D+C Development and Cooperation (No. 4, July/August 2000, p. 12-14)

Last year’s World Development Report begins with the words, “Knowledge is like light. Weightless and intangible, it can easily travel the world, enlightening the lives of people everywhere. Yet billions of people still live in the darkness of poverty - unnecessarily. Knowledge about how to treat such a simple ailment as diarrhoea has existed for centuries - but millions of children continue to die from it because their parents do not know how to save them.”

Not only do poor countries and poor people have less capital at their disposal than their rich neighbors, their access to knowledge is also more limited. Since it usually takes time and money to generate empiric knowledge, most knowledge is generated in the industrialized countries and controlled and sold by them through patents and similar arrangements. While there are some 2000 to 3000 academics and engineers in the field of research and development for every one million people in the North, most developing countries do not even collect data on this ratio. World Bank statistics do show that the figures for Jamaica, Rwanda and Nepal are 8, 12 and 22, respectively - compared to 3016 in Germany. The knowledge available in the South is hardly taken into account at all in the academic debate in the North. Far too rarely is there ever productive, fair two-way exchange. For instance, one million people from developing countries are studying at higher education institutions in industrialized countries, while there is hardly any mobility the other way round.

This year’s UNDP Human Development Report, too, describes drastic inequalities: buying a computer takes eight annual incomes for the average Bangladeshi, whereas it takes one month’s income for the average U.S. American. While there are more computers in the U.S. than in all of the rest of the world put together, South Asia - the home of 23 per cent of the global population - has less than one percent of Internet users worldwide.

All the while, we should not forget that the North has a lot to learn from the South, too, and it would be very wise for the North to listen to the South so it can draw on the experience gained there.

Unequal distribution and utilization of knowledge is a barrier to peaceful, sustainable development. Only if there is equitable access to knowledge will it be possible in the long term to balance differing interests and points of view. We need this balance of interests to achieve sustainable development - and this is the goal we must all aim for!

Need for common language
between academics and politicians

It is the task of academics and research institutes worldwide to analyze the complex interrelationships of our times, to describe them and to translate them into a language that will not just be understood by political decision-makers but also by the players of civil society. A great many of the insights that have already been gained and that are important for a more viable future have not been translated into practice so far because there is too little common language between academics and politicians.

The idea of the Global Development Network can be an important step towards facilitating equitable access to information and overcoming the existing Babel of languages: the strengthening of research institutions in the South, global networking between development “think tanks,” and mutually enriching exchange between the academic and the political arena are important steps towards putting existing knowledge to use on a global scale.

This is not about a knowledge network for knowledge’s sake! In all our activities, we must never lose sight of our central purpose: improving the living conditions of the people in our partner countries and creating a basis for a common future that is worth living. It is the welfare of the people that must be the focus. This is why, from a development perspective, special importance must be accorded to applied research for the benefit of our partner countries, for instance in the agricultural or health sectors.

The possibilities offered by modern communications are enormous. For instance, in spite of the existing imbalances, the Internet already has become “the jungle telegraph of nongovernmental organizations.” Knowledge about human rights violations and authoritarian governmental practices reaches the global community within seconds. But for virtual networks, the participation of civil society in the international conferences of the 1990s would not have been conceivable in the form that it took. NGOs have thus brought decisive influence to bear on the results of the negotiations. We can, and we should, make use of these opportunities to exchange knowledge as well. Together with Heidelberg University, we are already supporting the establishment of a virtual medical faculty. Graduates from abroad can thus continue to educate themselves through the Internet even on return to their home countries. It must be our target to make the opportunities offered by communication technologies available to our partners in a practical way and to apply them for development purposes.

In creating a Global Development Network, we should be aware that the transfer and exchange of knowledge is not just a technical challenge: Knowledge equals power. Oftentimes, knowledge is politically explosive. Knowledge must be embedded in its sociocultural context. Local knowledge is at risk of being lost. Let me discuss these four issues in a little more detail:

Knowledge equals power

The current dispute in the WTO over the protection of intellectual property shows the amount of power linked to knowledge and the political and economic interests at stake. Industry in the rich countries is demanding better protection in marketing the results of its research and inventions. Only if there are prospects of high profits, it is argued, will there be sufficient incentives for private enterprises to invest in research and development. From a business point of view, that makes sense. However, it is also understandable that the developing countries fear being excluded from important technical developments, and often even being denied the benefit that others are deriving from local knowledge and genetic material from their own countries, for instance, in the field of medicine.

Knowledge is politically explosive

There are still governments that insist on monopolizing knowledge, deny students the opportunity to participate in international exchange programs, or muzzle their national press. However, academic freedom and freedom of speech are important elements of good governance and indicators of the development prospects of a given country. As we build bridges between the academic and the political arena in the Global Development Network, we are counting on the political commitment of all those involved to facilitate dialogue at all levels between the academic arena, policymakers, and civil society on the options for development and, even more decisive, their implementation. The media, too, has an important role to play in this context, as it ensures transparency and monitoring, and the dissemination of knowledge at the level of the people.

