Development cooperation

Think globally, act locally: This is the goal that Berlin’s Office for Development Cooperation (Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit des Landes Berlin - LEZ) aims to live up to through a variety of activities. Over 100 embassies, numerous international associations and political foundations as well as over 300 development actors make Berlin to a centre of multifaceted international knowledge and of outstanding worldwide contact and communication opportunities.

The LEZ and Berlin’s Senate are supported in their work by the Advisory Board for Development Cooperation (Beirat für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit), a committee of experts in development policy. The management of project funding for Berlin’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is taken over by the Foundation North-South Bridges (Stiftung Nord-Süd Brücken - SNSB) on behalf of the LEZ. Civic engagement also makes an important contribution to Berlin‘s development cooperation and is largely represented and supported
through Berlin’s Development Cooperation Council (Berliner Entwicklungspolitischer Ratschlag – BER). BER is an important reference point for NGOs and initiates discussion processes with and within the civil society.

In June 2012, the Berlin Senate adopted the new Development Policy Guidelines. Hereby competence fields were established on which Berlin focuses its development policy. These include: development educational and information work, maintaining town partnerships,
training of specialists and managers on an international scale as well as exercising its network function as the federal capital. The new Guidelines stand for Berlin’s decision to modernize its development cooperation work. They recognize the need for a worldwide development of all states and supersede the idea of a one-sided development policy of giving and receiving. This is to be pursued through equitable international policies which equally take into consideration the responsibility towards economic weaker countries.

The Guidelines point to the inter-dependency between development cooperation and international and inter-cultural cooperation in the fields of economy, culture, education, science, public sector and migration.

Within the field of development cooperation, Berlin dedicates special attention to the development of skills in Global Learning, i.e. in understanding global inter-dependencies as well as to the promotion of Fair Trade and fair procurement. Berlin sees the main task of its commitment therefore in development education. Here, the LEZ is supported by the Development Education and Information Centre (Entwicklungspolitisches Bildungs- und Informationszentrum e.V. - EPIZ) as well as by the Foundation North-South Bridges (SNSB). By conveying knowledge about foreign cultures and countries and clarifying the causes of negative developments in industrialized and developing countries the reputation of Berlin as a cosmopolitan and tolerant city gets consolidated.

The large number of refugees and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals create new challenges for Berlin. As a contribution to Berlin’s refugee policy, the LEZ will deal with the areas of migration, integration and welcoming culture and hence implement one of the guiding principles of the Development Policy Guidelines. To implement the Sustainable Development Goals the LEZ will develop and support initiatives.

Organizations such as the GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), Engagement Global, German Institute for Development (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklung – DIE), Berlin’s Association for International Cooperation (Berliner Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit mbH – BGZ), Seminar for Rural Development (Seminar für ländliche Entwicklung – SLE) are important partners of Berlin’s development policy. Also, close cooperation takes place with the ASA-Programme as well as the Alumni programme of the Technical
University of Berlin. Joint events are organized within forums for international exchange of experiences.

On the initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung – BMZ) the federal states have initiated a “Promoter”- Program (Promotor/innen-Programm). The One-World-Promoters work within development organizations and initiatives. These experts promote global responsible thinking and acting and mobilize for more commitment to issues of sustainable development. Berlin’s Promoter-Program is coordinated by Berlin’s Development
Cooperation Council (BER) and managed by the Foundation North-South Bridges (SNSB). Currently, eight Promoters are working in the following fields of action: strengthening civic engagement, fair and sustainable economy, decolonization and anti-racism, Global
Learning, climate and resource justice as well as municipal development cooperation.

The LEZ supports a variety of NGOs developmental projects in the area of development education and information work as well as school and town partnership projects. The support of NGOs particularly enables the LEZ to shape and encourage a wide range of development education and volunteer work.

The development support of Berlin’s NGOs was very positively evaluated in 2010. To further promote their work and to gain the interest of more citizens in development policy areas, the LEZ is supporting the creation of a One World Centre (Eine-Welt-Zentrum). The project aims to become a key development site in Berlin.

In addition to national initiatives, the LEZ also promotes European projects. Between 2013 and 2015, the LEZ carried out a follow-up project of the Europe Aid award-winning „Awareness for Fairness“, which had aimed to improve the quality of Global Learning and anchor the concept in the educational landscape of the EU. The program intends to anchor developmental subjects more in school and non-school curricula as well as in teaching practices.

The implementation of the project “Global Fairness” serves LEZ’s policy objectives in development cooperation in the subject area Global Learning and strengthens Berlin’s town partnership with Prague. In the long term, the purpose is to achieve more awareness of global fairness issues and ultimately changes in consumer behavior.

In collaboration with European partners and the EPIZ e.V., Berlin promotes the cooperation of committed stakeholders and the establishment and improvement of networks in the field of sustainable development and good governance. With Berlin as lead partner and in cooperation with BGZ and EPIZ e.V., the project TriNet Global – “Local Authorities, Business Sector and Universities as Agents for Change” has been successfully implemented. The exchange of best practice and the innovative implementation of projects are supposed to strengthen sustainable development and the involvement of cities, industry and universities. Berlin’s focus within these projects were discussions and workshops on city infrastructure and its improvement on a global scale, promoting companies participation in international activities as well as the development and pilot-like implementation of learning modules for Global Learning in universities. As part of the Asia-Pacific Weeks 2015 and TriNet Global, new approaches and strategies for the implementation of Innovation Labs as a multi-stakeholder approach to development cooperation were worked on by participants in an interactive workshop.

Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim – Social Welfare Work – Worldwide Church

• Partnership program with Bolivia (information, guests, trips to meet our Bolivian partners)
• Financial support of educational work and lobbying activities related to development policy and the Worldwide Church
• Continuing education events for professionals
• Recommending guests and speakers from developing countries and eastern Europe
• Information and additional material on the "www.erlassjahr.de" (year of remission) campaign

The stipulations of the constitution of Brandenburg serve as the framework of and as mandate for international cooperation, peace policy and human rights. Within the constitution, Brandenburg commits to an equal, legally binding and responsible cooperation with foreign partners in accordance with a “One-World”-policy.

Since development policy is a cross-sectional task, the government of Brandenburg relies on regional committed groups and non-governmental organizations as well as on the Association of Development NGOs in Brandenburg (Verbund entwicklungspolitischer Nichtregierungsorganisationen in Brandenburg – VENROB).

The aim of the cooperation is to raise public awareness about problems of sustainable development, to inform about global interdependencies and to point out necessary alternatives. A further aim is to foster a better understanding of Global North-South challenges and mutual tolerance. To achieve these purposes seminars, lecture series, concerts, exhibitions and publications are organized.

The responsible Ministry of Justice, Europe and Consumer Protection in Brandenburg takes on a coordinating role. On 31 May 2012, the „Development Policy Guidelines for Brandenburg“ (Entwicklungspolitische Leitlinien der Landesregierung) were agreed upon after a fruitful consultation process with the actors of Brandenburg’s development policy.

These guidelines contain:

• the commitment of the federal state government to development policy and its integration into a general context of sustainable development
• the constitutional regulations
• the nationwide integration
• the Brandenburg-specific implementation with concrete priority-setting
• the creation of a transparent monitoring system, which should ensure that the guidelines are up-to-date in the long run
• the Round Table for Development Policy Brandenburg (Round Table Entwicklungspolitik Brandenburg), which should help to implement a process of committed involvement, in order to firmly embed topics related to development policy into all policies of the federal state.

The government of Brandenburg considers the measures adopted through the „Development Policy Guidelines“ to be a specific contribution of Brandenburg to the recent resolutions of the Minister Presidents of the federal states and therefore to the concrete implementation of the joint responsibility regarding development policy of the German Federal Government, the federal states and BRANDENBURGthe municipalities.

The responsible Committee for European Affairs and Development Policy (Fachausschuss für Europa- und Entwicklungspolitik) within the state government of Brandenburg regularly invites non-governmental organizations and ministries for public discussions.

http://www.interkom-ev.de/

Traditionally, many strong, successful and efficient organizations, networks and initiatives are active in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. They are the main actors of development work. Therefore, the state development policy is characterized by the participation of the civil society. In February 2013, the state government approved the new Development Policy Guidelines (Entwicklungspolitische Leitlinien), which were developed through a participatory process that was at the time unique throughout Germany. Through the initiative “world:citizens consulted!” (Welt:Bürger gefragt!), more than 1,500 citizens from all over Baden-Württemberg as well as 120 organizations and associations actively helped defining these guidelines.

Even within the adoption of the Development Policy Guidelines the developing political dialogue is still undergoing. Every year citizens of Baden-Württemberg come together to the Annual Development Policy Conference to review the implementation of the Guidelines and work on new policy proposals. Furthermore, the Council for Development Cooperation (Rat für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit), which brings together experts from significant developmentally active networks, advises the government in development issues.

Development policy in Baden-Württemberg is especially challenging for the classic political core areas of the federal states: For example it concerns education policy when trying to incorporate Global Learning and Global Studying into the curricula of schools and universities, research efforts and university strategies for internationalization. It also relates to economic policy in the areas of public procurement, the promotion of foreign trade and Fair Trade, as well as environmental policy focusing on questions of ecological sustainability.

In Baden-Württemberg, development policy is a joint task that is primarily supported by the efficient and professional commitment of its civil society. The government of Baden-Württemberg promotes this commitment but does not wish to replace it. The federal state merely provides a reliable framework for advancing development policy and supporting its participants. The two foundations Development Co-operation Foundation (Stiftung Entwicklungszusammenarbeit) and Baden-Württemberg Foundation (Baden-Württemberg Stiftung) were established by the federal state of Baden-Württemberg to pro-mote, advice and support private and municipal initiatives. The Of-fice for Development Co-operation (Landesstelle für Entwicklungszu-sammenarbeit) in the State Ministry (Staatsministerium) is available to all citizens, civil society organizations, ministries, municipalities and to the Parliament of Baden-Württemberg (Landtag) as direct and competent governmental partner. The federal state supports civic initiatives in the field of development policy by providing funds.

Since 2013, together with the Federal Government, Baden-Württemberg promotes the One-World-Promoters program (Eine-Welt-Promotoren-Programm). Eleven full-time positions within host organizations of the civil society have already been created in order to support the valuable work of organizations, networks and initiatives in Baden-Württemberg. After the expiration of its pilot phase in 2015, Baden-Württemberg will continue to finance the program in 2017.

Every year, the “Fair Trade” exhibition (Messe FAIR HANDELN) provides a platform for the exchange of ideas, networking and joint initiatives to all active actors in Baden-Württemberg. With over 150 exhibitors, the fair has become a flagship project of the Fair Trade movement with impact far beyond Baden-Württemberg.