The Dag Hammarskjold Foundation

Dag Hammarskjold was the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953 until 1961when he died.
He was the son of a provincial governor in Uppsala, South of Stockholm, Sweden. Coincidentally, the office of the foundation named in his memory and which contains his works is situated adjacent the house where he grew up.
Senior Coordinator of the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation (DHF), Ms Dorrit Alopaeus Stahl, during a briefing said Dag's childhood and adolescence were spent in Uppsala where his father was the governor; therefore Uppsala was important to his life in his formative years.

She disclosed that he was regularly referred to as a world citizen and became known as an extremely efficient and dedicated international civil servant during his period as the UN Secretary-General.

"Dag Hammarskjold highlighted that a major task of the UN is to assert the interests of small countries in relation to the major powers. He also shaped the UN's mandate to establish peace-keeping forces," she stressed.

Subsequently, the Foundation's work is guided by the search for 'Another Development' in support of democracy, human rights and security based on the social and economic transformation of institutions and societies. Its activities are supported by the Sweden Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Dorrit, the DHF's current project is focused on strengthening the UN support to reform initiatives within the UN system by drawing on expertise within its networks to facilitate dialogue and build capacity to increase participation and promote empowerment with respect for democracy and human rights as fundamental principles in human development.

Africa has not been left out in the activities of the Foundation; indeed there exists a memorandum of understanding between the Foundation and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre in Accra, Ghana.

Further, she said that in collaboration with the University in Uppsala, the Foundation works to convene seminars, give lectures and provide space for scholars to spend time studying and researching, after which the various lectures are published.

Now, it is committed to strengthening the capacity within the Burmese democracy movement to meet future development challenges. It is hoping that the new capacity building activities will seek to strengthen further existing democratic forces in the world.

Dag Hammarskjold is also reported to have had strong cultural interests and was a member of the Swedish Academy. His posthumous book the Markings, is deemed to be classic.

At the Voksenaasen, Oslo, Norway, the Dag Hammarskjold Programme works with the Networkers SouthNorth which was established in 2006. Its leader, John Jones, explains that Networkers do not believe that the problems of the world can only be solved by the North and that collective efforts are needed.

He said it is imperative to see fundamental changes in rich industrial countries' behavior in accordance with the framework laid out in sustainability and just development thinking.