Uzbekistan

IJGD stands for International Youth Community Services. It is a non-profit organisation working in the field of international youth work and political education. Since 1949, IJGD has been active throughout Germany as an organisation independent from any religious or political party and recognised by the state authorities. The aim of IJGD is to forward young people's awareness of social conditions and to support the development of a feeling of social responsibility. The work of IJGD thus includes the promotion of international understanding and the reduction of prejudice between people of different nations, social backgrounds, religions and political ideas. We organise workcamps, international youth meetings, youth holiday periods in Germany, Europe and overseas as well as different trainings and seminars as further education.

In addition, IJGD is in charge of different long-term voluntary services such as the voluntary social service (FSJ), the voluntary ecological service (FÖJ) and the voluntary heritage service (FJD).

The Berlin part of IJGD, IJGD LV Berlin, has a specific focus on intercultural and inter-generation projects. In the field of the European Voluntary Service (EVS), IJGD Berlin is involved as a sending and hosting organisation. As part of our pilote project ‘voluntary services in socially deprived areas', ijgd Berlin has a growing number of EVS-placements in Berlin in socially deprived areas. This pilote project aims to further social inclusion, intercultural learning and to support small non-profit organisations and initiatives. As a sending organisation we send young German volunteers from Berlin and ist surroundings for longterm voluntary services to Europe in the frame work of EVS.

IJGD Berlin also organises midterm voluntary services in Africa, Asia and Latinamerika.

Students from over 120 different nations, aged 16 to 19, selected exclusively on the basis of aptitude (talent, commitment, motivation), live and learn together at one of the thirteen United World Colleges for the last two school years until they graduate from high school. The colleges are located in Wales, Norway, Italy, USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, the Netherlands, Swaziland, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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.

*What is CHAT between WORLDS?*
CHAT between WORLDS combines global learning with digital media. The programme is designed to address the perspectives of various target groups living in Asia, Africa, Latin America, or Southeast Europe: School classes and individuals can exchange experiences with students in Germany through online communication. That way, CHAT between the WORLDS overcomes geographical distances and offers the opportunity for authentic and personal encounters. School classes of all school types with students from the age of 10 can take part.

*What does a virtual exchange look like?*
At CHAT between WORLDS, there are two forms of CHATs: peer-to-peer CHATs and expert CHATs. During peer-to-peer CHATs, children and young people get in touch with school classes in Germany. While during expert CHATs, professionals share their expertise with students in Germany online. Depending on time differences and local internet connections, the virtual exchange can take place via live stream or via video messages. Before each CHAT, participants are prepared for the CHAT topic using methods of Global Learning. Both the content of the exchange and the rules of conduct during the CHAT are drawn up in advance. Through question and answer sessions, the participants learn with and from each other. However, other forms of digital experiences are also possible: For example, a digital scavenger hunt, a jointly designed online pin board, or a cooking campaign across the globe. The common languages of the virtual exchange are French, English, Spanish or German.
After the CHAT, the participants reflect on the knowledge and impressions they gained during the CHAT. The students are encouraged to think about their own courses of action, plan their own projects and subsequently implement them independently.

*Who is organizing CHAT between WORLDS?*
CHAT between WORLDS is implemented by five civil organisations in seven federal states of Germany (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia). CHAT between WORLDs is coordinated by Engagement Global gGmbH with funds from the Ministry of economic Cooperation and Development.

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.