Local Governance Exchange North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) – Ghana

North Rhine-Westphalia, 29 May to 3 June 2022. At last, the participants in the programme 'Local Governance Exchange North Rhine-Westphalia – Ghana' were able to meet in person! After the programme was launched at the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic prevented long journeys and face-to-face meetings. Now, during a six-day programme in NRW, the plan was to lay a solid foundation for further cooperation within the five municipal partnerships. Apart from the municipalities of Bonn/Cape Coast and Dortmund/Kumasi, which had already been connected for a long time, the partnerships between Eschweiler and Keta, Essen and Obuasi, and Münster and Tamale had only just formed as part of the programme.

The programme, which lasted almost a week, began on May 29, 2022 with a boat tour on the Rhine and a joint dinner. This gave the partners a chance to get to know each other and to begin talking informally. The following day, the kick-off workshop took place in Düsseldorf. Heike Dongowski, Officer in the Middle East, Africa and Balkans Department of the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, welcomed the participants. She pointed out that the partnership between NRW and Ghana had already been on a solid footing since 2007, and that the Local Governance Exchange was now adding an important local component. She wished everyone a good and productive time.

In the course of the day, participants formulated their expectations concerning the content of the exchange and the joint endeavour. They identified climate action, sustainability, tourism, education and science, gender equality, and waste and water management as common thematic areas. To work together sustainably in the long term, the partners will pursue respectful and regular communication through a variety of channels. This will enable them to achieve the goals they have set together.

Over the next three days, the guests from Ghana had ample opportunity to visit their partner municipalities in NRW. The agenda included meetings with mayors, various specialised departments and civil society. This afforded the visitors a close look at the municipal structures, and enabled the actors to get to know each other in the local setting.

In smaller workshops, the individual partnerships each worked in more detail on the issues already discussed with the entire group regarding content and communication. To guide them, the partners were able to use a worksheet provided by the Service Agency Communities in One World:

1. Which topics have priority, and how can the partner municipalities benefit from each other's expertise?
2. Who is the main point of contact, and who are the members of the core team?
3. What communication structures suit the partnership? For example, regular updates by email, personal contact via messenger services, or virtual work meetings?
4. What are the next steps in the work of the partnership?

Most partnerships aim to make a first return visit from NRW to Ghana in autumn 2022, in order to get to know the Ghanaian municipalities better. There, the two sides will continue to work on topics, and the first small-scale projects will be implemented.

The Münster-Tamale partnership was already able to present a first concrete project: In autumn 2022, a theatre and workshop project on the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and especially SDG 17 (Partnerships for the goals) will be implemented with young people in Tamale.

Education and vocational training are high on the agenda of all four other partnerships. School partnerships and university cooperations will also enable other actors to be involved.

Other priority areas include tourism (for Bonn and Cape Coast), gender equality and diversity management (for Dortmund and Kumasi), and climate action plus disaster risk management (for the flood-prone partner municipalities of Eschweiler and Keta) among others.

On 3 June 2022, all partnerships met again in Düsseldorf for the final workshop. There they were welcomed by Nicola Schwering, Head of the Middle East, Africa and Balkans Department at the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia. She too emphasised the added value for the NRW-Ghana partnership delivered by the local level. Other stakeholders were invited to the final workshop, such as professional promoters for Ghana, and NRW municipalities that are either seeking a partnership with a Ghanaian municipality or already have a civil society partnership (Selm and Busunu). Everyone listened with great interest to the topics and visions that the five existing partnerships have developed and are planning for the future.

Kurt Baudach, Service Agency Head of Department for Municipal Partnerships – States and Regions, wrapped up the meeting for the attendees. He said he was pleased by the great dedication and the good results during the week together. These were an excellent basis for further joint work in partnership, he continued. This will involve further meetings either in person or online, during which the partners will further develop and concretise their partnerships’ goals and project ideas.