Special Edition 1/ 2010
January
Editorial
Dear All,
JOINT M
A
G
In November 2009, Katja Böhler was given the opportunity to present the ideas and intentions
frica
of the Go Germany...Go Africa Programme to the German Federal President Horst Köhler. In
this special edition, you can find a copy of Katja's speech.
As you read it, you will (re-)discover what this exchange is meant to be. It will also be a great
back-drop for our meeting in summer 2010 and our discussion on the aim and tools of our
network. Enjoy!
ermany
Best,
Dennis Kumetat and Linda Poppe
Speech delivered at the workshop on a review of Africa at Bellevue Palace on 18 November 2009
New Generation… New Cooperation
by Katja Böhler
Mr. President,
Your Excellency, Mr. Mülmenstädt,
Ladies and gentlemen,
“There is no such thing as youth”. This is not something that dawned on us just recently. The sociologist Erwin K.
Scheuch arrived at this conclusion over 30 years ago. Back then, he highlighted the fact that the diversity of youth
could not be subsumed under one term that suggests uniformity. Yet he did not examine whether this was an
international phenomenon. [...]
In a large number of more recently conducted studies, an attempt has been
made to distinguish youth cultures that exist in Germany from one another. In
doing so, they included the tendency in today’s society, which is marked so
"the objective material
strongly by the media and computer culture, to pluralise and diversify youth
and socio-spatial situation
cultures. I would like to refer very briefly to the study commissioned by the
of individuals that is
Catholic agency for overseas aid and development “Caritas”, which Marc
expressed in income,
Calmbach conducted [...]. Adopting a social scientific approach, Calmbach
education, jobs,
explained the world young people in Germany live in on a kind of map and
residential and working
allocated it to different social backgrounds. In doing so, he demonstrated in a
environment affects their
most impressive way that the objective material and socio-spatial situation of
subjective attitudes and
individuals that is expressed in income, education, jobs, residential and working
values"
environment affects their subjective attitudes and values (cognition, orientation
and interests). These are ultimately expressed in a certain lifestyle and habits.
[...]
Marc Calmbach makes a distinction in Germany between traditionalists, bourgeoisie, consumption materialists, postmaterialists, hedonists, experimentalists and so-called performers as a so-called sinus milieu. All groups have different
values and are responsive to certain values – also in civic education – whereas they may be totally unresponsive to
others. It is true to say that a truly vague picture emerges. The fact that a person belongs to a certain age group is
certainly not a feature that unites people nowadays or helps them to create their own identity.
To the best of my knowledge, it has not yet been researched whether this diversity of youth cultures in Germany also
exists in African countries. But studies have been carried out in other parts of the world, for instance, in China, which
suggest there is probably a very wide range of cultures all over the world. For Africa, there is reason to assume that
youth cultures vary greatly in urban and rural regions, depending on what
access young people have to new media. Africa is bound to have youth
"[…P]arallels between young
Africans, who have similar
lifestyles and who have benefited
cultures that are specific to the various social strata. Different music genres
such as Kwaito, HipHop or Afrobeat have obviously created youth cultures
of their own, which I am sure extend beyond the continent.
from a good education and are
able to actively shape their leisure
time, and young Germans [of a
similar background are most
likely]."
There is every reason to assume that there is a certain amount of
overlapping between the youth cultures in Africa and Germany, particularly
in the field of music. As described above, subjective attitudes and values
are influenced very much by the individual’s objective material and social
situation. [Thus] there is more likely to be overlapping between young
people living in urban centres in Africa and young Germans. […P]arallels
between young Africans, who have similar lifestyles and who have benefited from a good education and are able to
actively shape their leisure time, and young Germans [of a similar background are most likely].
What implications does this have for the development of new forms of cooperation? What are the prerequisites for a
developing a genuine partnership between the young generation in Germany and Africa?
Similar to friendship, partnership requires mutual understanding and indeed communication. But there are at least three
other requirements that have to be met in order to develop a partnership and to make it work:
1. Common motivation, an element that unites people, a common goal,
2. A suitable context for reciprocal learning and discussion and
3. The possibility and the goal of exchanging ideas and becoming involved within the framework of this context.
Re 1. People who come from completely different environments, who have different educational backgrounds and
opportunities and whose lifestyles are possibly very different, which is probably the case with Germans and Africans, can
only work on developing a partnership if they have a common, clearly defined goal and if they are united by motivation
that extends way beyond a loose network of contacts. Without these, the most dedicated people in particular are bound
to end up exploring other avenues in order to espouse a cause. Relief projects are frequently launched unilaterally with
the very best of intentions but if the objectives these projects are pursuing are one-sided and if they have been designed
in a unilateral way, they are bound to fail.
