Global learning/global education

Development cooperation is a key task of international politics. Even if the competencies for development cooperation basically lie within the Federal Government, the Free State of Thuringia aims to provide its own case-by-case or project-based contribution to this field area and to cooperate with the Federal Government.

In the Guidelines for Development Cooperation (Leitlinien der Thü-ringer Entwicklungszusammenarbeit) adopted on January 2nd 1996, the Free State of Thuringia acknowledged its responsibility for deve-lopment policy. Accordingly, the aim of the Free State of Thuringia has always been the improvement of living conditions of individuals through development cooperation. True to the principle of self-help, over the last twenty years numerous measures of vocational training of professionals in Thuringia or in their home countries as well as corresponding projects have been promoted. The collaboration with the Kingdom of Cambodia in the field of environment has been the focus of international cooperation for many years.

The Thuringian State Government sees development cooperation as a cross-cutting area and thus supports initiatives and projects of the development policy network in Thuringia. The One World Network Thuringia (Eine Welt Netzwerk Thüringen), as an umbrella organi-zation of the development policy commitment of Thuringian NGOs, is the most important cooperation partner of the Thuringian State Government. Furthermore, the Free State of Thuringia welcomes the work of social groups, churches and other non-governmental actors of development cooperation and supports them through mutual in-formation and experience exchange in their self-responsible action.

The main focus of Thuringia’s development policy is sustainable education. Since 1995, it has been supporting the “Thuringia days of educational and information in the field of development (Thüringer Entwicklungspolitischen Bildungs- und Informationstage – THEBIT) aimed at familiarising pupils of Thuringia with the problems of de-veloping countries and, consequently, at contributing to dismantling xenophobia and the promotion of tolerance.

Against the backdrop of the „Development Year 2015“ with nu-merous international decisions, whose implementation lay in the responsibility of each individual, another focus of Thuringia’s govern-ment will be addressing how the worldwide Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be successfully implemented. The starting point for the discussion process on this issue is going to be the FutureTour (ZukunftsTour) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development with its stop in Thuringia in February 2016.

The non-profit association "Bund für Bildung" translates socially relevant issues into educational projects. The focus is on issues of inclusion, participation and democracy.

FAIR for all generations FAIR education - Our campaigns are aimed at schools, kindergartens and day-care centres (Kitas), extracurricular actors in the greater Saarbrücken area and Saarland University. Several "Fair Kitas", "Fairtrade Schools" and "Fairtrade Universities" from the greater Saarbrücken area have already been awarded. School classes and courses from the Saarbrücken region have already received the award "Fair School Class - Fair Trade Class" more than 100 times. Through our young "Fair Trade Ambassadors" as multipliers and through our wide-ranging commitment, we reach a broad public. The guiding principle of our network is Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

MEDBOX. The Aid Library is an innovative worldwide accessible open-source library, which gathers practical, relevant and high-quality documents and guidelines on public and global health. MEDBOX aims is to increase the quality of health work worldwide, guarantee access to key information on health-related topics for multiple stakeholders and raise awareness for health issues in an international context.