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Working approach
Content
Development information and education
Development policy is a task for society as a whole. In order to create a more peaceful and just world, we need as many citizens as possible to become actively involved in efforts to make the world a better place. Germany can only live up to its international commitments if there is broad support for development policy within German society. Therefore, civil society forces and networks are very important for development policy. In order to promote such civil society engagement, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supports development information and education work in Germany. This work is aimed at:
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communicating the general principle of globally sustainable development. This means economic efficiency, social justice, ecological sustainability and good governance;
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awakening the general public’s interest in developing countries, highlighting global interdependencies and showing how they impact on individual human beings;
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motivating people to get involved in working towards a more socially responsible society in today’s globalised world; and
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supporting involvement in development issues in Germany.
Development policy education work focuses primarily on children and young people, and on organisations, media and persons that are able to reach many citizens. These include, for example, non-governmental organisations, associations, initiatives, church organisations, trade unions and municipal authorities. In this context, the BMZ is also striving to develop new avenues of communication in order to reach companies and business associations, migrant organisations and sports clubs as well.
Effectiveness through division of labour
The way in which information and education work on development issues is organised in Germany reflects the pluralistic structure of German development cooperation. Government and non-governmental players share the work and complement each other. The Ministry shapes and steers dialogue and cooperation processes and finances a whole variety of activities. Among other things, the BMZ promotes campaigns and other public relations events, produces audio-visual material, distributes films via public film services in each of the Länder (federal states), publishes texts covering the whole range of development topics and provides a wealth of information via the Internet.
The central government implementing organisations responsible for carrying out the BMZ’s development policy information and education work is the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ. The initiative for the founding of the non-profit organisation, which operates regional centres in 14 Länder, came from the federal government, the Länder governments and the business sector. The GIZ, the KfW Entwicklungsbank and the German Development Institute (DIE) also play their part in educating the general public by staging events and printing specialist publications about development issues.
To ensure consistent quality, development information and education work is subject to regular evaluations, as are all programmes and projects implemented under German development cooperation.
The international framework:
World Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005 to 2014
"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This is how the term "sustainable development", a term that is frequently used today, was defined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987. However, for sustainable development to take place, people worldwide must have specific competences and skills. They must understand the interdependencies between the economy, environment and society, be able to anticipate global problems, and be capable of facing up to and solving them. That is why the UN General Assembly declared the years 2005 to 2014 the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Around the globe, the basic concept of education for sustainable development is to be mainstreamed in school and non-school education.
The programmes and projects of development information and education work funded by the BMZ are helping to implement the UN Decade in Germany. Many of them have already been declared "Official Decade Projects". The BMZ also incorporates the guiding principle of education for sustainable development into its cooperation with partner countries in the education sector.
Moreover, the Development Ministry is part of various European networks with other initiatives: it is, for example, a member of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and also actively involved in the European network of government representatives in the field of global learning (Global Education Network Europe, GENE).
