The Danish National Network
The Danish National Network reflects the mission and values of the ALF and the diversity of the civil society and work across fields including intercultural relations, heritage, religion, research, human rights, democracy and community development, arts, youth and education, gender, environment and sustainable development, and media.
Thus, the purpose of the Danish national network is to ensure the visibility of the Anna Lindh Foundation in Denmark, to inform, react old and recruit new members with special interest in the Euromed region. These members comprise about 52 civil society, public, academic and cultural institutions and individuals who are eager to foster dialogue, exchange and cooperation around Euromed issues.
As head of the Danish Network, Crossing Borders is focusing on:
- Creating conducive spaces for Euromed intercultural meeting, dialogue, exchange and sharing of good practices in line with the values of ALF
- Reactivating the old members and recruiting new ones to further strengthen our network
- Promoting the respective interests and activities of the Danish members
- Organising cultural events for members of the public
- Sharing of information, updates and opportunities with our members
- Communication and collaboration with other fellow national networks
- Be in regular contacts and coordination with the ALF Secretariat
For this purpose, we have built a webpage, Facebook page and LinkedIn platforms
The membership is free of charge. If you want to join the Danish ALF Network, please, complete the online application form for membership
As soon as we receive your application, we shall process it and get back you.
Although the Danish network has been part of ALF since the very beginning in 2005, coordinated by different Danish public and civil society entities including the Danish Institute of International Studies, the Center for Culture and Development Cooperation and the Danmission. Sadly, in the period between 2018 and 2020, the network was more or less dormant.
As a result, Crossing Borders was contacted by one of the Nordic members which proposed us to take over as the Head of the Danish Network. In that connection, we entered into dialogue with the Networks Manager at the ALF Secretariat.
CB invited the manager to Denmark to attend the launch of our general assembly scheduled for 12 March 2020. Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Danish authorities locked down the country on 11 March 2020. The AFL guested had to retur to Alexandria while we continued dialogue with ALF and the re-activation of the Network.
While we waited for the endorsement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we continued with activities including updating the Danish charter, setting up a steering committee, publishing the newsletter, attending AFL meetings in Brussels, Cairo, Alexandria, in Gothenburg in March and June 2023.
Now we are delighted that the endorsement has finally arrived. We started working as a dynamic network in line with the ALF mission and values.
Although intercultural dialogue in Denmark is more necessary right now than ever, it is facing many challenges. This is due to the growing polarisation in the society and across the world in general. The focus has unfortunately shifted from the search for peaceful intercultural co-existence and dialogue to a hard core and zenophobic and anti-other rhetorics.
Rather than taking advantage of the social media for intercultural dialogue and collaboration, radicals and political groups are deploying these media for demonisation, hate speech and violence against the "others".
Therefore, intercultural dialogue is more needed in today's Denmark than ever before.
Hence, we hope that our Network will contribute towards more dialogue and cooperation in Denmark and across the Euromed and the interconnected world.