Copenhagen January 25th, 2018

DACAAR is currently undergoing major organizational changes with an extended board and an independent secretariat in Denmark with a new Head of Secretariat. "We are very pleased with the new structure and the new initiatives which makes DACAAR even better able to provide an effective response to the long-suffering Afghan people who have not experienced anything but conflict for 40 years," says Peder Thorning, DACAAR Board Member and also employee of Danish People's Aid with a long and in-depth knowledge of development aid to Afghanistan.

The new board is expanded from two to three members. In addition to PederThorning, Mads Bugge Madsen of the LO/FTF Council (Danish Federation of Trade Unions (LO) and the Danish Confederation of Salaried Employees and Civil Servants (FTF) and Ole Frank Nielsen from the Danish Afghanistan Committee (DAC) have a seat on the Board.

DACAAR's new independent secretariat in Denmark is placed in central Copenhagen. Here, Klaus Løkkegaard is appointed as Head of the Secretariat and brings with him many years of experience from Asia among others; positions as International Director of Save The Children Denmark and Regional Director for Asia for Dan Church Aid.

DACAAR's Main Office is still situated in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, and John Morse has been the Country Director for more than four years. Currently, more than 800 employees work in 23 out of Afghanistan's 34 provinces in four main areas: Water Sanitation and Hygiene; Agriculture; Development of Small Scale Businesses; Women’s Empowerment.

The most vulnerable in Afghanistan's poor rural areas are at the center of DACAAR's work, and the starting point is always that communities must push their own development.

A worsening security situation has resulted in more than 1.5 million internally displaced people and 5.7 million returned refugees - 500,000 alone in 2017 - meaning that many acute needs also need to be covered.

DACAAR's budget for 2018 so far is 17 million USD. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and DACAAR have just signed a 3-year cooperation agreement of a total of 61 million DKK or app. 10 million USD. Other major donors are the EU & ECHO (European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations), the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, various UN agencies, DFID and Dutch MFA and the Afghan Government.

DACAAR, the Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees has provided relief aid and long-term development assistance to Afghans and Afghan refugees since 1984 and more than ten million people have benefited from the efforts.

For further information
Member of DACAAR's Board: PederThorning, +4570220230, pt@folkehjaelp.dk
Head of Secretariat: Klaus Løkkegaard, +4520557978, klaus.lokkegaard@dacaar.org
Country Director: John Morse, +93797011000, john.morse@dacaar.org
www.dacaar.org