Lobby

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.

Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim – Social Welfare Work – Worldwide Church

• Partnership program with Bolivia (information, guests, trips to meet our Bolivian partners)
• Financial support of educational work and lobbying activities related to development policy and the Worldwide Church
• Continuing education events for professionals
• Recommending guests and speakers from developing countries and eastern Europe
• Information and additional material on the "www.erlassjahr.de" (year of remission) campaign

We are an ecclesiastic organization of various parishes and groups.

Tasks and Goals:

• to raise the awareness of church communities and groups concerning developmental issues
• to support small scale projects in Tanzania aimed at sustainable development
• to establish and monitor development aid partnerships
• to carry out lobbying campaigns (e.g. concerning debt relief)
• to assist in the placement of qualified personnel
• to cooperate with relief organizations as well as with ecclesiastical and non-ecclesiastical NGOs

Areas of Activities:

• we maintain a partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, Pare Diocese
• we monitor and carry out projects in cooperation with our partner organizations (providing water tanks, drilling for water, building corn mills, setting up solar – powered lamps, carrying out fishing projects, funding tuition costs, equipping kindergartens and infirmaries, building sanitary facilities for schools, providing bicycles for employees, musical instruments, etc.)
• we organize group visits to Tanzania
• we arrange visits of Tanzanian groups to Germany
• we place interns in Tanzania
• we carry out information events with speakers from Tanzania
• we organize educational events on development policy issues

For over 30 years, INKOTA has been an ecumenical network of development-oriented grassroots organizations, parishes, fair-trade stores, and individuals.
We align ourselves with the worldwide movement of the critics of globalization and therefore, work for a world in which the human needs and interests of all people count more than the economic interests of a privileged group. Hereby we link our support for our partner groups in the South with public awareness building vis-a-vis development issues in Germany.