Funding for German Development Cooperation
Sustainable development requires time, knowledge, and money. Welthungerhilfe works to end poverty and hunger through effective development cooperation, which is worth every euro of tax money spent.
Money alone cannot stimulate development, but without it development cooperation and emergency assistance are impossible. That is why the United Nations agreed decades ago that all States should spend 0.7% of their gross national income on development. So far so good.
How does Germany stand in comparison to other countries? Which other agreements and obligations does it have? Who is receiving funds? How is the money spent? And most importantly of all, is the desired impact being achieved?
Welthungerhilfe (WHH) examines these and other questions systematically and with a critical eye. It has been analyzing the development policy of the German government for many years, uncovering gaps and errors, and proposing concrete improvements through personal conversations, public debates, and the annual publication “Compass 2030".
In this publication, WHH calls on the federal government to finally increase actual development aid to 0.7%, and stop including expenditure on refugees in Germany, which makes up more than a quarter of calculated spending. This is because only money that arrives in the country can help to boost agriculture and create viable health and education systems in poor countries or resolve hunger crises.
WHH also denounces the fact that less and less money is going to the poorest countries or benefiting the most vulnerable population groups. When the government claims to spend €1.5 billion a year on food and nutrition security, we want to be able to prove it; more transparency is required. We bring our experience from hunger-reduction projects to bear in the debate.
In this way, WHH helps keep hunger and food and nutrition security on the agenda of the German federal parliament, ministries, and relevant international organizations. The organization uses public events, discussions, and actions to increase coverage and awareness and to promote our Zero Hunger goal.
These campaigns have often been successful. For example, the federal government adopted many WHH positions and recommendations in its special initiative "A world without hunger". This has further motivated WHH to carry on keeping a watchful eye on the reality behind the claims of German development policy, for a world without hunger!
