and debt - all being seen in a religious context.

How are they funded?

Who is doing the work?

• Voluntary workers do the work more or less for free. Several thousands are taking part. It is hard to calculate the amount of work, but an indication is that 92 organisations stated the amount in 1987 to be 1,140 `person-years of work'.
• Short-term employed within unemployment programmes and conscientious objectors.
• Permanently employed staff. In 1987, 121 organisations employed approx. 160 full time staff within DE programmes.

Key Trends: Past and Present

Themes/issues

Today, it looks as if the nation-building issue is going to be very much in the forefront in the coming years, but now in the form of how ethnic groups, tribes and different religious groups can live together, along with recognition of the rights ot minorities. This is not just a problem in the South, but in the North as well; eg. USA or the Balkans.
Development strategies have been an issue since the independence of India and the civil war in China. Economically, the questions were the different systems: a socialist/planning system opposed to an open market economy or different types of the Third Way. Politically, the questions related to different types of democracy, one-party states and socialist one-party states. Part of this issue has also been the fight against dictatorships.
These themes have been discussed along broader lines. in DE. Since the 80s, the political agenda has changed to include questions such as people's participation, democracy, human rights and conditionality. Regarding economic and social development, the main stream since the 80s is the acceptance of a more or less regulated open market economy, but the issues differ depending on the situations in the different areas of the South. Africa is at the centre of Danish DE, and the issues here are macroeconomic, such as the structural adjustment programmes advocated by IMF/IBRD, and microeconomic, like management in a market economy.

Since 1975, women's issues have gained still more attention. This has grown into the consideration of gender politics in general. Within that framework, it plays quite an important role in DE in most NGOs/ NGGs.
Support to children has been of concern since the late 40s, but has increased considerably, mostly in relief aid or development support. It is a theme strongly present in DE.
In relation to technology, grassroots DE mostly concentrates on appropriate technology; one of the smaller issues, but permanently present.

Themes relating to international organisations and structures have always been, and are, an important part within DE. In the 60s and 70s, the theories of dependence were on the agenda together with the trade issue and international institutions such as transnational bodies, IBRD, IMF and the UN family, not least UNCTAD.
In the 80s, debt had a large role on the agenda. The UN family of specialised agencies faded compared to the IMF and IBRD. After the fall of most of the communist systems, while the trend is not clear, the UN institutions and local and regional institutions of the South seem to be returning onto today's agenda.
Trade issues are permanently present, but on a small scale. Different kinds of alternative trade are growing slowly. In relation to international trade and industrial restructuring, the Labour Movement is running DE programmes focusing on international contacts between workers in the North and South in industries such as Garments and Textiles.
Themes which have come to play an important role within DE especially, at the grassroots level, are environment and culture. The cultural theme includes several aspects; looking at cultural interfaces from a positive point ofview: entertainment, broadening views and knowledge of life, and new ways of expression.

There is also, however, a conflict between norms, cultures and religions which leads to discrimination and persecution of minorities, for example immigrants and refugees or indigenous peoples. This aspect has been on the agenda for some time as part of the racism and tribalism issue, but is now being expanded and broadened in its content and is undergoing new analysis leading to new strategies. Some of the missions are looking into the issue within themes like mutual respect in the meeting between religions. The main trends in relation to themes are as follows:

• More themes have been included over the years, which means that DE covers a very wide range of issues related to the South.
• The former tendency to communicate very black and white pictures of most issues has changed into more open and uncertain points of view, as grassroots groups gain more experience and knowledge of the situation and development in the South.
• The major themes seem to be: the cultural theme in all its aspects, environment, women, children, democracy and human rights, the people of the `Fourth World', specific countries or areas, trade and debt.

Types of activities

The development and expansion of all types of communication has had a major impact, leading to the problem of how to compete with the large professional information flow. While opportunities are greater, the pressure on grassroots groups to produce a professional product is similarly increased.

