Whitsun in Dortmund : This was the 2nd German-African Diaspora NRW Conference
More than two hours later than planned, the 2nd German-African Diaspora NRW Conference ended in Dortmund on Pentecost Sunday. The participants' interest in the topics was so great that they stayed for a long time and continued to discuss with the speakers after the end of the conference. Meeting Centre on the campus of the Technical University to attend the conference. Guests had also travelled from abroad. The thematic framework of the conference was the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the UN Decade for People of African Descent. Within this context, development policy issues were discussed that are particularly relevant for African countries.
This year's conference focused on SDGs 2 (Reduce Hunger), 5 (Gender Equity), 6 (Clean Water), 10 (Reduce Inequalities) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). More than 200 participants*, not only from NRW, took part in the conference.
The first day of the conference took place on Saturday at the Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Dortmund. After the welcoming round by representatives of the city, the embassy of Uganda and the organisers (the associations VKII , Edda e.V.; Eine Welt Netz NRW promoter Tina Adomako), there were several lectures by experts.
Prof. Dr. Adomako-Ampofo, gender expert from the University of Ghana, gave an exciting lecture entitled "The Futures We Want". She spoke about the need to know one's own history and to pass it on. Dr. Boniface Mabanza from KASA, the Church Office for Southern Africa, gave a presentation on Africa-EU policy. He considered sustainable development from the perspective of global justice to be much more targeted than the SDGs. Even more, he said, the 17 goals were something of a fig leaf that distracted from the real problems and solutions. Activist and author Noah Sow ("Germany Black and White") took the view that Europe also needs development aid. Especially in the field of education. "Development Aid for Europe: Proposals for Sustainable Educational Work in the International Decade for People of African Descent" was then also the title of her lecture.
. Amanda Magambo, NCIP, who came especially from Uganda, explained the role of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIP). NCIP is an exemplary project in which development is sought across national borders. The countries of Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya signed an agreement in 2013 to jointly promote development in the region. Currently, there are 14 project focal points - so-called clusters - which pursue different project goals in the region. These projects focus on improving infrastructure, but also on human resource capacity building, preventing the causes of flight and creating prospects for the young generation. Afterwards, there were so many questions and feedback from the audience that the discussion took almost twice as much time as planned. Creative flexibility was called for. After a short lunch break, some best practice examples from North and South perspectives were presented in the afternoon
. In the evening, the event continued in the House of Diversity. In the One Woman Show by Ghanaian actress Gifty Wiafe, the SDGs were also addressed in the evening programme. In her play "It's in the blood", Gifty tackled topics that were taken up in the workshops on Sunday. Topics like waste(reduction), women's rights, water, prejudices and inequalities. The young actress brought these by no means serious topics to the stage with a lot of humour. At the end, there was a standing ovation for Gifty.
A detailed documentation of the event is in preparation. Soon there will also be more photos from the conference here.
Documentation
Documentation in German
Documentation in English