Knowledge must be embedded
in its sociocultural context

We are now capable of transmitting information across the globe at an incredible speed. The communications revolution we have been witnessing over the last few years is considered one of the main driving forces behind globalization. However, the fast and global transfer of knowledge may also imply some risks. Knowledge is no mass-produced commodity that can be applied in the same way everywhere and immediately. Global knowledge must be adapted to local conditions.

Local knowledge is
at risk of being lost

80 per cent of all Internet sites are in English, even though a mere ten per cent of all people in the world understand the language. The industrialized countries hold 97 per cent of all patents worldwide. These two figures give an indication of the dominance of one part of the North in the knowledge sector. If we follow a misconceived path of global networking of knowledge, this dominance may increase even further. We need to support our partners in preserving local, indigenous knowledge and in being able to use it for themselves!

Finally, the North also has a lot to learn from the South. Local knowledge in the developing countries needs to be taken more seriously, and exchanged. We in the North are not the only source of knowledge. Accordingly, South-South exchange, or exchange within one country or one region, needs to be reinforced so as to make better use of knowledge there. In the developing countries themselves, too, local knowledge - for instance that of rural people - is increasingly becoming accepted and used as a resource for innovative solutions to problems, rather than being discarded as too traditional and, therefore, obsolete.

However, exchange among each other still continues to be difficult in many cases, because just as in our own society, there is distrust, deep-seated habits, and prejudice. However, dialogue between different groups in society is becoming ever more important in a world that is more and more interlinked. Here, too, I perceive important tasks for the Global Development Network. Strengthening research capacities in our partner countries, and giving a voice to local knowledge there, is an essential aspiration.

Germany can make manifold contributions to a Global Development Network. We already have numerous programs to support the transfer of knowledge and exchange between our partner countries and ourselves. Moreover, we are working to improve the international framework. Let me give you some examples of these efforts as well:

In the dispute over the protection of intellectual property in the WTO negotiations, we are demanding that developing countries’ access to technical knowledge available to private persons must not be reduced. For instance, in the agricultural sector farmers should continue to have the right to replant even patented seeds without having to pay for it. Also, we are supporting arrangements for benefit sharing in the use of genetic resources. Germany is also participating in fleshing out the international rules laid down in the Biodiversity Convention. What we are working on is an international framework for the protection of local knowledge in our partner countries.

Ever since we started our development cooperation, we have been supporting our partner countries in setting up their own academic and research institutions. Twinning programs for institutes of higher education have proven particularly valuable. Many of the academic institutions that have received support are now centers of excellence that play a significant role for their region and even beyond. Bonn has a long tradition of cooperation in the academic and scientific field. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the German Research Foundation (DFG) are examples of such worldwide relations.

In the health and water sectors, we are supporting the establishment of two international information networks. Both are accessible via Internet. The SHARED (Scientists for Health and Research for Development) database offers information on some 1000 health projects in over 140 countries. What is so special about SHARED is that the database is administered on a decentralized basis. Anyone can contribute to it. Selected institutions in the countries concerned make sure that the country-specific information is consistent and complete. In the field of water, we are helping to establish an information and communication system on the Internet in order to improve international exchange of experience. In this way, we are supporting the Global Water Partnership (GWP), launched by the World Bank, UNDP and SIDA in 1996, which is an international network for the sustainable use of water resources.

One aspect I believe to be particularly important is the further development of an international legal basis for the exchange of knowledge and experience. We are actively involved in the relevant negotiations. An example would be the three Rio Conventions on climate, biodiversity, and combating desertification, which are developing this sort of instruments. n Bonn, the home of two of the Convention Secretariats, we are in a particularly good position to build on these activities and on this experience.

Bonn as partner for GDN

We have started turning the Federal City of Bonn into the German center of international and development cooperation. Bonn has already become a significant UN location. The UN presence, alongside the internationally oriented Federal Ministries headquartered here and the development and environmental organizations, can be felt in the international and development dialogue in our city. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research, too, has its headquarters here, on the Rhine. Bonn is becoming a powerful and competent hub of national, European and international policy in the field of development and science.

This profile of Bonn as a center of international cooperation perfectly matches the purpose of the conference we are opening today - all the more so as there is a concentration of competent policy consultancy and research institutions in Bonn that would make suitable partners for the GDN. I would like to mention specifically the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the German Development Institute (GDI/DIE). Both are embedded in a closely-knit setting of internationally oriented institutions dealing both with research, teaching and management of knowledge and with basic and further training for nationals of our partner countries. I would specifically like to mention the German Foundation for International Development (DSE), which has helped organize this conference. Moreover, Bonn is about to become the headquarters of the Secretariat of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) .

The obvious potential offered by cooperation between the Bonn Center for International Cooperation (CIC), other institutions here in Bonn and the GDN must be investigated in the coming months on the basis of the results of our conference.