[ Election Platform series: Social Democrats ]

Development policy is about global challenges

In a series of comments ahead of Germany’s general election in September, the development spokespersons of the parties representend in the Bundestag elaborate their programmatic ideas this month. The Soical Democrats’ Sasha Raabe argues that the past ten years, marked by his party's leadership, have been good years for German Development Cooperation. Thanks to the SPD's sustainable, internationally coordinated agenda, Germany’s Development Ministry, as an entity in its own right, has become a reliable partner for developing countries.


[ By Sascha Raabe ]

At the national as well as international levels, the SPD has acted on crucial issues such as rural development, education and health care or international climate protection. We support partner countries and boost their capacities in the development of social security strategies based on solidarity. Our response to the global finance and economic crisis was fast and determined, helping to mitigate the impact on developing countries. We promote women and take gender mainstreaming very seriously. Partnership with Africa is of priority.

The Millennium Development Goals serve as broad guidelines. The intention is to halve global poverty by 2015. In order to achieve that, we cooperate with civil society and have systematically increased the funds we disburse to civil-society organisations. We introduced the development volunteers service „Weltwärts“ which allows young people from Germany to gain important experience in developing countries.

Germany has become the world’s second largest donor of ODA (official development assistance). Social Democrats pledge allegiance to the EU goal of gradually raising ODA to 0,51 % next year and 0.7 % by 2015. This is a yardstick by which to measure the other parties. We intend to use the national budget for ODA hikes, but additionally favour innovative mechanisms. For instance, revenue from the trade in carbon emissions should serve to fight poverty as well as climate change at the global level.

Germany’s Development Cooperation is well placed to rise to global challenges. We have made it more efficient and coherent – for instance, by reducing the number of partner countries and by coordinating all efforts with the partners concerned. We support the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Accordingly, we want to further boost the coherence and effectiveness of various German agencies and instruments without casting doubt on their right to exist.

By contrast, the Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats are in favour of returning to an outdated model of developmental engagement, focussing almost exclusively on individual projects. An increasingly globalised world, however, can only rise to challenges such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria or the protection of tropical forests by coordinating cooperation internationally.

It was under Social Democrat leadership that debt relief for the poorest countries started. As a result, 29 million more African children are going to school today. The Social Democrats in the Bundestag are in favour of further debt relief with an eye to sustainability. We have struggled for internationally responsible loan policies, for a sovereign default law and for a new, sound base of international credit.

It also stems from the principle of tackling issues at the global level that we promote a fair world trade regime. Developing countries must finally be put in a position to participate more significantly in the WTO. Our agenda for the next four years explicitly spells out that subsidies for agricultural exports must stop. Moreover, we want WTO rules to take account of social and environmental minimum standards.

Our agenda stresses the promotion of renewable energy in developing countries along with the sustainable use of resources. We do not want the production of agrofuels to hamper food security, the conservation of biodiversity, the protection of tropical forests or the livelihoods of indigenous peoples.

In our view, development policy is a pillar of any meaningful strategy to promote peace and to design globalisation in a fair and equitable manner. Social Democrats are sure to achieve further successes in these fields.

D+C, 2009/09, Debate, Page 345