Operation Day's Work is a solidarity program based on volunteering by high school students. It was first implemented in Sweden to honor the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld.Om Operation Dagsverke , (About), Operation Dagsvaerke Sweden
During Operation Day's Work (also called Solidarity Action Day), students get the chance to exercise a job of their choice instead of going to school for one day. They donate their salaries to youth-related projects from all over the world. Today there are Operation Day's Work organisations in several countries.
Multiple Operation Day's Work organisations have engaged in the SAME network (SAME). Within this network, all the committees have agreed to the terms of the network's basic common principles and quality guidelines. These documents ensure the ecological, economic and social sustainability of the committee and their supported projects as well as the independence of any political party or religion, and include more values and principles of the organisations.
Countries with a national Operation Day's Work committee
Denmark The national committee was formally founded in 1984.Projects , Operation Day's work, Denmark
Instructions from the department of Education specifically state that no student can be forced to take part. The pay for their work goes to a chosen project in a development country. Due to a recent agreement with the Danish Ministry of Education the students are no longer considered to be truant during this day.Retningslinier for statstilskud til Operation Dagsværk (Instructions for aid to Operation Dagsvaerk), the Department of Education in Denmark, September 2004
Year Country supported Year Country supported Year Country supported 1985 Tanzania 1996 Ladakh 2004 Nicaragua, Honduras or Guatemala 1986 Nicaragua 1997 Guatemala 2005 Kirgisistan 1988 Namibia 1998 Palæstina 2006 South Africa 1990 Eritrea 1999 South Sudan 2007 Bolivia 1991 Brazil 2000 Romani people 2008 Niger 1992 Somalia 2001 Mexico 2009 ZimbabweCountry chosen to make the leading African president attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 COP15 1994 Ecuador 2002 Nepal 2010 Burma 1995 Mozambique 2003 Cambodia 2011 Peru 2012 Iraq 2013 Sierra Leone 2014 Kenya 2015 Somaliland 2016 Guatemala 2017 Dhaka 2018 Greenland 2019 Uganda 2020 Peru
Finland The national committee in Finland is called Taksvärkki ry/Operation a Day's Work (ODW) Finland. Taksvärkki ry is a non-governmental organization (NGO) whose objective is to improve the living conditions and promote the human rights of children and young people in developing countries and to encourage Finnish young people towards global solidarity. Taksvärkki ry has implemented development cooperation projects since 1967 with funds raised by Finnish schoolchildren and students. ODW Finland also provides free development education material for schools in Finland. The campaign for the school year 2018–2019 is for active youth in Zambia.Direct action from youth to youth, Taksvärkki ry – Operation a Day's Work, Finland The patron of the Taksvärkki campaign is President Tarja Halonen.
Germany In Germany there a few organizations which organize the Solidarity Action Days.
The biggest and oldest one is called Schüler Helfen LebenWir sind Schüler*innen Helfen Leben!, www.schueler-helfen-leben.de, Germany (Students Helping Life), founded in 1992 when war in the Balkans started. Even today this organization runs youth projects in Balkan Region. Schüler Helfen Leben is also the only Day's Work organization in Germany where only students and young volunteers organize the Solidarity Action Day, and is therefore also the only one which is part of SAME. Over the years more than 1,000,000 students earned more than 20,000,000 Euros and realized more than 150 youth projects all over the western Balkans. The Patron of the Solidarity Action Day is the German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Another organization is called "Aktion Tagwerk".Aktion Tagwerk, www.aktion-tagwerk.de, Germany This organization is part of the Human Help Network and organizes the social day for children in Africa.
Italy In Italy, there are two organizations that facilitate a Day's Work.
One of them is based in South Tirol, "Operation Daywork".Operation Daywork, operationdaywork.org, Italy It was founded with aid from Denmark.Operation Dagsvaerk Internationalt, Operation Dagsvaerk Denmark Operation Daywork works with both Italian speaking schools and with German speaking schools.
The second organization is also based in the North, in Veneto. It works with Italian schools and the organisation is called Social Day.
Belgium The Belgian national committee is called 'YOUCA' (Youth for Change and Action), and was formerly known as "Zuiddag." It was founded in 2006, inspired by the similar Norwegian organization. The Belgian organisation only works with schools in the Flanders Region and Brussels Capital Region.
Norway Operation Day's Work (Norwegian: Operasjon Dagsverk) is administered by the School Student Union of Norway and was first held in 1964.tidligere prosjekter (Former projects), Operasjon Dagsverk Norway The official page provide an oversight of earlier projects:
Year Country supported Year Country supported Year Country supported Year Country supported1964Algeria1967Peru1968Ceylon1969Zambia1970Zambia1971Guinea Bissau and Angola1972Portuguese Empire in Africa1973Bangladesh1974Tanzania1975Botswana1976Sudan1977Brazil1978Cambodian refugees in Thailand1979Jamaica1980Refugees from Eritrea in Sudan1981Afghanistan1982Zimbabwe1983Nicaragua1984Bolivia and Ecuador1985Namibia1987Eritrea1988 South Africa and Mozambique 1989Peru1990Support for education in freedom1991Brazil and Chile1992Costa Rica, Ecuador,Bolivia and Brazil1993Cambodia1994South Africa1995Brazil1996Afghanistan1997Brazil1998Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi and Uganda1999Girls all over the world2000South Africa, Zimbabwe,Bolivia and Nicaragua2001Indonesia, New Guinea and Malaysia2002Sierra Leone2003Ceylon2004South Africa2005Brazil2006Nepal2007Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua2008Bangladesh2009Malawi, Mombasa Uganda and South Africa2010Brazil2011Rwanda2012Nepal2013Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico2014Etiopia and Malawi2015Argentina, Chile and Peru2016Colombia2017Nigeria2018Palestine
Sweden Sweden was the first country to establish this event. Since 1962 the national committee has been under control of a student organization called "Sveriges Elevråds Centralorganiastion, SECO."Frågor och Svar (FAQ), Operation Dagsvaerke Sweden There has been a power struggle inside the SECO organization and the government has demanded oversight over the collection of the money.
The campaign for 2010 supported schools in Sudan.Årets kampanj , Operation Dagsvaerke Sweden
United States The national committee is called "Operation Day's Work". It was founded in 1999.Our Constitution , Operation Day's Work, USA According to their website they have been involved in the projects listed below.
Year Country supported Year Country supported Year Country supported Year Country supported 1998–1999 Haiti 1999–2000 El Salvador 2000 Nepal 2002 Ethiopia 2003 Bangladesh 2004 Sierra Leone 2005 Vietnam
Another organization called Schools for Schools is based on the same concept.
References