In recent decades, the possibilities for international travel have increased substantially for the general public, which facilitates youth exchanges and other types of direct personal experience and contacts. Those personal experiences have facilitated meetings, letter writing and contributions from persons from the South to Danish DE (see Case Study 1 ).
The traditional types ofgrassroots DE like speeches, meetings and seminars seem to play a smaller role than before. Other traditional types of DE, like books and other written material, grew considerably from the SOs to 80s, but seem to have decreased in the 90s, while journals and internal NGO Newsletters are still are widely used.
Street activities and demonstrations were widely used from the late 60s to the 80s, but have decreased in importance over recent years.
The use of cultural activities, such as theatre, music, food etc. , has increased considerably in the last 10 -15 years. Sometimes the Danes are only audiences, sometimes they are taking part in the performances or learning. Within the churches a new trend is to present elements of liturgy from churches in Latin America and Southern Africa into Danish church services.
There has also been an increase in the number of shops - run by grassroots groups or on a commercial basis- selling books, music, crafts, staple foods and second hand clothes. Some of these activities have a DE aspect and the shop volunteers and customers are motivated to obtain more information.

A few groups are engaged in research on themes, issues and strategies, although it seems that volunteers are less involved in this type of activity. Exceptions can be found, for example within women's and trade issues.
During the last 5 -10 years, larger multi-activities or events have become more common. One example of this is countrywide campaigns, eg. `The Columbus' presented as a Case Study 3. Such combined events can comprise the whole of the country as, for example, in the Churches' `Third World Week', or it can be local within a town.

Another sort of multi-activity, are the friendship villages. These include different types of development programmes, including DE, in a local area or institution. The development educators inform about the actual situation in the villages in the South and use it as an example of general issues. Almost all types of activities are used, not least the personal contacts and experiences.
In Denmark, the main emphasis for DE is on the informal education sector and the general public, although there are NGOs/NGGs that focus on the formal sector and on political decision-makers.
To summarise, the main trends in activities are that:

• the explosion within the communications area has brought a huge increase in the information flow, where grassroots DE must compete;
• the range of types of activities has increased and new types of communication have been incorporated along with the previous ones;
• more traditional types such as speeches, study groups, books are, perhaps, not less used but constitute a smaller part of the overall activities;
• activities involving the participants as part of cultural events, shops, practical workshops are getting more popular;
• there has been quite an increase in activities including personal experiences, mostly through personal travel or other ways of personal contact, but also through contact with people from the South as visitors, immigrants and refugees;
• mixed, bigger and often spectacular events, countrywide or local, are used more and more;
• over the years, the range of types of activity has grown tn a degree where it seems all have been used, and no further development can be achieved;
• the combined activities and the sheer size of events have raised the costs to a level where it can be hard to rely on `unprofessional' volunteers. This sometimes constitutes a limit for further development ofgrassroots DE.

Personnel resources

A problem for DE groups and organisations depending upon short-term employed people is the constant turn- over nf staff. An advantage has been a flow of, usually, well motivated staff with new points of view. This way nf working raises specific demands on management that can he difficult tn fulfil for smaller organisations and groups.
Volunteers working partly because of their beliefs, with or without pay, have existed for years. The exact number of volunteers is hard to estimate, but it is assumed to have increased in the late 60s and to have remained quite high since then. They are of all ages, represent all strata nf society and may be divided into a number of categories:

• Reliable, conscientious, persistent and often middle- aged and elderly people, mostly undertaking practical activities such as second hand shops etc., but some also have been organisers and development educators for decades.
• Young or younger people, experienced and inexperienced, who work hard on well defined, large and `professional' projects with a with a clear time limit. ln a way, a fluctuating group. Some want to contribute where they can use their education or job experience. Sometimes they get paid, sometimes they work for free.
• People who want to participate in activities where they learn or get experiences themselves: dancing, theatre, music.

The message from nearly all types of NGOs/NGGs is the need for all-round organisers. The large and expensive activities and events put more demands on volunteers and activists to fultil their obligations n time and in a proper way. The consequence is a change in required management styles within grassroots groups and NGOs. Within some organisatinns, it is a challenge to get the long-term employed and volunteers to cooperator in a way that brings good results and keeps the volunteers involved.

Funding

Organisational structures and management

• a diversification according to issues, activities and geographical areas with new NGOs/NGGs emerging;
• an extension of grassroots DE work into NGOs/NGGs with primary activities other than DE;
• a small growth of networking at national and local levels;
• an increase in cooperation with public institutions at regional and local levels;
• a tendency for geographical decentralisation.