“Pure aid creates dependency” (PDF 1.1 MB)

Making Aid Work
“Pure aid creates dependency”
German development minister Dirk Niebel discusses Germany’s role
There have been a lot of changes in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development since FDP politician Dirk Niebel took over.
Criticized by some for a lack of experience and loyalty to party members,
Niebel has also instituted reforms that his predecessor failed to achieve.
Niebel talks about Germany’s role in international development.
IP: According to the latest WikiLeaks
publication of U.S. diplomatic cables, the
Americans considered you an “odd pick”
for the job of development minister.
DIRK NIEBEL
is Federal Minister
of Economic
Cooperation and
Development. He
was secretary
general of the Free
Democrat Party
from 2005-2009
Niebel: That assessment is based on
my party’s call ahead of the election to
integrate the development ministry
into the Federal Foreign Office, not
because the FDP is opposed to development aid per se, but because it was
against the prevailing form of development policy, which—from the Free
Democrat point of view—was often
not conducive to an integrated German foreign policy stance. However,
we were not able to achieve our demand in the coalition negotiations. In
a situation like that there are just two
options: Carry on as before, or seize
the opportunity to do a better job
oneself. I was happy to accept the
challenge.
IP: If one considers your full title—Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development—one can see how a businessfriendly party like the Free Democrats
might take a shine to it after all. Is that
what has happened?
Niebel: The Federal Ministry for
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Making Aid Work
Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) was founded 50 years
ago and the first minister was Free
Democrat Walter Scheel. And you are
quite right to point out the full title.
This is not a “development aid ministry” that dispenses alms, at least not
under the leadership of an FDP minister. German development policy is
value-oriented, but it can also be interest driven.
I believe economic development is
the best way to really combat poverty
effectively. No country can be developed from the outside, and aid alone
creates dependency.
FDP development policy views
sustainable economic growth in developing countries, supported by a dynamic private sector, as both a central
condition for the reduction of poverty
and a way of contributing to the solution of other urgent challenges in
areas such as the environment, health,
or education. The best method of cooperation is realizing good projects in
developing countries with private
funds, not taxpayers’ money. But the
development policy benefit is always
the main focus. My colleague Rainer
Brüderle [German Economics Minister, FDP] is responsible for the promotion of German business interests
abroad.
IP: In early December, the cabinet approved your plans to merge the three
state development organizations (GTZ,
InWEnt, and DED) into one new agency. What do you hope to achieve by
that?
Niebel: The reform of the technical
cooperation organizations is a central
aim in the development chapter of the
Coalition Agreement. The reform will
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remove unnecessary double structures, create more efficiency, save
money, and at the same time increase
the effectiveness of our work. In addition, and this is particularly important
to me, the reform will mean that we
present a coherent face to the countries with whom we are cooperating,
who currently often have to deal with
several different organizations on the
German side. It will also allow my
ministry to concentrate on its political
steering role, which will be strengthened, while the new implementing
agency, the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Association for International Cooperation—GIZ) can concentrate on the
role implicit in its name: carrying out
the tasks assigned to it by the BMZ
and the German government.
IP: Germany will spend 6.2 billion euros
on development aid in 2011. That’s an
enormous sum, but
the share of German No country can be
overseas develop- developed from outside.
ment
assistance
(ODA) as a proportion of gross national
product is sinking. The European Commission estimates that German ODA
would actually have to increase by 2 billion euros a year to achieve the E.U.
target of 0.7 percent of GNP by 2015.
Are you still aiming for that?
Niebel: Germany committed itself to
the 0.7 percent goal 40 years ago. I’m
holding firm to that aim. But I have
always acknowledged that it will be
difficult. I took over my ministry with
a quota of 0.35 percent. To achieve
our goal, we need innovative financing instruments as well as greater
private sector participation. But I
want to make one thing clear: Ulti-
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Making Aid Work
mately, it is aid effectiveness and not
the amount of money we spend that
matters most to me.
IP: You have said you want to make
German development assistance “more
business-friendly.” In what way?
Niebel: There will be no sustainable
development in our partner countries
without sustainable economic growth.
The private sector
We are integrating the
must be able to
flourish in order
German private sector into
to create jobs and
cooperation on the ground.
generate prosperity. That’s why our approach begins
with the basic parameters for entrepreneurial activity in the countries.