Re 2. A suitable context can only exist if young people who should preferably have similar interests and come from the
same or a similar social background are given the opportunity to learn with each other and from each other over a
certain period of time. Experience shows that this can be achieved best through direct encounters. However, the
prerequisite is that these encounters bring together carefully chosen target groups, who will facilitate contact by creating
a level playing field and who are both willing and able to contribute many participative elements. Projects implemented
by academics from Germany and Europe in rural African contexts are therefore not suitable for generating sustainable
partnerships on equal terms, as experience gained in recent decades shows.
Re 3. After all, the concept of projects must be aimed at enabling partners to exchange views about what they have
learnt over the long term. [...T]his is precisely where a large number of projects fail. Only then will it be possible to
continue learning and for peers to pass on what they have learnt under the guidance of others. This is the only way the
exchange can be enriched by a continuous flow of new participants, ideas and abilities. This is frequently a financial
problem on the one hand, but in at least as many cases, the concept was not properly designed in the first place.
In addition to what has been said so far, it is not just mutual acceptance within the youth cultures in Germany and
Africa that is important for developing a German-African partnership. It is equally important to improve impressions
Germans and Africans have of each other. The experience gained by the Federal Agency for Civic Education in
implementing exchanges between young Germans and Africans in the past few years has shown that the impressions
participants initially have of each other is marked by mutual prejudice and that their image of Germany and Africa is
dominated by misconceptions. In order to change this situation permanently and to pave the way for a sustainable
partnership it is important,
1.To bring about a thorough change of attitude among teachers at all levels of education so that the necessary and
appropriate quality and quantity of information about the African continent and Germany – which is also needed at
global level – is imparted properly in schools and in extracurricular education,
2.To create possibilities of entering into a permanent reciprocal dialogue and to leverage the contacts made in order to
find new ways of organising an exchange based on the spirit of partnership and to eliminate prejudice,
3.To enable media professionals to provide more comprehensive, thorough, systematic and reliable information [...] on
the basis of authentic experience, leveraging direct contacts with Africa and Germany, and
4.To adapt the action strategies of political decision-makers operating in the world of politics, business, education and
society in Africa and Germany to the rapid global, economic and political processes of change taking place in the future
by engaging in a dialogue that is based on equality
and the spirit of partnership.
"The network that has since developed and is indeed
With the “Go Africa…Go Germany” project, which
still developing is intended to create the basis for a
carries on the Federal Agency for Civil Education’s
German-African Foundation for Youth Education."
focus on Africa, an exchange of scholarship holders
both in Germany and Africa launched in 2007 for a period of four years initially will create a network of German and
African students and young academics, journalists and political decision-makers that spans both continents. The
network that has since developed and is indeed still developing is intended to create the basis for a German-African
Foundation for Youth Education.
Up to now, there has been no institution in Germany that has endeavoured to eliminate the existing desiderata by
adopting a bilateral, integrated educational approach. Incorporating all of the above, several areas of tasks are to be
established or continued in the work performed by the Foundation:
1.Group exchanges/ study trips
2.Exchanges between individuals (pupils/ students/ young professionals)
3.Networking and upgrading the skills of German and African participants to become peers to enable them to generate
their own civic education activities and to systematically expand the work performed by the Foundation as multipliers
4.To develop and promote educational programmes in Germany and Africa commensurate with the theme in schools
and extracurricular educational work
5.To develop media and models in order to support the educational work performed by peers
6.To research the basics of strategies based on the spirit of partnership (e.g. youth cultures in African countries as well
as the challenges and preconditions for partnership concepts).
I am very pleased, Mr. President, that you chose developing an honest and sustainable partnership with Africa as one
of the main priorities for your second term in office. I would like to end here with a phrase from Uganda: “The best
time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time to plant a tree is now!”
Many thanks for your attention!
Editors: Dennis Kumetat and Linda Poppe // Editorial Team: Julian Bergmann, Mwenda Gatobu, Lerato Tsebe and Benjamin Zasche
Available online: www.bpb.de // Contact: goafrica (at) bpb.de