Global learning/global education

Consortium of more than 40 non-governmental organisations with the aim of implementing an effective development policy at the national level, committed to solidarity and social justice.

The German Institute for International Educational Research supports educational research, educational practice, educational policy and educational administration on the basis of scientific Infrastructure services as well as research and educational system evaluations. As a member of the Leibniz Association, DIPF aligns fundamental research with innovative developmental work and its implementation to the benefit of society.

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.

The KoordinierungsKreis Mosambik (KKM, Network Mozambique) is a country network association for civil society parntership activities between Germany and Mozambique. More than 140 organizations, groups and individuals are network members.

Network activities include the support of school partnerships between Mozambique and Germany and educational activities concerning debt relief and reduction of absolute poverty.

Activities include seminars on issues related to development and cooperation, publications and three times a year a magazine on Mozambique (Rundbrief Mosambik). Cultural exchange is supported by inviting Mozambican artists to Germany, organizing exhibitions and visits to Mozambique.

Information centre one world provides information materials on culture, history, economy and politics of Third World countries. It focuses on the integration of North and South in economic and political terms. Since 1997, Info-Zentrum Eine Welt has had a promoting function for the German federal state of Schleswig Holstein aiming at the networking of groups working in the field of development policy as well as at promoting the interconnection of the environment and development in accordance with Agenda 21 (Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992; Earth Summit in Johannesburg in 2002). Major actions of the organisation include managing public relations and carrying out activities, exhibitions, themed weeks and projects.

To achieve its goal of creating a 'world for all people,' Terre des Hommes functions as an advocate for children's rights, grass-roots movement in terms of development policy, and citizens' action groups. Terre des Hommes raises funds to support development projects that enable people to actively shape their own destinies. At the same time, structures here in the North must change. To that end, Terre des Hommes fosters development policy in the North and stands up for "global learning".

The student solidarity campaign
With this campaign, learning is no longer restricted to the classroom. Schools or individual classes can choose from a variety of projects particularly interesting for students, and support this project once or on a regular basis. Terre des Hommes provides media and class material for the individual projects.

Children for the rights of children
Terre des Hommes also stands up for the rights of children. It is understood that children are most welcome to join the work of Terre des Hommes, for example in one of the teams where children fight for other children's rights. Children and adolescents form groups and teams with friends, develop creative campaigns, and are responsible for their realization. Terre des Hommes supports them by providing material and ideas.

Material
Terre des Hommes provides books for children and adolescents of different age groups. These books describe the life of young people in the South. Collections of slides on different topics, countries, and projects can be borrowed. Many of those collections are already available on CD-ROM. Above that, there are various wall newspapers, leaflets, posters, comics, and videos. The Terre des Hommes website contains pages for children and students.