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.

The Karl Kübel Foundation is a foundation that carries out activities in Germany as well as activities in the fields of development cooperation and development education.

W - as in world 
The World University Service (WUS) is an international non-governmental organisation which is politically and denominationally neutral. Since 1920 the WUS supports students and academics in higher education institutions. Today, WUS exists in over 50 countries.

U - as in university
The core issues of WUS Germany are higher education and defending human rights, especially the human right to education. WUS provides seminars, publications and information. It pursues public relations at political level, institutions, civil society and the media.

S - as in service 
WUS Germany takes part in national and international campaigns in the educational and development cooperation sector, offers consulting and carries out scholarship programmes as well as projects. Among its projects are those dealing with Development Education and Global Learning, capacity building for students from Africa, Asia and Latin America and subsidies for experts returning to their countries.

WUS takes part in national and international campaigns in the education and development sector, offers counseling and implements projects.

Information Centre Education North-South
The Information Centre of WUS is a project carried out jointly by the German State Administrative Units (Länder) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development. The objective of the Information Centre is to intensify communication and the flow of information as well as to help building networks in the field of Development Education and Global Learning.
Contact: infostelle[at]wusgermany.de, Tel. +49 611 9446170

Global Learning Portal
Offers an overview on of school materials, seminars and acitivities around Global Learning in Germany.
Contact: Heike Jäger, jaeger[at]wusgermany.de, Tel. +49 611 9446170

Website of German Federal States in Development Policy 
German Federal States in Development Policy presents the respective development policy objectives and activities of the 16 Federal States. It provides an overview of the multi-facetted commitment and involvement of the Federal States and their desire to contribute to the formation of public policy.
Contact: portal[at]wusgermany.de, Tel. +49 611 9446170

Development training for students from Africa, Asia and Latin America
With its project "STUBE Hessen", WUS offers a study-accompanying programme addressing students from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Contact: stube-ref[at]wusgermany.de, Tel. + 49 611 9446171

Projects with experts from Developing Countries
The project "Subsidies for Experts from Developing Countries" can promote graduated students under certain conditions in their return and professional reintegration in their home countries (reintegration programme).

Lobbying and Networking

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.

Lower Saxony is committed to a range of activities in Sub-Saharan Africa and thus assumes responsibility for sustainable global development. The aim is to learn as much as possible from and with one another in the context of a global partnership and responsibility with
cosmopolitanism and cross-cultural competence.

Lower Saxony focuses on three priority areas of development cooperation:

1. Partnership with the Eastern Cape (South Africa) since 1995
2. Project cooperation with Tanzania since 2010
3. Development educational and information work

As part of the development policy information and educational work within Lower Saxony, the State Chancellery promotes the Association Development Policy Lower Saxony (Verband Entwicklungspolitik Niedersachsen e.V. - VEN). The VEN is the network of development
NGOs, initiatives and so-called One-World-Shops (Weltläden). The main focus of the VEN is the development educational and information work. The funds are directed to the implementation of „IBQ - projects“ (information, education and skills) of NGOs in Lower Saxony in the field of development cooperation.

Since 2014 Lower Saxony has been co-financing the nationwide Promoter-Program (Promotorenprogramm). The aim is to raise awareness on development issues in Lower Saxony. The continuation of the program up to 2018 has been decided upon in 2015 and the financial means are guaranteed.

As part of a special program for humanitarian aid, Lower Saxony has decided to take in 70 traumatized women and children from northern Iraq in 2015. They are victims of extreme violence by fighters of the terrorist organization Islamic State, whom Lower Saxony is going to ensure a safe stay over the next two years. The regional government has decided to allocate 1.1 million euros in 2015 and 6.8 million euros for the following years for the reception, accommodation and health care of these women and children.

2016 is planned to focus on the implementation and consolidation of the new Development Policy Guidelines and their linking with the Strategy for Sustainability of Lower Saxony, which is currently under revision. The intensified cooperation with development policy actors within the civil society - a positive effect of the process of drafting the guidelines - will be continued by, for example, giving these organizations an active part in developing the implementation strategy.

Furthermore, Lower Saxony participates in the newly established Bund-Länder-Program. With the involvement of GIZ’s office in Lower Saxony (Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit) project opportunities are currently being examined and planned to be approved
by the end of January 2016.

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.