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What Germany is doing
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Promoting rural development
In order for the international community to be able to approximate to its goal of halving the number of people going hungry by 2015, it must above all promote the development of rural regions in its partner countries. On average, over 70 per cent of the population of developing countries live outside the towns. Even though poverty is most conspicuous in the slums in big cities, the majority of poor people live in rural areas. Around 75 per cent of those living in rural areas are suffering from extreme poverty. They have little or no income and only few opportunities to generate additional income. A lack of education and social provisions only makes matters worse. Many people are undernourished and often sick; they are by and large excluded from social and political decision-making processes.
One of the goals of German development cooperation is therefore to help people in rural regions take responsibility for pushing forward the development process in their own region. They ought to be enabled to secure their own livelihood, improve their own living conditions and contribute more to social and economic development.
Country-specific solutions
There is no blueprint for rural development projects. Measures need to be tailored to the country and region in question. For example, this can mean improving small farmers' access to means of production; land reform can ensure a fairer and more secure distribution of land; agricultural extension services and microcredit can provide support to small farmers; developing the infrastructure in rural areas can improve the distribution of food and the marketing of produce; access to education can improve rural communities and enhance the scope of the poor to be involved in decision-making.
German development cooperation takes into account in all measures the causes of poverty, hunger and underdevelopment among rural populations in each respective region.
The Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (GDPRD)
The BMZ played a decisive role in putting in place the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (GDPRD), a new instrument in international development cooperation, in order to maximise synergies and increase the effectiveness of donor support. The goal is to network all organisations in donor countries working in the agricultural sector and in rural development. They are to work together to resolve the issues of agricultural development, market reform and improving living conditions in rural areas. The platform is funded by numerous donor countries, development organisations and international financial institutions.
The platform aims to improve donor cooperation and foster a coordinated dialogue with partner countries in order to promote pro-poor growth in rural areas. The GDPRD has commissioned studies in four pilot countries (Nicaragua, Burkina Faso, Tanzania and Cambodia) to document and evaluate the current state of play and identify shortcomings in donor harmonisation. A Code of Conduct for donors and partners is to be drawn up to achieve greater harmonisation of donor support for rural areas, thus making a more efficient contribution to halving the proportion of those living in poverty.
The BMZ is supporting the platform through its sector project "Poverty Reduction in Rural Areas", and also houses the secretariat of the GDPRD.
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