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Contributions from
the Column
InWEnt News
Pregnant girls have to leave school
InWEnt defines its strategic aims
and areas of business
Municipalities are important partners in
development cooperation
Development cooperation teaches
valuable skills
01/2005 |
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[ Private sector ]
Development cooperation teaches
valuable skills
In future, German companies want to exchange personnel with development organisations. That was among the messages delivered at the annual conference of the Working Group Development Policy of German Business (AGE) staged in late November at the InWEnt headoffice in Bonn. Stressing that such forms of cooperation were good for companies, employees and poor countries, AGE chairman Karl Starzacher pointed out that the practice of swapping human resources with development organisations has been going on in Britain for five years now and, in the eyes of the CBI (Confederation of British Industries), has proven a valuable exercise.
Employees have gathered valuable experience, developing countries have profited from their professional expertise and companies have had an opportunity to broaden the skill base of their staff, Starzacher explained. Also, company managements expect the cooperation to be good for business because constructive engagement enhances a company’s credibility with consumers.
As Starzacher reported, offshoots of German companies have also taken part in the UK programme. Now an equivalent programme is to be set up in Germany. Internationally, the country is doing pioneering work in Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in the field of development, the AGE chairman said, but so far this has not been reflected in cooperation between development organisations and the private sector on the human resource front.
The AGE reckons around half a dozen employees from companies in different industries are likely to be assigned to development cooperation projects this year. And the number will steadily increase. Implementing projects under difficult conditions is a valuable form of training, the audience heard. What is more, staff engaged in such projects might later play a useful role in developing markets. Both of these benefits offer interesting prospects for big business and SMEs alike.
As one speaker of AGE explained, organisations implementing development policy in target countries have important contact networks, which German companies could join. Among the organisations, which are members of the AGE are the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) and the Association of German Banks (BdB). According to State Secretary Erich Stather of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), “close cooperation” with the private sector is “of crucial importance”. It offers the opportunity, to “explore the scope for strategic action more thoroughly for the benefit of our partner countries”, he said. Stather announced that BMZ and AGE would in future offer a joint award for “exemplary corporate conduct in newly industrialised and developing countries”.
AGE chairman Starzacher reminded his audience that export-oriented companies need personnel with multicultural knowledge and experience abroad. Around a thousand development workers a year return to Germany from assignments in target countries, he said, yet only two thirds of them seek jobs in the private sector. And only around half of those job-hunters are actually successful. Nevertheless – Starzacher added – thanks largely to Public Private Partnerships, the gulf between business and development cooperation has been narrowing for years at a promising rate. (dem)
Website:
http://www.age-berlin.de
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