That way we promote the local private
sector and at the same time support
our partner countries’ integration into
world trade, for example by helping
them to attract foreign investment—
including from Germany.
We are also engaged in an intensive dialogue with the German private
sector to enlist its support for our
work and our aims.
IP: One of your first acts in office was to
cut development aid to China and India.
You said you wanted to “deploy German
aid where it was most needed.” Do you
think that decision disqualifies criticism that you want to subordinate German development aid to German
economic interests, since both countries
are becoming increasingly important
for German foreign trade? And if not in
India and China, where is German aid
necessary?
Niebel: First of all, I have to correct
you there. We have discontinued bilateral cooperation with China but not
with India. And by the way we are
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continuing to work with countries
like Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and
South Africa—and it is right to do so.
Why? Because emerging countries display the characteristics of industrialized and developing economies, simultaneously and alongside each other:
hi-tech industries and primitive production methods, Ferraris alongside
oxcarts, extreme wealth and great poverty. These countries are represented
in the G20 but at the same time more
than half of all the people living in
absolute poverty worldwide are to be
found there.
That’s why my ministry is working on a concept of development cooperation with emerging countries that
takes into account this unique set of
problems. In terms of topics, we will
concentrate on the areas of climate
and environmental protection, sustainable economic development and
global development agendas. We are
not promoting the competitive ability
of these countries. We are accompanying them along the path of structural
transformation—and that is in Germany’s interest. Of course, we are also
involving the German private sector
in our cooperation on the ground. We
need that input and business knowhow to achieve our quantitative and
qualitative development policy goals.
But I want to stress one thing: The
focus of our policy is on improving the
living conditions of the people in the
developing world. And I think it is
plain to see that our help is needed
equally in both emerging and developing nations.
IP: You are promoting Public Private
Partnerships (PPPs) in development
work. But isn’t this more a way of
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Making Aid Work
subsidizing German industry than combating poverty?
Niebel: We have a very successful instrument for cooperation with the
business sector. The “develoPPP.de”
program works directly with private
companies to plan, co-finance, and
implement development projects.
Companies get involved so as to make
a contribution to development, often
out of a strategic understanding of
their Corporate Social Responsibility.
But they also profit, for example by
getting their foot in the door of new
markets and by gaining a reputation
for good corporate governance. Development policy benefits greatly from
cooperating with German and European companies that bring innovative
ideas and business models, entrepreneurial know-how and technology, as
well as additional private funds to
bear on our development work. We
invest one euro and the contribution
made by the companies involved
means that two or three euros arrive
in the partner country. These are not
subsidies, they are sustainable investments in developing countries.
IP: Development NGOs like Terre des
Hommes Germany and Deutsche Welthungerhilfe are concerned that linking
aid to German business interests could
lead to a situation where assistance is
mainly concentrated on comparatively
well-developed urban areas at the expense of more impoverished rural communities. Do you share that concern?
Niebel: I cannot comprehend that
concern. First, the interests of the
German private sector do not determine our development policy. We are
simply trying to identify win-win potential and use it. And anyway, devel-
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opment policy interests and economic
interests are also directed toward rural
areas too. Rural development, trade in
raw materials, and food supplies are
key issues for the future.
IP: Germany has just taken a non-permanent seat in the U.N. Security Council. How important were decisions about
the allocation of German development
aid?
Niebel: The successful candidacy for
a non-permanent seat on the U.N.
Security Council indicates that
Germany enjoys a reputation as a reliable partner. The Federal Republic
was elected in the first round of voting by an absolute majority of all 192
member states. That is a clear demonstration of the great trust placed in
us internationally. We have worked
to earn that trust through well-considered and well-balanced international policies. Germany’s contributions in the field of development cooperation have also played an important role. Our contributions include
both bilateral and multilateral official
development assistance, and our conceptual approach and wide range of
instruments enjoy a strong global
reputation.
But the commitment to development cooperation within German civil
society and the private sector also Germany’s non-permanent
plays a role in Ger- seat on the U.N. Security
many’s positive in- Council shows that we are
ternational image. seen as a reliable partner.
