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“Future begins at the local level”
Berlin takes positive stock of tsunami aid
07/2005 |
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[ Sustainability ]
The future begins at the local level
Towns and villages are the laboratories of sustainability. But up to now, development policy has not been taking full advantage of this potential. Local government offers a number of ways to practice international responsibility and solidarity. D+C/E+Z discussed the issue with Gunther Hilliges, who directed the Bureau of Development Cooperation of Bremen for many years.
[ Interview with Gunther Hilliges ]
Why do the development efforts of state and city governments still play such a minor role in Germany?
The development cooperation of German communities and state governments, as opposed to the federal government, is still viewed as the fifth wheel on the cart. This potential is still not sufficiently acknowledged and implemented, although it is sorely needed. In general, our society fails to recognise the need to play an active role in designing globalisation. The industrialised nations expect a country like Peru to change its structures almost overnight. But when we have to make structural adjustments at home, such as following the unification of the two former German states, we take our time. And for many other structural changes necessary such as the European sugar market, we don't even have political concepts.
What is the result of not taking advantage of this potential?
The tasks we are facing are so great that we cannot do it without involving communities and state governments. In Germany, there simply is no understanding of sustainable development being an important task that we have to solve jointly in the globalisation process: by communities, state governments and the federal government in cooperation with civil society, scientists, private industry. We have to pool our energies far more if we want to master the challenges of the future.
Many German communities and federal states have to tighten their budgets and are more likely to be giving up tasks altogether than looking for new ones…
The idea that international cooperation depends on money is wrong. At the state and community levels, the main goal is not to get more funding. State and local governments can instead focus on strengthening structures. Take a look at the adult education courses that are now being offered on the Millennium Development Goals or at further training courses for schoolteachers. Right now, development policy is given short shrift in education. I am not talking about opening up entirely new departments at universities. Rather, we need to focus the content of education on crucial tasks. And the structures that are already in place have to perform these tasks. Not everything we do has to cost more money. Sometimes, we just need to set our priorities differently. The UN’s Decade of Education from 2005 to 2014 offers some excellent opportunities here. So it is good that Germany's President, Horst Köhler, has offered his patronage for the project.
Could you name an example of successful community and state involvement in development cooperation?
In Germany, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has been pursuing an exemplary policy for many years. The State uses its Community Financing Act to provide financial support for communities that do involve in local environmental as well as development policy. In addition, NRW has created “promoters” to support the approximately 4000 non-governmental organisations in the State. Its Green-Social Democratic government has financed at least 40 such promoters in the past. They have encouraged people to get involved and showed them that their work is taken seriously. Overall, however, the commitment of the German states to development cooperation has slackened off. Often, there is little willingness to face global challenges. That is why I hope very much that the new conservative government of NRW will make an objective assessment of what former German President Johannes Rau started back when he was Governor of the State. I hope the new government will not just view everything along party lines. More and more, there is talk about radically cutting this work or stopping it altogether. That could lead to a negative domino effect.
What do you think of the German Chancellor's calling on communities to look for partnerships in the regions affected by the tsunami catastrophe?
Those of us who have been working in this field for years were very pleased. Finally, the highest echelons of politics have realised that there is potential at the lower levels. So I was greatly encouraged. It was also great that the necessary structure was set up very quickly at InWEnt to coordinate and provide consulting to partnership initiatives. This gave our work a new quality. The old lines that separated the world into East and West, North and South are disappearing. The idea of “global responsibility” is taking on new dimensions. Now, we have to make sure that this spontaneous willingness to help is implemented in structured development work. But this process will take years. Donors will have to be patient.
The aid for the victims of the tsunami touches on one of the true mandates of the international activities of communities: sister cities. Can communities with tight budgets expand actual initiatives into real partnerships?
