Review 2022

Bonn, January 10, 2023. For many years, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has been engaged in a country partnership with Ghana. Embedded in the multi-level partnership work is also the expert exchange between municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia and Ghana, which has been accompanied by the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) since 2020. While the first two partnership years were characterized by digital communication and exchange formats due to the COVID-19-pandemic, the five participating partnerships were finally able to get to know each other in person in 2022.

The long-awaited first face-to-face meeting took place during a fact-finding mission from May 28th to June 3rd, 2022 in Germany. In addition to joint program points such as the kick-off workshop and the final workshop in Düsseldorf as well as visits to the respective partner municipalities, the individual partnerships also had plenty of space and opportunity to exchange their project-specific expectations, evaluate ongoing cooperation and forge joint project plans and take them further.

In addition to a virtual network meeting of the North Rhine-Westphalian participants, the Service Agency also organized a network meeting for the Ghanaian actors and an intercultural training session in the second half of the year. Besides the actors from the five participating municipalities, representatives of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) and the GIZ Ghana also attended the meeting. Reflecting on the partnership work to date, many positive aspects were compiled, but it was also revealed where obstacles still need to be overcome and further support is required. They participants identified synergies between the respective aspired projects. The intercultural training embedded in the network meeting helped the participants to accept challenges posed by differences in the two cultures and ways of working and to see them as opportunities and enrichment.

There have also been many meetings and working sessions within the individual partnerships between Münster and Tamale, Dortmund and Kumasi, Bonn and Cape Coast, Eschweiler and Keta, and Essen and Obuasi - in person or online.

Expert Mission Münster – Tamale

From September 19th to 24th, 2022, three representatives of the city of Münster travelled to the partner municipality of Tamale. In addition to a reception by the mayor, they visited local institutions and companies, a theatre play on the SDGs and established important contacts. Parallel to the delegation's trip to Tamale, the Glokal Mural Münster was created at a local high school in Münster, the Ratsgymnasium Münster. The large facade painting on the global sustainability goals was realized with the support of an artist from Tamale and with funding from the Small Projects Fund. A return visit from Tamale to Münster is being planned. Among other things, a joint exchange of expertise on the topic of water is to be organized with RWTH Aachen University and the BMBF.

Activities of other partnerships

During the first digital meetings of the partnership between Dortmund and Kumasi, the focus was on gender and youth unemployment. Common issues were formulated and solutions that are relevant for both municipalities were developed. In both cities, for example, the aim is to get more young people into craft apprenticeships.

The SDG partnership conference "Building Bridges between Cities in Europe and Worldwide - Joining Hands for Localising the SDGs" held by the city of Bonn also focused on common challenges faced by municipalities worldwide. From September 26th to 28th, all partner cities of Bonn were invited to jointly discuss experiences and approaches to localizing the 2030 Agenda. A delegation from Cape Coast also took part in the conference.

Meanwhile, the partnership Eschweiler - Keta focuses on climate protection. Together, the partners are taking part in the ninth phase of the "Municipal Climate Partnerships" project, the kick-off event of which was held in Essen on November 8th, 2022. The partners from Essen and Obuasi are also in regular contact with each other via video conferences. The cooperation is to be significantly intensified in 2023.

The year 2022 demonstrated how important face-to-face meetings are for partnership work as well. Nevertheless, the digital exchange formats which were acquired during the pandemic are proving their worth. More expert missions are now planned for 2023. By the end of the year, the partners want to move their projects forward and then present the progress at another international networking meeting.