Development education

Difäm, the German Institute for Medical Mission, based in Tübingen, was founded in 1906. It is a specialized advisory center, medical relief organization and bearer of the Paul Lechler Clinic for Tropical Diseases. We provide support to development and relief organizations worldwide (for example: Brot für die Welt [bread for the world], social welfare work and disaster aid) for the implementation of health projects; we assist our local partners in planning their projects and offer them ongoing support.

Our doctors have run health programs in southern countries for years and can thus provide the necessary specialized knowledge. Our main goal is to establish a firm basis for sustainable health care by promoting basic health care services and home health care. With our seminars in public health and treatment of tropical diseases, we further the training of local health care specialists and of qualified personnel.

Difäm promotes and carries out projects that help patients suffering from disabilities or diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and leprosy. Our medical aid service provides indispensable medicine, medical tools and auxiliary materials etc. for partner clinics and health care stations in over 90 countries around the world. Our long-term goal, however, is to make these countries independent of foreign aid. For this reason, Difäm provides raw materials, tools and training for local personnel in order to support the local production of pharmaceuticals. In addition to providing direct aid, we are also active in political lobbying and public campaigns for the right to health care.

The Foundation Education and Development is the Swiss centre for Global Education. We support teachers in Switzerland at all levels in their daily work by giving them impulses for their lessons which are directed towards a viable development in a global society. We sell and lend over 800 tried and tested teaching aids in German, French and Italian language. We provide teacher training. We inform and advise with relation to Global Education. We are part of a network of national and international organisations having similar aims. The services of the Foundation Education and Development are available at four regional centres throughout Switzerland: in the German and Rhaeto-Romanic-speaking region, in the French-speaking region, and in the Italian-speaking region.

Since October 2010, the responsibility for the “One-World”-policy in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has been in the hands of the State Chancellery section of the Ministry for Federal, Europe and International Affairs. In December 2012, the Cabinet passed on a new „One-World”-Strategy, through which North Rhine-Westphalia underlines its global responsibility as the most populous federal state in Germany. The new “One-World”-Strategy functions as the basis for the future development work in North Rhine-Westphalia and for its development cooperation with partners in countries of the South. The strategy states the six strategic fields of action of the development contribution of North Rhine-Westphalia: education and youth; science and research; climate protection; economy; Good Governance and administrative action; participation of the civil society. Basic principles of the North Rhine-Westphalian involvement are global justice, sustainability, inter-departmental coherence and concentration.

secondary school for boys and girls

In collaboration with German and Filipino associations, the organisation aims to implement and support projects concerned with environmental education, conservation of species and resources, and development cooperation in order to facilitate sustainable society development.
The organisation's concern is to motivate others to act responsible with regard to the principle of sustainability and North-South equitability, as well as teaching the necessary skills.

In our charitable organisation, experts on educational matters and coaches from the Brandenburg and Berlin area are working on the following topics:

• adult and youth education in politics (development policy, ecology, development of democracy, civic participation, questions concerning human rights, migration, etc.)
• intercultural communication
• mediation and conflict management, mediation training and parental training
• organisation counselling
• anti-discrimination training
• study travels focusing on political and cultural matters and related to natural history in (Eastern) Germany and Eastern Europe

In terms of language and culture, we have gathered experiences and established contacts particularly with (Southeastern) Europe, Turkey, the Arab States, Israel, Latin America and Africa.

Since 1988, the Third World alliance in Hanover (a registered association) has focussed on education work with regard to development policy. The focus is public relations concerning the topic in the area of Hanover, the documentation centre ‘Archiv³ Cooperation of Third World Archives’ www.archiv3.org and the campaign for clean clothes. We coordinate tasks on a local level and develop projects for Global Learning.

bezev engages itself in various fields in order to improve the life of people with disabilities, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America. bezev is an education and information centre and acts as an interface between theory and practice. bezev intends to establish a closer network between the academic knowledge of Special Education and the practical work of development cooperation agencies. bezev performs lobbying work in the area of development policy. People with disability should be involved on an equal footing in all development policy schemes.