Imme Scholz, Acting Director of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), took part in the council meeting of the Foundation Environment and Development North Rhine-Westphalia on 6 June. The government of North Rhine-Westphalia created the foundation in 2001 with to promote civil society engagement for sustainable development. Projects range from environmental education and fair trade to global and intercultural learning.
The Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, is Chair of the foundation’s council.
For the third time, the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) received its certification as a family-conscious institute by the audit workandfamily (berufundfamilie). The certificate was handed over to Horst Jobelius, head of general administration at DIE (see picture). The audit workandfamily increases the awareness for the opportunities of balancing work and family life, contributes to a family-friendly culture at DIE and increases the visibility of DIE as an attractive employer.
On 8 May, Gabriele Kahnert retired as Head of Service Facilities after 19 years. More than 120 guests participated in the farewell reception, among them colleagues and long-time companions.
Among the speakers were Dr Imme Scholz, Acting Director of DIE, representatives of all organizational units of the institute as well as the former Head of Division of BMZ, Michaela Zintl, and the Deputy Secretary-General of the German Academic Exchange Service, Rudolf Boden.
All speakers expressed their deep appreciation for Mrs. Kahnert’s outstanding professionalism as well as for her human warmth. Both have been of inestimable value in the institute’s growth process over the last 15 years, which would not have been possible otherwise. Many colleagues from related institutes also benefited from her extensive experience over the years.
DIE and the entire team express their deep gratitude to Gabriele Kahnert for her achievements and wish her all the best for her well-deserved retirement!
SDSN Germany organised in cooperation with adelphi and the German Federal Foreign Office, a launch event on the new essay series of adelphi “Driving Transformative Change: Foreign Affairs and the 2030 Agenda” in Berlin on 30 April. The implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development can prevent conflict and safeguard global stability – and, as the new adelphi study shows, foreign policy plays a decisive role here. During the panel discussion, Susanne Baumann (German Foreign Office), Oli Brown (Chatham House), Fatima Denton (UNU), Adolf Kloke-Lesch (SDSN Germany), David Steven (New York University) and Verónica Tomei (German Council for Sustainable Development) debated these issues with experts in foreign and development policy, civil society and academia.
On 21 May, Engagement Global, Germanwatch, adelphi and SDSN Germany organised an expert workshop on “Populism and Sustainability” in Berlin. After representatives of the network had given their short inputs, experts from academia, including Bernd Sommer (Flensburg University), Christine Hackenesch (DIE), Dennis Eversberg (Jena University) and Beate Küpper (University of Applied Science Niederrhein), gave scientific presentations. The participants discussed the topic in an interdisciplinary setting and identified potential fields of activity and research gaps.
The “Beirätedialog 2019: Will it be more difficult to advise about the future?” was hosted by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences on 23 May. It discussed the German Sustainability Strategy and Agenda 2030 as a frame of reference for further cooperation. Representatives of the scientific advisory councils (Beiräte) of the federal government and various federal ministries discussed the challenges for policy-making. Participants identified innovations and impulses for science-based, future-oriented policy-advice under changed conditions. Innovation and impulses were identified from various stakeholder perspectives. Subsequently, various stakeholders examined the transformative power of the German Sustainability Strategy from their respective perspectives and identified concrete pathways to strengthen it. SDSN Germany is co-chair of the German Science Platform on the 2030 Agenda, which facilitates the meeting of the scientific advisory committees. The secretariat of SDSN Germany is hosted by the DIE.
(from left to right): Daniel Ortiz, Anna Schwachula und Philipp Kenkel, Copyright: Jan Meier / ZMT
Anna Schwachula, researcher in the programme Inter- and transnational cooperation with the Global South, has won the Campus Prize of the University of Bremen. The Campus Prize honours outstanding theses written on the Bremen campus that are thematically dedicated to the sustainable use of resources as well as the protection of the environment, the climate, and the oceans. The jury honoured Anna Schwachula for her dissertation in which she analyzes German research policy in the field of sustainability research, in particular the cooperation between Germany and developing or emerging countries. Her work focuses on South America. Based on qualitative empirical data, the social scientist inquires about the orientation of the funding policy of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and its orientation toward sustainability goals, as well as the basis for decision-making, the people involved, and the effects of policy.
On 8 May, Gabriele Kahnert retired as Head of Service Facilities after 19 years. More than 120 guests participated in the farewell reception, among them colleagues and long-time companions.
