With its development policy, the Rhineland-Palatinate state government aims to help fight poverty worldwide, make globalisation fairer and protect the environment. In doing so, it is guided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in September 2015 as a reference framework for policy in Rhineland-Palatinate. Today, development policy is about more than just projects and programmes. It is about fundamental political, social and economic changes that need to take place worldwide. It is about socially and ecologically just globalisation, just trade structures, climate and environmental protection. And it is about changes to living and consumption patterns in Germany.
Against this backdrop, the country's development policy focuses on the following areas:
Sustainable procurement
Sustainable procurement helps to improve the living and working conditions of many people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. For this reason, state and local authorities in particular are required to include social and ecological criteria in public tenders. As part of our training project "Rhineland-Palatinate buys sustainably!", which is organised in cooperation with the state development policy network ELAN, we show local authorities how sustainable procurement is possible in a legally compliant and practicable manner.
Municipal development policy
Local authorities are important players in development policy. We motivate and support municipalities in their endeavours to get involved with their own projects, e.g. in educational work, municipal partnerships or sustainable procurement.
Educational work in schools
The state government wants to raise awareness of the situation in other countries, but also of global interrelationships. Children and young people should learn what impact our actions have on people in other parts of the world and be sensitised to sustainable and socially just action.
Information events on development policy topics
Together with Rhineland-Palatinate partners, we organise information and discussion events on current development policy issues and participate in specialist conferences and presentations.
Cooperation with civil society
We support associations, local authorities, schools and churches in Rhineland-Palatinate that carry out development policy information and education projects in Germany or cooperate with partners in countries of the South.
Partnership with Rwanda
One focus of development policy in Rhineland-Palatinate is the partnership with Rwanda. In 1982, Rhineland-Palatinate and the Republic of Rwanda sealed the first partnership between a German and an African country. From the outset, the basic idea was to develop a so-called grassroots partnership that was to be organised in a decentralised and citizen-oriented manner. This form of grassroots partnership is based on encounters with mutual respect and esteem and aims to go beyond pure development cooperation to become a partnership in everyday, social and cultural life. Today, it enjoys an excellent reputation among the Rwandan population and is also deeply rooted in the Rhineland-Palatinate population.
People from both countries endeavour to meet as equals, exchange ideas and develop joint projects. The structure of the partnership between Rhineland-Palatinate and Rwanda is organised in two parts: the Rwanda Department of the state government and the Rhineland-Palatinate/Rwanda Partnership Association (Partnerschaftsverein Rheinland-Pfalz/Ruanda e.V.).
The primary objectives of the measures are to improve education, support women and participate in the areas of health care and nature conservation.
As part of the approximately 190 school partnerships, the school situation in Rwanda is being sustainably improved. Personal contact between children and young people as well as between teachers and school administrators from Rhineland-Palatinate and Rwanda is also promoted. Vocational training is another important factor in the education of Rwandans. Only with suitable vocational training is it possible to train qualified skilled workers, who play an enormously important role in Rwanda's economic development.
Involving people with disabilities as important players in the partnership and thus further deepening cooperation between Rhineland-Palatinate and Rwanda is a new priority.
There are also more and more projects for the production of renewable energies and environmental protection. The Rhineland-Palatinate economy is involved in the partnership in order to further promote development in Rwanda.
The partnership is also becoming increasingly involved in the fields of art, culture and sport. They act as a bridge of understanding and promote co-operation with and between the partners. The many exchange trips in recent years have enabled young people in particular to familiarise themselves with the other culture and benefit from each other: Children and young people form the basis for the future of the partnership.
Further information:
Partnership Rhineland-Palatinate-Rwanda