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Contributions from
the Column
InWEnt Forum
Social services: Promoting a human right
Development Policy Forum: "We take our partners seriously"
12/2006 |
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“We take our partners seriously”
InWEnt’s Development Policy Forum is in the business of informally promoting political dialogue. Each year, it arranges around 15 conferences on major international issues with top people from abroad. The idea is not to put across German positions, but rather to develop a deeper understanding of pressing issues in debate with people from poor and rich countries representing the spheres of politics, business, academia and civil society.
[ Interview with Astrid Kühl ]
What will Germany’s upcoming presidencies of the G8 and European Council mean for the Development Policy Forum?
They will both determine the focus of our events. For one thing, we will be arranging the informal ministerial meetings. But everything else we organise will also have an EU or G8 connection. For instance, we will organise a dialogue forum with the World Bank on its Gender Action Plan. We will also host an African Partnership Forum, tackling one of the crucial G8 topics, to coincide with Germany’s role as G8 host. We will deal with the official agenda at various levels.
Your mission is similar to that of the protestant academies we have in Germany. In order to help form opinion, you arrange conferences on issues the development ministry deems important. Your approach is pluralistic, involving decision-makers for from donor as well as recipient countries, from politics, academia, business and civil society. Will that change in 2007 if you focus more on the EU and the G8?
The basic approach will remain the same. The emphasis on EU and G8 issues, however, implies that we will pay particular attention to how these bodies shape development matters. We will discuss things in the EU and G8 context. We have no compulsion to reach agreement, no final communiqué, no body of resolutions, participants can speak freely. Nonetheless, what we discuss has an impact on the summit meetings – and that is intended. However, I disagree with you on one point. We do not see ourselves as in the same business as the Protestant Academies, whose work focuses on Germany, contributing to public debate domestically. Our mission, in contrast, is to organise informal conferences and conventions in order support of international processes. More importantly, however, we provide a free-speech platform for voices from developing countries.
So forming opinion in Germany is at most a byproduct of your work.
If we contribute to that process, that is more than fine with us. But our principle agenda has more dimensions. Of course, we always make sure that Germany’s stand on development issues is expressed. But we do not place it centre stage. We are not a PR service for the development ministry. Our aim is to address controversial issues in open debate and set in motion a real policy dialogue with opinion-leaders from many countries. We are looking at the big picture with open minds, rather than struggling with petty departmental interests.
Which presupposes a certain willingness to learn on the German side.
That is correct. Recently, for example, we had a conference on EU trade policy, on the agenda of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), which are viewed with great skepticism both by civil-society groups and by African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) partner countries. The German participants did not just preach their views; they listened and acted as moderators in the debate. The response from the ACP countries was very positive; they felt they were being taken seriously and understood better.
That makes sense for trade issues. In the WTO context, Germany’s Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul has spoken up against the European Commission in support of developing countries. But next year, Germany will assume the special responsibilities of the council president and the G8 host. Accordingly, it will surely become harder to play mediating roles.
Your question is pitched at the level of tangible political decision-making. But the Development Policy Forum is working on a different, more informal level. We create a space where the primary objective is not to put across German positions but to engage partners in order to discuss important issues. We promote better mutual understanding, as well as better understanding of the topics discussed. If things go well, we can even provide new insights.
Which sectors are particularly important?
We target politicians, the private sector, civil society, regional and global international organisations, and – depending on the issue addressed – other ministries in Germany as well.
So whenever you want to discuss gender issues, you’ll involve the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs.
Precisely, and if the subject is debt remission, we’ll involve the finance ministry. We see ourselves as a conference convenor. In the world of politics, we try to reach parliaments, government, the judiciary and central banks. In the private sector, we approach entrepreneurs, business executives, employers’ associations and trade unions. Regional and multilateral organisations are important – for instance, the OECD, the African Union, the UN, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But unlike many other conference organisers, we make sure that the poor countries are adequately represented and that the debate does not drift off into the realm of academic theory. That is why we call our business policy dialogue.
Shouldn’t you actually be organising many more conferences? To stay with the example of gender equality: if you stage a conference on that issue, you can attract maybe a dozen people from Africa. But there are some 50 countries in Africa for which the subject would be important.
Fortunately we are not alone in the world. Other partners in Europe are also concerned with such matters. Of course, one could always do more, no doubt. But action needs to be proportionate. And especially in the case of gender equality, we are no lone voice in the wilderness. The World Bank has appointed our minister as its “gender champion”, and we will highlight that at an event next year. We will be asking tough questions: What is the World Bank’s Gender Action Plan achieving? What is the feedback from the developing countries concerned? What is not running well, what needs to be corrected? The Development Policy Forum engages in such debates and drives them forward – above all by giving the poor countries a voice. By which, I should add, I do not mean just senior politicians. We take great care to give experts from civil society, business and academia a voice, too – from donor as well as recipient countries. Otherwise, we could hardly host the kind of genuine, fruitful debate that can lead to new perspectives.
For a number of months now, you have been based in the same building in Berlin as the Development Ministry. How does that affect your work?
The physical proximity makes many things easier. We compare notes even more thoroughly than in the past and consultation on topics is easier. We are now closer to the political process and may need to keep reminding the ministry that we can do more good by not being a well-oiled PR machine. But I feel that the Ministry appreciates the work we do in networking experts worldwide and sensitising decision-makers to important issues such as climate change or gender mainstreaming. We could not do that if our partners felt that our job was to make them fall in line with our government. We to take them seriously, because we want to succeed.
Astrid Kühl
has been heading InWEnt’s Development Policy Forum since last December.
astrid.kuehl@inwent.org
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