We are aware of
the particular responsibility emanating from the non-permanent seat on
the Security Council and the trust
placed in us, and we will continue to
make every effort to deserve it.
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IP: How do human rights issues affect
German development policy?
Niebel: The German government sees
development policy as practical human
rights policy. Realization of human
rights is key to sustainable poverty
reduction. The everyday lives of people around the world are affected by
the extent to which their human rights
are respected, protected, and guaranteed—for example
The German government
the right to food,
the right to the
understands development
highest possible
policy as practical human
rights policy.
level of health, the
right of access to
education, or also the right to freedom
of association. The German government’s human rights approach promotes development policy which sees
people as the agents of their own development.
IP: Germany has successfully co-sponsored a resolution at the U.N. Human
Rights Council establishing the right to
water and sanitation as a legally binding universal human right. Water is a
natural resource that is increasingly becoming an important and problematic
issue with regard to poverty reduction
and in relations between countries.
What is German development policy
doing to make it possible for poor or disadvantaged populations to access water
and sanitation?
Niebel: Germany didn’t just co-sponsor the resolution; it was, along with
Spain, the driving force behind it.
That is consistent with the fact that
the water and sanitation sector is an
important focus of German development cooperation and our policy of
working to implement human rights.
Within the water sector, Germany is
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the third-largest bilateral donor worldwide and the largest bilateral donor in
Africa.
Development policy is involved at
every level. Internationally, Germany
is working at the United Nations with
its partners to define goals and approaches most likely to be successful.
Nationally, we are working together
with our partners to implement the
right to water and sanitation and to
safeguard water resources. I have just
returned from Zambia, where with
German support, 440 water kiosks
have been built since 2005. The kiosks now provide some 600,000 people with clean and affordable drinking
water. Most of them are in informal
settlements, serving the poorest people. During my trip, I myself officially
opened a new water kiosk in Livingstone.
The impact of our policies is clear:
Today, 1.6 billion more people have
access to clean drinking water than in
1990. We expect to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving
the number of people without access
to safe water by 2015. That is proof
that joint efforts can achieve great
progress. We need to achieve similar
success in the area of sanitation and
hygiene. It is intolerable that a third of
humanity still has no access to decent
sanitation facilities.
IP: You are a supporter of “civil-military cooperation” in the development
sector. Can you define the concept?
Niebel: For me this issue is about
more than simply civilian-military cooperation. I believe in coordinating
the individual instruments of security
policy, foreign policy, and development policy so as to increase their
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Making Aid Work
impact. And one of my most important goals is to make German development policy more effective. We can do
that by coordinating our policy and
agreeing to a clear division of labor.
Security and development policy complement each other. A purely military
strategy, which does not take into account underlying structural problems,
is not sustainable and runs the risk of
failure, as does a development policy
approach that is too narrow and ignores security aspects altogether.
IP: In crisis regions like Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s often impossible for aid
workers to do their job without military
protection. Yet many critics believe that
increased cooperation between NGOs
and soldiers can only lead to the “militarization” of development assistance.
They see this as a dangerous trend that
could in the long term put at risk both
the acceptance of aid among affected
populations and the security of relief
workers. What do you think?
Niebel: In the German area of responsibility in northern Afghanistan, no
NGOs are working under direct military protection. The Bundeswehr ensures overall security to create the secure environment necessary for development cooperation. I would like to
highlight a different aspect of cooperation between NGOs and the military:
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The German government has agreed
on an overall strategy for reconstruction in Afghanistan. The aid groups
that receive funds from our newly created NGO facility for Afghanistan are
required to utilize those funds within
the framework of that overall strategy.
That means in Kabul and in the north
of the country where the German
Bundeswehr bears particular responsibility for security.
Equally, I have said Cooperation is the only
that this has to way we can guarantee that
happen within the we use taxpayers’ money
framework of net- effectively.
worked security.
What that means is simply that all
relevant actors on the ground should
consult with one another, which in
the case of the NGOs can also be done
via local-based staff of the BMZ. In
many cases, that is already routine
practice. It’s the only way we can
guarantee that we use taxpayers’
money coherently and effectively. To
be successful in Afghanistan we need
concerted efforts in order to achieve
joint development success.
Interview conducted by Kevin Lynch
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