About

Our mission is to catalyse dialogue and action for a socially and economically just, environmentally sustainable, democratic and peaceful world. In the spirit of Dag Hammarskjöld we aim to generate new perspectives and ideas on global development and multilateral cooperation. We build bridges between actors and provide space for those most affected by inequalities and injustice.

Our activities in 2013 focus on security, development and civil society in transition. The Foundation plays a catalysing role through seminars, publications and public events. We build capacity on development, security, human rights and democracy by making possible the meeting of minds. We provide a platform for different experiences and perspectives to reach a wider audience, inspiring further dialogues.

‘Another Development’ has been at the core of the Foundation’s activities. Aiming to be at the cutting edge of the development debate, the Foundation is always searching for new issues of crucial importance for the Global South and the whole world.

We have been able to build up and draw on a large network of experts and practitioners in international institutions, governments, the academic community and, increasingly, civil society organisations and social movements.

To our seminars participants are invited in their personal capacity, stimulating an open and creative exchange of views intended to achieve concrete results. Some seminars are conducted in an exploratory manner, while others are specifically focused on the formulation of policy recommendations.

The Foundation is governed by an autonomous Board of Trustees, which has nine members. The Foundation’s Secretariat is located in a historic mansion in the heart of the academic town of Uppsala, where Dag Hammarskjöld spent most of his young life. It houses the secretariat and also provides the venue for most seminars and meetings organised in Sweden.

The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation was established in 1962 in memory of the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. According to the charter the broad purpose of the Foundation is to promote, in the spirit of Dag Hammarskjöld, social, political, economic, environmental and cultural development in the South and globally. The Foundation is an autonomous institution which carries out its own work programmes. It is not giving grants.