History
GDCA was established in 1980 as a partner to a Danish organisation, Ghana Venskabsgrupperne i Danmark (GV) or the Ghana Friendship Groups in Denmark. The purpose of the partnership was to establish truly people-people, North-South cooperation based on friendship, in which the people of Denmark and Ghana can work together to bring about development in poor communities in Northern Ghana, while at the same time the Danish public is informed about how development is taking place in Ghana. Dr. Johannes Holm, a Danish medical doctor who had worked in Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana in the 1960s had always thought that there should be an alternative way to make North-South cooperation more fulfilling and sustainable. He had proposed that if peoples of the two worlds cooperated directly with each other it would be more meaningful and sustainable. In the late 70s when Dr. Holm had been campaigning in Denmark to mobilise people to share his vision, he met Dr. Abubakr Al-Hassan, a Ghanaian studying in Denmark at that time. Together they travelled over Denmark to mobilise support. In this way both men pioneered the formation of their organizations and the friendship cooperation.
The work of both men led to the creation of Ghana Friendship Groups in Denmark (GV) and later the Ghanaian Danish Communities Association, now Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA). Cooperation between was initially based solely on friendship. Friendship was established between Communities in Ghana and Denmark. Friendship communities were Nyankpala in Ghana with Silkeborg in Denmark as its counterpart; Dalun with Glamsbjerg as the counterpart; Tolon-Tali with Aarhus as the counterpart; Voggu with Farso as the counterpart; and Kumbungu and Olguld as the counterparts.