DED Concluded A 3-Day Regional Conference in Sanaa [Archives:2000/38/Reportage]
DEUTSCHER ENTWICKLUNGDSIENST (DED), the German Development Service is a non-profitmaking organization whose top priority is to serve the third world partners interests. It was established in 1963, in a decade which the United Nations declared a development decade.
In 1979, former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) signed a cooperation agreement with the Federal Republic of Germany which marked the commencement of DEDs operations in Yemen. Today, about 250 German Development workers are to be found across the country. These are specialized in particular professions and working in various spheres to support Yemeni partner institutions, improve services and help upgrade peoples living standards.
Globally, the DED operates in more than 44 countries involving almost 1000 specialists and experts who in the course of time and along with their families become part of the social environment of the local population.
In Asia DED is involved in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Yemen. Activities of the DED in all these countries include technical and vocational training; small business promotion, management and administration; construction and infrastructure, agriculture, forestry and national resources management; general education; health services, community and social work, rural development and promotion of women.
The DED enjoys a total budget of DM 150 million from the Federal government, out of which DM 4,5 million is the contribution of the DED to help Yemen.
DED holds regional conferences biennially. Representatives from all countries where the organization is engaged attend those conferences to discuss new strategies and various affairs in relation to the organizations activities.
This year, Yemen was the host country for the biennial conference of the DED. Under the title Asia 2000 a high ranking delegation from the DED headquarters in Germany, headed by Director General, Dr. Jürgen Wilhelm, Head of DEDs Administrative Council, Dr. Uwe Runge, Resident Representative in Yemen, Mr. Gerd Winkelhane and the organizations representatives from those Asian countries where the DED is involved held their biennially conference at the Taj Sheba Hotel, September 10-13. On Yemens side there were Minister of Health and vice Minister of Planning.
In his welcoming word delivered upon inauguration of the conference Dr. Jürgen Wilhelm said that the German Development Service was proud to be able to contribute to the realization of Yemens national development programs based on the spirit of friendship and partnership. He further expressed his sincere gratitude and appreciation of Yemeni partners for their constant beneficial and fruitful cooperation to improve the living condition of the people in Yemen. This is what we are dedicated to work for and I am looking for more years to come, he said.
He said that the role of the DED in Yemen changed according to the change in Yemens needs. Nowadays, qualifications such as management, training, health education need mush more emphasize than in the past, he added.
Mr. Matthias Kiesler, Chargé d Affaires of the German Embassy said he was always impressed by the excellence of the DED development workers pointing out the 25 German development workers who work in remote areas far away from urban centers under extremely difficult circumstances.
Highlighting the good cooperation of the Yemeni partners, he expressed his appreciation of cooperation of the Yemeni government, organizers of the conference and Ministry of Planning and Development. The success of DED in Yemen could not have been possible without the great support by the Yemeni government, he said.
Concerning the role Germany plays in the development of Yemen, Mr. Abdulrahman Tarmoon, Vice Minister of Planning and Development of Yemen described Germany as being among the top countries that offered generous assistance to Yemen. The assistance offered by Germany over the period 1970-2000 amounted to about DM 1.3 billion, he said. This assistance has contributed to the implementation of several projects of water and sanitation, agriculture/rural development, technical and vocational training, health, education and infrastructure. Moreover, he spoke highly of other services and future development plans of Germany to be contributing to development in Yemen.
Dr. Abdulwali Nasher, Minister of Health, expressed his happiness for the event and thanked the DED for its contribution to development of health sector. The DED has been involved for a long time in this country in training nurses, midwives, primary health care workers, technician and immunization, he said. DED is also playing a role in supporting other sectors such as vocational training, the preservation of Yemeni historical sites and cities and is also involved in community cooperative work and non-governmental organizations, he added
In his speech, Dr. Uwe Runge, Head of the Administrative Council of the DED, said it was interesting to come close to Yemens difficulties and hopes.
Following the end of the conference on Tuesday, DG of DED held a press conference in which he briefed the media on aims and outcomes of the visit to Yemen. At the beginning of the conference Dr. Runge welcomed the participants on behalf of the DED and expressed his appreciation of the presence of Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Nasher, Vice Minister of Planning and development Mr. Abdul Rahman Tarmoom and Deputy Minister of Education Mr. Majeed Ghanem on the first day of the conference. He described the conference which was held for the first time in an Arab country as programmatic that resulted in new directions for the DEDs work. He also expressed his thankfulness and respect for the great help and good cooperation in preparation of and during the conference.
Dr. Winlhem highlighted the aims of the conference as to coordinate the activities of the German Development Service within Asia or with the different responsible workers and the headquarters people in Berlin. We are convinced that for the success of an institution which work in more than 44 countries, the participation of the collaborators of the institutions is very important, he said. That is why the headquarters is searching for advice from the collaborators, and vice versa, the headquarters itself, my colleagues, director of departments and myself as the director general are trying to discuss the policy of the German development service with the people who are working in their different countries in Asia.
