German Government dismantles geopolitically-relevant networks

For nearly 40 years, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has been funding development-related postgraduate programmes (EPOS) at German universities. These programmes focus on various aspects of sustainable development, such as alleviating hunger and poverty, global health, locally-adapted agricultural innovations, or climate protection, just to name a few. Funding is provided to scholarship recipients from the Global South who study or pursue their doctoral degrees in these programmes and then usually return to their home countries.

The BMZ also supports university partnerships through which academic programmes are established and further developed at universities in the Global South with the professional support of German universities. Both initiatives – the EPOS programmes and the university partnerships – are managed by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Around 60 German universities and more than 400 partner institutions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are involved.

Now the BMZ has decided to drastically reduce this type of funding and phase it out over the next five years. I consider this a serious mistake.

Role for development in partner countries

One argument for the cuts is that the BMZ is not responsible for funding German universities. While this is true on the surface, it ignores the fact that the partnership programmes produce highly trained experts who contribute significantly to development in their home countries.

I can speak from personal experience, as we have had a training programme at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, for many years, through which some 200 EPOS fellows from over 50 countries have earned their doctorates – nearly half of whom are women. Most of the graduates now hold high-level positions in their home countries, some as ministers, members of parliament, or in leadership roles at universities, research institutes, government agencies, companies, or development organisations. The university partnerships also strengthen local structures as well as training and innovation capacities.

A more general argument for reducing development spending is that, in times of tight budgets, we should focus more strongly on German interests. Opinions may differ on this point. What is certain, however, is that the university programmes funded by BMZ are also very much in Germany’s interest. The supported graduates and universities in the Global South develop close and long-lasting ties with Germany. Such networks are of great importance not only for political alliances but also for scientific and economic cooperation.

Programmes are in Germany’s best interest

Building on the networks of our EPOS graduates, we at the University of Bonn have recently established a new Collaborative Research Center (CRC) together with the University of Ghana on sustainable agriculture and food systems in Europe and Africa. This is a flagship project for Germany’s science and research landscape and would never have come into existence without the long-standing and trustful partnership with our colleagues in Ghana.

The German economy also benefits from these networks through access to skilled professionals and local expertise for import and export activities. For many strategically important raw materials – such as copper, lithium, rare earths and certain agricultural products – we depend on imports from abroad. From a resilience perspective, it would be wise to diversify our sources of supply. Large deposits of key raw materials are found in various countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, which, incidentally, are also the most important growth markets for the German export industry.

Local networks of experts, built up over many years and featuring trusting relationships with Germany, are invaluable for successfully establishing sustainable supply chains. The same applies to the export of German technologies and innovations. Access to local data, laboratories and knowledge of relevant standards, bureaucratic processes, and legal regulations in partner countries is a key competitive advantage.

Small savings with large negative impacts

There are probably few areas of development policy where relatively small investments generate such large and long-term benefits – for both the partner countries and Germany. The university programmes funded by the BMZ cost only about 30 million euros annually, a negligible amount within the overall development budget.

Cuts to the development budget may be necessary given the broader fiscal situation, but allowing these university programmes to disappear entirely is not a wise decision. It eliminates a cost-effective mechanism for development policy, damages Germany’s positive reputation in the world, and destroys networks that are strategically important in light of new geopolitical realities.

It remains unclear whether the Federal Government truly recognises the far-reaching consequences of this misguided decision. Partnerships that are now being dismantled to save relatively small amounts of public funding cannot simply be reactivated or rebuilt later. Germany’s withdrawal from development-oriented research and training cooperation with the Global South creates a void that emerging nations such as China will be eager to fill. Such a shift in international partnerships and alliances away from Germany and Europe can hardly be in our interest.

What is currently happening at the BMZ is also becoming visible in other Federal ministries: funding for partnerships with the Global South is being reduced. At first glance, this area seems dispensable. The withdrawal may even be cheered by those who, in their short-sightedness, advocate a “Germany First” policy. In any case, these cuts are unlikely to cost much sympathy or votes from the general public, because the broader context is simply not well understood.

I would like to see the Federal Government demonstrate greater courage and long-term vision. Without reliable partnerships in strategically important regions of the world, it will become increasingly difficult for Germany to maintain its economic and scientific standing and to continue to exert its political influence internationally.