title: Municipal development policy in Germany: current status and prospects
Creators: name: Wingens, Christopher
name: Marschall, Paul
name: Dick, Eva
Publisher: name: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/01t3zke88
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Agenda 2020
subject: sustainable development
subject: municipal development policy
subject: development policy

description: German municipalities are getting increasingly involved in development policy work in
 Germany and abroad, with the nature of that involvement becoming ever more diverse.
 However, very little is known about the background or the type of these activities. <br>
 Against this backdrop, the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für
 Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) has conducted a study of municipal development policy (MDP) in
 Germany. Financed by the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) of Engagement
 Global, this research drew upon a previous study carried out by DIE in 2009 (Fröhlich
 &amp; Lämmlin, 2009) with the aim of identifying the current status of and trends in
 development for this policy area. To this end, DIE collaborated with the German Institute
 for Development Evaluation (DEval) to conduct a survey of municipalities throughout
 Germany. In addition, semi-structured qualitative interviews were held with
 representatives of municipalities and relevant national and federal-state institutions.
 <br> As the results show, involvement in MDP on the part of German municipalities is
 increasing in the context of enabling national policies and changing frameworks for
 international cooperation (e.g. 2030 Agenda). Large municipalities engage far more often
 in development policy than small municipalities. The latter often focus on low-threshold
 activities with fewer requirements for project management, such as the promotion of fair
 trade. In a number of cases, small municipalities carry out projects based on
 inter-municipal cooperation. <br> MDP covers many different topics, from information and
 education work to diverse forms of partnerships with municipalities in the Global South.
 The number and variety of stakeholders involved in the municipal administration
 partnerships are increasing, along with the functions they carry out. Municipalities serve
 as implementing agents, facilitators and networkers. They are partly motivated in their
 international work and corresponding activities by self-interest. Their involvement, for
 instance, may allow them to take on international responsibility or increase their appeal
 as an employer to new recruits. <br> Development policy is a shared responsibility of the
 German national government, federal states and municipalities. MDP is a voluntary
 municipal activity and is thus not practised everywhere. Human resources are often
 insufficient and the required knowledge is difficult to obtain. In some cases,
 municipalities consider the expenditure associated with the management of MDP projects to
 be too high. <br> Nonetheless, municipalities make a key contribution to transnational
 sustainability policy through their work, most especially by enabling global objectives to
 be localised and/or contextualised. One of the specific benefits of MDP is its proximity
 to citizens and direct contact with local stakeholders in Germany and abroad. However,
 when measured using conventional metrics and indicators for development cooperation (such
 as Official Development Assistance, ODA), the municipal contribution is still
 insufficiently discernible. It is important to continue providing support to
 municipalities, with as little red tape as possible, in order to fully exploit the
 potential MDP has in municipalities that are already involved in this work and those which
 are not yet involved.
description: Briefing Paper, 17/2021