German Federal Government and federal states work together on development cooperation

Context

Traditionally, the German federal states have worked independently in the field of international cooperation. Against the backdrop of the 2030 Agenda, they engage in international partnerships with stakeholders in business, government, academia and civil society to find solutions to global challenges.

Thanks to their special expertise and experience in many areas, the German federal states are well-placed to support partner countries in their efforts to undertake reforms and promote sustainable development. At the same time, this expertise is an important element in achieving the global goals of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and consolidating international partnerships.

The German Government and Federal States Programme (BLP) was set up to harness the expertise of the federal states in the development cooperation work undertaken by the Federal Government.

Objective

Partner countries benefit from close and well-coordinated collaboration between the Federal Government and the German Federal States in the field of development cooperation.

Approach

The Programme promotes and coordinates coordination between the Federal Government and the Federal States and implements joint projects between BMZ and the German Federal States and their specialist partners. To this end, the Programme links the development cooperation work of the German Federal States with the German Government’s technical cooperation programmes, with a special focus on gender equality. A special call for projects with Ukraine was also initiated, for which the programme received additional funding from the BMZ.

The Programme targets people living in regions within the respective partner countries. Frequently, these are local population groups, especially politically, economically, socio-culturally disadvantaged groups, such as women, girls, young people or minorities.

German Federal States participating in the BLP make a financial contribution to the projects or provide staff, rooms, scholarships or training opportunities.

In addition, the Programme offers participants from the German federal states courses in development policy implementation skills and promotes networking and the exchange of knowledge. Working with agile methods, the participants develop innovative solutions to development cooperation challenges.

Last update: September 2023