Research

Goals:

• Support and promotion of human rights work
• Research on human rights matters
• Promotion of human rights education
• Communication and exchange of information with other human rights organisations

We work on the local, regional and international levels to promote and defend human rights. This work includes organisation of conferences and seminars and participation in research projects, publication of documents, and educational efforts concerning human rights.

The institute of educational science deals with apprenticeship, research and publication among other things about global learning.

The Institute for Global Church and Mission (IWM) is a missiological institute of the German Bishops' Conference at the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt/Main.

EADI, the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes, is the leading European network in the field of development research and training. EADI is a Europe-wide network of institutes, researchers and students of various disciplines in the field of development studies. It organises activities and offers facilities for the international exchange of knowledge and experience in the professional field. Its most prominent activity is a General Conference devoted to a topical issue every three years. The official languages of EADI are English and French. EADI is the prime professional association for development studies. As such it promotes: quality in research and education in development studies, the exchange of relevant information among members and with others, the strengthening of relevant knowledge networks at the regional and global level, and influencing both national and European decision-makers in the development cooperation field. EADI’s two objectives are, firstly, to generate and stimulate and exchange of information among European academics and researchers concerned with development issues and to develop contacts with researchers from other regions of the world. And secondly, to promote interdisciplinary studies on specific themes. EADI is financed by its members’ contributions, an institutional grant from the German government and other project-related subsidies and private donations. EADI receives core funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) and the Land North Rhine-Westphalia / City of Bonn.

The ÖFSE is the largest Austrian institution that provides information on issues concerning developing countries, development cooperation, and development policy. The ÖFSE has the most extensive specialized library in Austria on general questions regarding those fields, on recent developments in the Southern countries, and on specific questions regarding Austrian development cooperation. The scientific department of the ÖFSE offers analyses as well as expert advice. In addition, it encourages reflecting and thinking processes and organizes discussions on the following topics: educational cooperation, promoting education, development theory and development cooperation, Austrian development policy, international relations, world economy, and political, economic, and social structures in developing countries. The organization cooperates closely with related institutions all over Europe and the world.

(wlp)° - the world lecture project is an online library for video lectures in any language and of any faculty from all over the world. The project is collecting all links to video lectures and their meta data in one freely accessible database. A search engine helps the users to find the lecture of their choice easily. They can search lectures according to various criteria: theme, faculty, country, language and others. Everyone can contribute to broadening (wlp)°'s lecture fund. Once registered it is easy to put new lectures onto the data base or to complete the data of the lectures that are already available. (wlp)° is looking for partners across the globe who contribute in facilitating the exchange and the access of knowledge for everyone – everywhere. The World Academy of Young Scientists (WAYS) and Young-People Platform in Agricultural Research (YPARD) for Development are already collaborating with (wlp)°.

Description of the organization:

The Ministry of Education and Culture in Saarland is responsible for the topic of development cooperation. The goal is to work closely with actors from civil society and the municipal level who are active in development policy. Together with these partners, the Saarland assumes global responsibility. This includes fostering partnerships with countries and regions of the global South and promoting development policy information and education as well as civic engagement for the One World.

Goals and priorities

Since development cooperation is above all a task for society as a whole, the successful work of private initiatives, the churches and other non-governmental organizations in particular receives financial and non-material support. Saarland organizations working in and for South-North partnerships network with each other. Together, the state government and civil society want to make a concrete contribution to fighting poverty worldwide, securing peace, realizing democracy and making globalization fairer.

Particular importance is attached to the open and cooperative exchange of all actors in development policy work, both in global partnerships and in information and education work. In order to promote this exchange, the Ministry of Education and Culture invites to the open forum on development cooperation twice a year.

The Saarland Development Cooperation Guidelines were adopted by the Saarland Parliament in March 2017 and are the result of a development process with the active participation of civil society and Saarland non-governmental organizations. They represent the framework of Saarland's development cooperation and are intended to strengthen existing structures, initiatives and activities. They serve as orientation and form the basis for Saarland's future development policy relevant engagement.

The fields of action of Saarland's development cooperation are:

- development policy information, advisory and educational work

- science, research and teaching

- international exchange

- economy, enterprises, public administrations and municipalities

- international trade and agricultural policy

- North-South partnerships/cooperations

- impact of European policy on countries of the global south

Since 2018, the State Coordination Office for Education for Sustainable Development has been the key position for the structural anchoring of Education for Sustainable Development in school education. With the state coordination office, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is systematically and structurally anchored in the education sector. In order to link global interrelationships and individual behavior, even schoolchildren are to be sensitized to sustainable development.

There are also far-reaching efforts in the area of fair trade/sustainable procurement. For example, with the decision of the Council of Ministers on May 2, 2023, fair trade coffee and another fair trade product - such as chocolate, tea or sugar - will be used in all houses of the state government from July 1, 2023. "If you want to have good working conditions in your own country, you cannot save on the price of coffee, cocoa or sugar at the expense of people in the global south. Therefore, in the future, there will be fair trade products in the areas of the ministers, the Prime Minister, but also in the hospitality of guests," explains Secretary of State for Education Jan Benedyczuk. With this decision, the state government has launched the "Fair Federal State" project. With this, Saarland will be the first federal state to submit an application for certification as a Fairtrade federal state in the fall of 2023. The certification is intended to structurally anchor Fair Trade in Saarland.

There are also far-reaching efforts in the area of fair trade/sustainable procurement. For example, with the decision of the Council of Ministers on May 2, 2023, fair trade coffee and another fair trade product - such as chocolate, tea or sugar - will be used in all houses of the state government from July 1, 2023. "If you want to have good working conditions in your own country, you cannot save on the price of coffee, cocoa or sugar at the expense of people in the global south. Therefore, in the future, there will be fair trade products in the areas of the ministers, the Prime Minister, but also in the hospitality of guests," explains Secretary of State for Education Jan Benedyczuk. With this decision, the state government has launched the "Fair Federal State" project. With this, Saarland will be the first federal state to submit an application for certification as a Fairtrade federal state in the fall of 2023. The certification is intended to structurally anchor Fair Trade in Saarland.

The application documents must be submitted to the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Saarland by December 31 of the previous year at the latest for the budget year of the funding. For project funding within the framework of development cooperation, the guidelines of development cooperation of the Saarland apply as a content-related framework. The legal framework for funding is formed by the guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the granting of subsidies for the funding of projects within the framework of development cooperation, as amended from time to time.