Fair trade

The developing-educational information centre EPiZ in Reutlingen is a house of global learning which acts on a regional and national level, as well as all on an international one. The program of EPiZ is “Bildung trifft Entwicklung” (BtE), “education meets development”, which allows global learning in cooperation with advisers from the development policy and from voluntary services related to development policy as well as with people from countries of the global south. The library and the global classroom with their interesting materials towards development policy give access to a variety of possibilities to deal with the topic of global learning. The rooms open for our guests the whole world in its cultural diversity and at the same time show acting options for one world.

The info center global learning is a carrier organization for the professional promoters of global learning in Hamburg. There will be workshops, materials and learning places for global learning available. Also trainings take place for advisers and advanced trainings for teachers in the subject area: global development. Furthermore, an extensive consultation offer is available.This encloses project development, educational offer development and evaluation, as well as fundraising and high-class development.

Future dimensions of development education are widely unknown today. Our global living environment and everyday worlds develop in contexts which become more and more complex. Old certainties are dissolving; new orientations can rarely be identified. Thus, it becomes harder to find reasonable answers to the new challenges that are worthwhile for development education; answers which make it possible to impart knowledge and behavior for a future-oriented living.

The editors and the editorial board of the Zeitschrift für internationale Bildungsforschung und Entwicklungspädagogik (ZEP, Journal for international educational research and development education) have established a medium that, for more than thirty years, has been bringing development education and international educational research to the public.

Complex theoretical contexts are picked up and explained in the different issues while, at the same time, experiences and problems are discussed from a practical perspective in a way that they facilitate relevant impulses back to the scientific discourse.

The journal targets educationalists working in development education and scientists from neighboring disciplines as well as anyone who is interested in global learning and development cooperation in schools and elsewhere.

In 1990, more than 20 One World and Third World associations joined together to form the registered association Neusser-Eine-Welt-Initiative (NEWI). NEWI informs and educates in order to raise awareness for topics related to development policy among the citizens of the German city of Neuss. The main tasks of the full-time coordinator include intensive public relations and lobby work as well as educational work. NEWI puts its main emphasis on fair trade, an annual One World festival, superregional campaigns and the support of the Local Agenda 21 in Neuss. NEWI owns a well-equipped office; a learning place outside of school – the Café Flair – and the exhibition Kaffeegarten (coffee garden), that is operated within the framework of a public-private partnership concept.

The Kaffeegarten is an interactive exhibition about coffee farming, consequences of world trade and the advantages of fair trade. In 90-minute workshops on coffee, visitors can find answers to many questions about the Germans’ favourite drink. This offer is aimed at school classes of any age, apprentices in the hotel, catering or grocery trade and any interested groups from, among others, businesses, administrations, churches and associations.

As part of their KOMPact education project, the Neuss based Neusser-Eine-Welt-Initiative (NEWI), a registered association, has compiled materials and methods to support global learning. Covering the topics of fair trade, globalisation (focals areas: developing countries, world trade), human rights (focal areas: children’s rights, refugees, HIV/AIDS) and the Agenda 21(focus areas: nutrition and health, world climate and energy resources as well as paper use), NEWI now presents an expandable loose-leaf binding in an especially designed folder. It provides background information about each topic mentioned and also includes suggestions on how to put the presented ideas into action. Furthermore, readers can find extensive, commented link and address lists in the compilation. It therefore offers a solid ’market overview’ and is a valuable source of information for the teaching of global relations based upon the principles of education for sustainability.

Mobile Bildung e. V. advises Weltläden (special shops selling fair trade goods). They are also involved in educational and public relations work in the area of fair trade. The association is the responsible body of the Hamburg fair trade alliance for action: Hamburg mal fair. It directs its educational opportunities at schools and the public with themes that change every year such as football, chocolate, cotton etc. With these projects the alliance aims at promoting an awareness of justice and injustice in world trade.

The Afro-Asian Institute Salzburg (AAI) is a non-profit organisation with close ties to the university of Salzburg. It is financed by the public funds and the Catholic Church. The aims of the AAI are to provide educational services on development policy, to enable intercultural encounters and to promote interfaith dialogue.
The AAI is a meeting place for different cultures and religions. We show different global contexts through a varied educational and cultural program in order to raise awareness of injustices and set out development policy issues and its risks in the context of globalization. Affected individuals, as well as experts from the global South have an opportunity in our organization to take the floor. Within the framework of the AAI scholarship program, students from African, Asian and Latin American countries receive financial support, as well as a personal accompaniment and take part in our educational program.

RAA - regional centers for foreigners' concerns, youth work and schools in the German state of Brandenburg - is a non-profit organization based in Potsdam. We manage six "Regionale Büros für Integration und Toleranz" (BIT) (regional offices for integration and open-mindedness) and four other offices as well as regional and local projects. In 2004, we established "Globales Lernen/Entwicklungszusammenarbeit" (global learning and cooperation for development). For us, global learning is about raising awareness of the world as a whole, of interrelations between North and South, and about relating our everyday life to the lives of people in developing countries. RAA is involved in an enormous variety of development-policy projects. We offer working groups, workshops, and training for teaching staff, and support schools in organizing workshops for students. Long-term projects include supporting school partnerships between schools in Brandenburg and schools in Senegal, Zanzibar/Tanzania and Angola, as well as smaller-scale initiatives. "Begegnungen mit Sansibar" (meeting Zanzibar) is a project that combines education and cooperation for development. Since 1992, more than 160 adolescents and teachers have been given the chance to gain deep insights into another culture and to help promote interactions between Germany and Tanzania, and more will follow. The project in Zanzibar encourages participants to closely examine both the foreign culture and their own. It includes such diverse activities as the building of classrooms, theater projects, thematic research, workshops, seminars and continuous education for teachers. In Germany, the results of this work are available as educational materials, thus enabling our partners from Tanzania to present their life and their views in Brandenburg. In addition, RAA is in charge of organizing and holding the "Brandenburger entwicklungspolitische Bildungs- und Informationstage" (Brandenburg educational and informational days on development aid) as well as the education program of the 'Berlin Import Shop' fair.

The Global Marshall Plan initiative gets on as an integrative platform for a world in balance. Consisting of a network from more than 5000 supporters from all levels of society, it gathers politics, economy and civil society with five core demands to a fairer globalization.