Hamburg has long been making a contribution to sustainable development in a global context. Development co-operation projects and measures abroad as well as development education and public relations work in Hamburg form the components of Hamburg's development policy.
The main focus of support for projects abroad is on measures to eliminate the causes of poverty, to promote gender equality, to improve health care and to protect the environment and resources, as well as to improve municipal infrastructure in large cities.
Of particular importance are measures to improve living conditions in León/Nicaragua, Hamburg's twin city since 1989, and Dar es Salaam/Tansania (officially twin city since 2010, development of a municipal climate partnership since 2011). With the Hamburg Stiftung Asien-Brücke Foundation established in 2005, the Senate has created an independent funding instrument for sustainable development projects in South and Southeast Asia. The city also directly supports projects by non-governmental groups and initiatives. This encourages civic involvement and raises awareness of development policy in Hamburg.
Vocational training measures are an important addition to project funding. As part of a scholarship programme, mainly skilled workers from Nicaragua, Tanzania and India are invited to Hamburg to gain qualifications. At the same time, Hamburg participates in the ASA scholarship programme, in which young people from Hamburg are trained to recognise, understand and shape global connections through seminars and stays abroad.
Hamburg welcomes the development policy commitment of its citizens and cooperates in projects with numerous non-governmental organisations, initiatives and networks. In order to promote the cause of fair trade, the Senate has been involved in the ‘Aktionsbündnis Hamburg mal fair’ campaign alliance with local development information and education organisations since 2006. Since 2008, Hamburg's public procurement agencies have also required declarations of compliance with the ILO's core labour standards in the production process of the goods supplied in tenders, and since 2017 a state law has been in force requiring the preferential purchase of fairly traded products. Hamburg has been recognised as a ‘Fairtrade City’ since 2011. Hamburg organises a number of projects every year under this label, such as the ‘Fair Week’ or the ‘Fair Beach Day’.
Hamburg is currently involved in the Eine Welt-Promotor*innen-Programm with four positions - Fair Trade, Global Learning, Migration and Development and Decolonial Perspectives in Development Policy Engagement.
The Senate consults the Hamburg Council for Sustainable Development Policy (RANEP), which it set up, on the direction of its development policy activities.
Furthermore, global justice is an important component of Hamburg's development policy. Since 2019, Hamburg has therefore been specifically supporting hamburg.global actors who support committed people, initiatives and organisations in Hamburg that are committed to global justice.
Hamburg's development policy also includes other areas in which the city has special resources or expertise. Examples include North-South research at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), cultural dialogue with countries in the Global South, the promotion of South-North trade and tropical medicine research and training.