Münster - Tamale: A young active partnership

What were the triggers for initiating the partnership with Münster? How did it start?

Mustapha Amadu: Thank you very much for this opportunity. The discussions started before I joined the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, but from the documents available, it all started around 2019 with a formal communication from the Münster City Council to the Tamale City Council expressing interest in working with Tamale.

The Catholic Church has maintained relations with the diocese in Tamale for decades. The motivation developed from this existing relationship.

Initially, there was a digital kick-off meeting to get to know each other and then a familiarisation visit was planned, to which the city administration of Tamale was invited to Münster.. Unfortunately, the global Covid-19 pandemic intervened, so they were unable to travel in 2020. In 2020, I joined the Metropolitan Assembly of Tamale and was given the privilege of coordinating the partnership.

In May 2022, we travelled to Münster with a delegation and this coincided with the general meeting with other partner churches in Ghana. Around six municipalities from all over Ghana that have a partnership with a German city, such as Cape Coast with Bonn or Kumasi with Dortmund, met in Germany for a fact-finding mission . We first met in Düsseldorf with the partner municipalities, government representatives from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, representatives of the Service Agency Communities in One World. That was a very important platform. We exchanged many ideas and then travelled to our specific partner cities.

In our discussions, we have already been able to agree a number of cooperation agreements. As the city of Tamale, we talked about our areas of interest and the city of Münster also talked about its areas of interest. We are in the process of harmonising our areas and agreeing on the topics of our cooperation.

Has there been a return visit from Münster to Tamale in the meantime?

Mustapha Amadu: Yes, in September 2022, the coordinator of the programme here in Münster, Ms Nina Dohr, and the Chairman of the Advisory Board for local development cooperation of the City of Münster, Dr Kajo Schukalla, came to Tamale.

Have you agreed on joint activities so far?

Mustapha Amadu: Yes, for example, we expressed the need to expand technical and vocational education and training. Our institutions are well positioned in the field of technical and vocational education. But of course they can still improve their knowledge. We believe that knowledge transfer should be possible as part of this partnership, with either the lecturers or the students or both coming to Münster for further training so that they can improve their skills in their work when they return.

And we're also talking about a particular peculiar water situation in one of the communities in Tamale called Gumani. They have a water source, but not all year round. At a certain point in the year, it dries up, and it's unfortunately the only source of water for the community. Also, there are a number of adjoining communities. And the way they access the water is also very challenging. It can prune them to some waterborne diseases because, people who come to draw water from that source will step in there, sometimes as deep up to the knee and they fetch it even raw, not treated. It is really a development challenge confronting the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly. So we shared the experience with our partners, and they expressed interest to visit the site. We could, as part of the partnership, combine expertise from the German and the Ghanaian side. We have a state institution called Ghana Water Company. We are still exploring the opportunities to get ideas to get this addressed. So happily, they visited the site and they were really convinced that indeed it was a development challenge.

During our stay in Münster, we also talk about the shea industry. In the northern part of the country, especially in the Mali region, we have a lot of shea trees. We have a lot of shea fruits that can be used to make shea butter. This industry is still underdeveloped. It is an industry that is largely run by women. When you develop this industry, you inevitably empower women economically. Empowering women economically means empowering families as a whole. We believe co-operation in this area would also be very good. When we came to Münster, we brought some shea butter with us. Our partners were very impressed by the quality of the product. We are still exploring the possibilities of product development. We are looking for business partners who are interested in developing this industry, enabling women to expand their production, and helping to shape it to meet international standards.

We also talked about the smock industry. For us northerners, the smock [note: traditional garment from Ghana] is one of our traditional clothing items. And this is also an industry in Tamale that is mainly run by the youth. We believe that it can also create a lot of employment opportunities for the otherwise unemployed youth.

We have also collaborated on a student exchange programme between the University of Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale and its counterpart in Münster, the University of Münster. Students and lecturers from Tamale were in Münster and we are expecting 22 students and three lecturers from Münster in Tamale in August 2024 as part of the exchange programme. These are all positive developments that you can attribute to the partnership.