Talking about cooperation with Yemen, director General of DED said that the DED had been working successfully in Yemen for more than 20 years. The main fields of cooperation include health, vocational training and local infrastructure.
Moreover, he expressed his happiness to hear from Yemeni officials that decentralization process was making big steps forward in the right direction. He also appreciated Yemens plan to hold elections in the spring of 2001. The German side encourages the Yemeni partners to follow up this election by an implementation of decentralized authorities to the local level, he said. He added that the German side was supporting efforts in that regards in close cooperation not only with their Embassy but with many European partners and international organizations in order to achieve a good result in Yemen. He concluded his statement by saying that all the important work accomplished so far, had been done and was still under way in an atmosphere of friendship, harmony and mutual trust.
In response to a question about security and safety of development workers who work in remote areas, Mr. Gerd Winkelhane, Resident Representative in Yemen said that working in Yemen was on the basis of a cooperation agreement with Yemen so the Yemeni Government had to provide secure atmosphere for all development workers. He added that their good relationships with local partners make them sure that they would be safe.
Generally speaking, I want to say that we feel safe here in Yemen. That is right there have been some disturbing incidents but in comparison with what happens in many other countries Yemen is safe, said Mr. Winkelhane.
Away from Asia, the DED also work in Africa and Latin America. A similar conference is scheduled for next November in Peru in Latin America. Other conferences are also planed to be held for East & South Africa and West Africa in the next two years.
In a brief interview with the Yemen Times, Dr. Uwe Runge, said that the German Development Service worked in four regions, East Africa, West Africa, Latin America and Asia. Every two years we have a regional conference in one of these regions. The main aim of such a conference is to put the supervisory council of the German Development Council, the Director general and people related to DED together to work up the general policy. Then there are always special questions which relate to the region which we are holding the conference in. Another aim of the conference was discussing the possibilities of working in other different countries. We aimed at making up the cooperate identity of the German Development Service so that we know exactly where we are, what we have to do and what our tasks are, he said.
He further added that their ultimate goal was to be replaced by local workers. There is no project where there are only German workers. There are always projects where German and Yemenis are working together. Sometimes others are coming in if the project is big. We do a lot by cooperation with international organizations and we try always to take in the local staff to train them and step by step they take over. This our aim, he concluded.
German Development workers are subject to several months training in Berlin before traveling to the host countries. There they undergo a special kind of training on kinds of behaviors, how to handle the different difficulties in a foreign country, what they have to do and to respect the local culture and traditions. They are also trained on the language of the respective country. So that when they arrive in their host countries they can understand people and make people understand.
The duration of any preparation course is dependent on the language. For example, there are countries where you do not need to know their local language because you can interact with people using English. But in some Asian countries, for example, it takes several months to pick up their language, said Mr. Gerd Winkelhane.
DED representatives in the other Asian countries said that the conference provided them with an opportunity to meet with one another and hear about their experiences in their host countries.
As part of the field visits the delegation paid to a number of projects supported by the Germany, they last Saturday visited a number of projects in Ibb governorate. They first visited Al-Shab school and met with Principal Yahia Ali Al-Ati, Director General of the Educational Office in Ibb, Mr. Mohammed Ahmad Al-Fadhli, Brigadier Dr. Abdulkareem Mojahed, Director General of the health office in Ibb and a number of teachers. During the meeting, Principal of the school expressed his deep appreciation of all help the school had been receiving from the German development organizations in general and DED in particular, which solved a lot of problems that the school faced. He then briefed them on the schools strategy to include health and environmental subjects in the school curricula and how that effect the attitude of students and of the people around them towards cleanliness of environment. Besides, he expressed the intention to establish mothers council for students of the school.
For his part Dr. Uwe Runge, Head of the Administrative Council of the DED said visiting Ibb was an important decision to see how projects supported by the DED were going on. He said that he felt happy with what he sad seen. He also introduced the New representative of DED in Ibb Mrs. Neda Hussain.
Brigadier Dr. Abdul Kareem Mojahed highlighted the strong connection between educational and health services in societies development, He also appreciated the high and excellent qualification of the DED personnel who bear up circumstances in remote areas that Yemeni themselves fail to stand.
The delegation then moved to Al-Wahdah school in which they were received by young girls dancing and singing welcoming songs. Principal of the school, Mrs. Lutfiah Humaidan and a number of teachers accompanied them in a short tour of the different department of the school including that of handicrafts. Being impressed of what he had seen Dr. Runge delivered a short speech in which he announced donating an amount of YR 50,000 to the school. It is worth mentioning that the DED supported the equipment of a library and a health room and support the organization of many training courses for teachers of the school.
The delegation also visited the Sewage Treatment Station which was 80% supported by the German government and briefed themselves on the different stages treatment of sewage passed through. Mr. Hassan Mojahed, Director General of the Water and Sanitation Authority thanked the German government for their help, indicating a further agreement with the German government to support the extension plan of the station that would be completed by the year 2003 and which would serve the increasing population until 2025.
It is worth mentioning that the total donation from Germany to Yemen reached DM 61 million this year.
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