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Strategic partnership
05/2006
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Strategic partnership
Germany’s Development Ministry is interested in alliances with regional heavyweights to jointly address global problems.
Training programmes for young leaders from anchor countries are one way of facilitating such cooperation.
[ By Günther Taube ]
A new training and dialogue programme by InWEnt and the German Institute for Development Policy (GDI) is called “Managing global governance” (MGG). It is designed to promote cooperation with anchor countries on behalf of German’s Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). These countries are politically, economically or otherwise crucial for their region of the world. Moreover, they also play important roles in global affairs (Wieczorek-Zeul, 2005, Stamm and Altenburg, 2005, Taube, 2005).
Anchor countries are crucial powers in their respective regions. They influence stability, prosperity and poverty reduction in neighbouring countries. They also increasingly play a role in designing globalisation. International organisations and legal frameworks do not, however, currently reflect their importance. So far, the group of leading advanced nations (G7/8) continue to dominate the global-governance architecture. But some anchor countries are already expressing their intention to contribute to shaping global matters. They are forming coalitions among one another, but also entering into alliances with other developing countries or members of the G7/8.
BMZ is focusing on cooperation with a group of eleven anchor countries (China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey). The ministry is interested in strategic partnerships with them to address regional and global challenges, such as rules for world trade, the international financial architecture, security and freedom, the battle against poverty, sustainable development and energy consumption. BMZ wants anchor countries to become aware of the special role they play in their region and in the world in respect to issues such as the battle against poverty as defined by the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Mutual exchange
At the international level, our new capacity-building programme is an innovative step. It will provide for an exchange of differing views and better mutual understanding. It will make our guests familiar with German and European ideas on globalisation. At the same time, it will allow relevant actors here to better understand the perspective of anchor countries. The programme will focus on designs of implementing global governance and strategies for solving problems. “Soft skills” such as negotiating techniques and intercultural communication are also relevant in this context.
The programme caters to future leaders with an academic degree and some initial professional experience (around two years) who are currently working in the governments or policy-oriented think tanks of the partner countries. Germany is interested in providing advanced training for such people and establishing long-term contact with them. To this end, InWEnt and GDI have designed the MGG programme. One core aspect is to closely intermesh theoretical and practical aspects. Furthermore, exchange with experts and young leaders from Germany play a major role – this is the dialogue component. The courses will take place annually with 20 participants and last around eight months.
GDI’s “Global Governance School” (GGS) will be handling the academic aspects of the programme, paying special attention to the policy fields of peace, security, poverty reduction, sustainable development, international finance and trade, cross-border investments and international environmental protection. To make such theoretical coursework relevant in practice, after their training at GGS, participants will take part in an internship at a German or European institution, for instance a Federal Ministry in Germany.
Project reports
Of course, this phase will serve to involve our guests in networks with German institutions for the long run. Above all, however, it will be about our guests researching and writing project reports, in which they will bridge the gap between their theoretical GGS knowledge and their new practical insights. Drafting these reports is a central element of the programme. When applying for the MGG course, interested candidates must hand in a concept on the basis of which the decision will be made about their acceptance. The research topic must be agreed upon by their employer at home. The reports, after all, are meant to be useful to the sending institutions.
Participants need to have working knowledge of German to be successful during their stay here. Therefore, the programme includes a succession of language-training modules for German, with courses beginning before the participants even leave for Germany. During the entire programme, participants will have access to the “shared workspace” at InWEnt’s Global Campus 21. They will also be in contact with participants of other MGG years as well as former participants of other InWEnt programmes, and they can take part in virtual study communities internationally.
An international workshop took place at the end of March in Bonn. InWEnt and GDI presented the current designed of the programme to high-ranking representatives of interested organisations from Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. Four participants from each of these countries will attend the first MGG course.
Website:
www.gc21.de/mgg
References:
Stamm, Andreas and Tilman Altenburg, 2005:
A foot in the door, E+Z/D+C, October, 364-366
Taube, Günther, 2005: Demand for capacity building,
E+Z/D+C, October, 373-375
Wieczorek-Zeul, Heidemarie, 2005: Partners in global development, E+Z/D+C, May, 204-206
Dr. Günther Taube
directs InWEnt Section 2 (International Legal Frameworks,
Good Governance, Economic Policy).
gunther.taube@inwent.org
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