Our understanding of partnership is that both cities  can contribute to the development and common good of the partner municipalities. You contribute your expertise. You contribute your possibilities, your ideas and your resources, and both cities can then utilise these for the benefit of the partnership. One party may contribute more, but you have to endeavour to see what good you can do.

For example, we successfully carried out the so-called Glokal Mural Project together. It is a mural painting project that creates more awareness for the SDGs. An artist from Tamale and his counterpart in Münster initiated the largest mural project in the city of Münster together with a secondary school. It was exciting to see how many pupils took part. A total of 60 pupils took part. And that is enormous. The enthusiasm with which they took part is even more exciting. We are very proud of this success story. It arouses people's admiration. We think we will repeat this in Tamale in the near future. While we are in Münster, we are trying to learn from the experience in terms of the engagement processes that lead to the actual painting campaign. What were the challenges? How were they overcome? What would they do differently now? So we can use this experience to implement a similar project in Tamale.

As part of the partnership, there is this theater work. There is a group here called ‘Cactus Junges Theater’, headed by, Madam Barbara Kemmler. She has been to Tamale several times with her team and has tried to build the capacity of the young people and encourage them to go into the theatre field, which is really underdeveloped. We already have a facility, a youth group in Tamale, the Tamale Youth Home Cultural Centre. We are bringing them together with the Cactus Young Theatre to work with them. The Young Theatre is coming to Tamale with its entire group from Münster. Because of their commitment and the seriousness the both groups have demonstrated already, the Assembly authority headed by our mayor, Hon. Sule Salifu, has committed some resources of the Assembly into developing the Tamale Youth Home Center for enhancing this collaboration. A whole hall is currently under renovation. Some auxiliary facilities like changing rooms are under construction and a very big mirror will be installed that can really help in rehearsals.

As Tamale Metropolitan Assembly we have gone a step ahead to pass a bylaw to really accept the partnership as something that is part of the Assembly's work. We are doing so because of sustainability issues. If it is documented, if it is legislated, everybody is committed. It is binding on everybody. If tomorrow the next leader comes, the person is obliged to continue what is already on the file. Sustainability is key.

And we also trying on our own to give a lot more publicity about their relationship so that it doesn't just end in our offices. Several other stakeholders in the larger community should be aware of the partnership between Tamale and Münster. The chiefs are involved, the religious leaders are involved, the youth, the politicians, everybody there should be aware of that partnership. We are planning to have what we call a ‘Münster Day’. We want to set aside a day to celebrate the partnership, so that people can get to know about the relationship.

You mentioned already that you tried to strengthen the sustainability by putting certain things into law. What tips would you give a Ghanaian or German municipality that is also considering initiating a partnership?

Mustapha Amadu: It is very important that you understand your cultural differences. If you want to work together, you come from different but distinct cultural contexts. It is important that you get to know each other better in your specific context so that you are not surprised. If one party does a, b, c, you should know that it is customary in their culture to do so. This is very important. Otherwise, it can lead to conflict and that's not good for a partnership. Through the initiative of the Service Agency Communities in One World, we have organised some workshops and training sessions with our partners, led by professionals who have helped us to understand our similarities and differences and how we can use them for our development. It is also important to understand each other's areas of interest. And then you can reach a consensus. You can harmonise ideas. Let the other person know that you also have something to offer. No one should be seen as the recipient. Everyone should be seen as contributing something. It could be ideas. It could be a resource.

Do you have also already plans for the future in Tamale and Münster?

Mustapha Amadu: We have identified kindergarten. A kindergarten in Münster is collaborating with another kindergarten in Tamale to see how we can develop the kids.

We are exploring further collaboration between two hospitals: the Tamale West Hospital with the University Clinic in Münster.

Together with our waste management expert we have been to the Waste Management Center in Münster to learn from their experiences. The waste segregation processes they are undertaking, the waste treatment they are doing, that is presenting a huge opportunity for us to leverage on. So these are all good things we are undertaking.

I would like to thank the city of Münster for their grateful hospitality and encouraging collaboration as well Service Agency Communities in One World for their fantastic support work.

An interview by Burkhard Vielhaber