Scan Magazine | Business Profile | Danes Worldwide
Photo: Pelle Rink
Connecting and supporting Danes abroad The organisation Danes Worldwide was set up in 1919 to support Danes moving abroad. Since then, the organisation has grown to reach out to over 20,000 members across the world and has become an influential lobbyist with the Danish government. Danes Worldwide is run by Anne Marie Dalgaard, a woman who knows all about what it is like to live abroad.
immensely popular. Their online courses are held at three levels, including a course that covers the first school years and provides the child who completes it with an accreditation from the Danish Ministry of Education.
By Josefine Older Steffensen | Photos: Rasmus Ursin Knudsen
“One morning, I woke up and found myself in Moscow with my husband and two children under the age of four,” explains Dalgaard. “It was a huge change, and I really wish I’d known at that time that there was an organisation called Danes Worldwide, who could’ve supported me and helped me find others in my situation.” Danes Worldwide was initially set up to support Danes stationed abroad, who would not be able to contact Denmark 94 | Issue 104 | September 2017
during their stay. Now with cheap flights and good communication channels, more Danes are trying to live abroad and Danes Worldwide has grown to incorporate some of the challenges that these Danes face.
Learning Danish One of the main things Danes Worldwide offers is Danish education. They offer online teaching courses used by over 500 students from more than 50 countries, as well as summer schools, which are
The online courses take no more than three hours a week and leave the pupil with a good vocabulary and the ability to speak and write in Danish. There are two types of summer schools for kids to enjoy: one is for children aged nine to 18, which takes place over three weeks, while the other is for younger kids aged six to nine, where they can bring along their parents or grandparents. “At the summer school, we aim to do more than just teach Danish. We try to teach them all about Danish culture as