The budget situation in communities is dire. The City State of Bremen has been facing budget cuts for many years. But if we have the political will, then this question of money would not be asked first. Cities like Essen and Hanover spend upwards of 100,000 euros every year for community development cooperation. They could have been building streets with this money. But you can also be satisfied with what you have, postpone improvements, and give 100,000 euros to the poorest who have nothing and can do a lot with that money. We need to raise awareness. We have to learn how to practice solidarity. One goal of education is to teach people to assume responsibility. It is easy to give when you have enough. While I do think that communities in Germany have serious financial challenges, I would also say that cities, towns and villages still provide a lot of local services. We are only talking about 0.01 percent of the budget of the German communities. 3600 communities are currently involved in development cooperation and Agenda 21 processes.
Often, things go faster if the state is behind an effort. In Germany, at the local level, it is the task of InWEnt to facilitate grass-roots initiatives. How do you think InWEnt is doing?
InWEnt has done an amazing job with its community service centre. I remember how slowly things got started with the Agenda 21 processes in Germany. In 1992, the Agenda was adopted in Rio, and communities were to present their sustainability plans in New York by 1996. But by then, only 260 of the 17,000 German communities had come up with Agenda processes. Back then, we repeatedly called for a service centre to support communal development cooperation. In 2001, one was finally founded based on a contract signed between the federal government, the state governments, leading community associations, and NGOs. Within just a few years, the staff members at this service centre managed to get 2600 German communities involved in Agenda 21 processes – of 7000 communities in Europe. So we have truly picked up steam.
What is the social foundation for local development cooperation? 20 years ago, solidarity groups were typical. Later, citizens associations dominated the scene. Nowadays, community development cooperation usually takes place within Agenda 21 processes, often dominated by environmental policy.
While the Agenda work initially focused mostly on the environment, the focus has greatly expanded. Many environmental activists understand that the one-world concept involves more than simply reducing consumption at home. In many communities today, North/South issues such as the Millennium Development Goals are deeply rooted in Agenda processes. Local Agenda offices reinforce this structure. In the long run, we cannot simply leave the work of civil society up to volunteers. If it is important, it also has to be supported. Every task in our society has a structure, but development work is supposed to be left up to unemployed activists and those on welfare. That is a contradiction.
Can the immigrants who live in Germany provide a social foundation for community development cooperation?
Theoretically, yes. But strangely enough, there are almost no examples of this happening. In Bremen, we have repeatedly tried to get into contact with the approximately 50,000 immigrants who live here. But it is hard to get them involved. Most of the immigrants who live in Germany came as workers or were seeking refuge from war, disaster, or persecution. And now, they are to act as intermediaries here? That is too much to ask of a lot of people.
On what topics should local development cooperation focus on in the future? Shouldn't communities do more to support the dawning of the solar age?
We cannot do without communities if we want to speed up the development of renewable energy. So it would be helpful if communities would sit down with their partners in the South and talk about how to focus on switching our energy supply towards renewables. But we should start at home first. We have to make sure that these technologies are not seen as something “just for the poor” so that people in the South will also want to have them. In India, I have noticed repeatedly how much people there want to have what citizens in industrial nations have. We have to take advantage of this image effect in promoting renewables. I think communities can play a tremendous role here. In this field, they have enormous competence in coming up with solutions that should be included in development cooperation.
Within sister-city partnerships?
Sister-city partnerships are more important than ever. But too often, we make the mistake in community development cooperation of trying to repeat the sisterhood relationships with European communities. The two mayors sit down and sign the deal, and that's that. This is a classic mistake. At first glance, Bremen has less in common with the Indian town of Pune than with French or Polish communities. This is why churches, local associations, local businesses, newspapers, and other actors and civil society have to support such city partnerships. We can’t leave this work up to the city halls. After refusing its support for a long time, the German Conference on Cities has finally given its support to community development cooperation. Many mayors have realised that communities can help assuage people’s fear of globalisation by making them feel that they are not powerless victims, but can take active part in designing globalisation. This is an important aspect for the future of our democracy.
Dr. Hans Dembowski and Norbert Glaser spoke with Gunther Hilliges for D+C.
Gunther Hilliges
has been working in development cooperation at the municipal level for more than 25 years. From 1979 to May 31, 2005, he directed
Bremen’s Bureau of Development Cooperation.
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