akzente 3/2019 The GIZ Magazine Back to the future Remembering Cambodia’s past in the digital age Pearls of knowledge New learning methods for Afghan children Pioneers from the jungle Sustainable coffee from Ecuador Human security The foundation of development

Editorial SECURITY BEGINS WITH PEOPLE How we can promote stability and development even in times of conflict. IN TODAY’S WORLD, wars and violent conflicts are no longer the only things that jeopardise human security. It is under threat where hu- man rights are flouted and where fundamen- tal social, political and economic rights are ignored. And it is also in danger wherever the basis of people’s livelihoods and resources are disappearing. That’s why we made a conscious decision to focus on people in the this issue of akzente. Because it is the people who are affected and who face challenges. THE PROBLEMS that arise for social and economic development when human secu- rity is jeopardised are described in this is- sue. Fragile countries such as Yemen and Sudan are particularly hard hit by poverty and malnutrition. The fact that the number of people suffering from hunger across the globe has been on the rise again for the last three years – and has now reached around 820 million – can be attributed both to the large number of ongoing conflicts and to climate change. If people’s security and ex- istence are endangered, either as a result of dwindling resources, severe environmental changes or war and conflict, development becomes difficult or even impossible. INCREASINGLY, stakeholders in interna- tional cooperation are faced with confusing, complicated and often dangerous situations. This places considerable demands on staff in our partner countries, raises challeng- ing management questions – and requires extensive expertise on our part. Randa Kourieh-Ranarivelo, GIZ’s Country Direc- tor in Mali, talks about this in an article on page 34. But Mali is just one example. ) 3 . P ( L E G O V A I R A M / N E F A R G O T O F F O H E I D : O T O H P MANY STATES are now regarded as frag- ile states. At the same time, the challenges have become more complex and the num- ber of stakeholders has increased: on the ground there are state and non-state actors – private, philanthropic, civilian and mil- itary. In many cases, the German Govern- ment dovetails its foreign, security, devel- opment and environmental policy in these regions. This networked approach has cre- ated a compass that guides GIZ’s work. A guest column by State Secretary Martin Jäger describes how this has an impact. He takes Afghanistan as an example to show the success that has been achieved using this approach – despite considerable ob- stacles. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT: development cooper- ation has a particular role to play in situa- tions where the causes of complex crises and dangers to human security need to be ad- dressed. It takes a long-term approach and the courage to develop new instruments and forge new partnerships to reach the overar- ching goal that the international commu- nity set itself when it adopted the 2030 Agenda, namely to achieve lasting peace and to ensure that everyone can fulfil their po- tential and live in a world free from want and fear. That is exactly what ‘human secu- rity’ means – a goal that is particularly im- portant in times of upheaval, as highlighted in an essay by US expert Mathew Burrows, one of the leading thinkers on strategic foresight and global trends. How is this ex- perienced by those people who live in frag- ile contexts or have to cope with existential hardships every day? akzente 3/19 3 SABINE TONSCHEIDT, Director of Corporate Communications sabine.tonscheidt@giz.de As already mentioned, this issue of akzente focuses on people, which is why you will find lots of people having their say throughout the magazine. We hope you enjoy reading it!

Contents SNAPSHOT Everything flows How exported plastic is shaping the urban landscape in Viet Nam. p. 36 PERSPECTIVES Pioneers from the jungle Excellent coffee, produced in harmony with nature p. 42 O F N I E T N E Z K A , Y T I L I B A N I A T S U S 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 ) T F E L M O T T O B , 5 . P ( R E M H E R B N A I R A M , ) T H G I R E V O B A , 5 . P ( E T A V I R P , ) T F E L E V O B A , 5 . P ( M A H K Y U H N E Y U G N / S R E T U E R : S O T O H P INTRODUCING Hello from Lilongwe! Financial expert Thomas Buck talks about his life in Malawi. p. 50 REPORT Pearls of knowledge How Afghan teachers are inspiring their protégés. p. 38 DIGITAL AKZENTE Our magazine is also available online in an optimised form for mobile devices. akzente.giz.de/en akzente 3/2019 The GIZ Magazine Back to the future Remembering Cambodia’s past in the digital age Pearls of knowledge New learning methods for Afghan children Pioneers from the jungle Sustainable coffee from Ecuador Human security The foundation of development akzente 3/19 5

THREE QUESTIONS FOR News ‘People with higher education have higher employment rates, earn 57% more than those with upper secondary only and are more likely to protect the environment. Let’s ensure our youth acquires the right supply of skills for a changing world.’ Tweet by ANGEL GURRÍA, Secretary-General of the Organisation for ALICHITH PHENGSAVANH Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), at the presentation of the OECD Education at a Glance 2019 Report on 11 September 2019 Pragmatic visionary ERHARD EPPLER He established a modern understanding of develop- ment cooperation, was one of the first to advocate environmentally responsi- ble management and was a staunch peacebuilder. The long-serving German Federal Minister for Economic Cooper- ation, Erhard Eppler, died in October at the age of 92. ‘He was a visionary with his feet firmly on the ground, an open-minded and forward-looking pol- itician,’ remarked Tanja Gönner, Chair of the GIZ Management Board, paying tribute to the former minister. During his time in office (1968–1974), Eppler, ) 7 . P ( H C S Z T N E R N A I L U J : N O I T A R T S U L L I , ) 7 . P ( A P D , ) 6 . P ( A G B : S O T O H P from Germany’s Social Democratic Par- ty, ensured that official German devel- opment cooperation was implemented by a public-benefit company and not a government body. He believed that the task of fighting poverty and achieving sustainable development called for the flexibility of an organisation governed by private law. And so he paved the way for integrating a large number of clients – ranging from governments in the part- ner countries and other state and non- state organisations to private companies. That played a key role in shaping GIZ as it is today and giving it its present focus. akzente 3/19 7 The sustainability manager at the Maison Souvanna- phoum Hotel in Luang Prabang, Laos, was an ambassa- dor for a GIZ project to support sustainable tourism on behalf of the German Development Ministry and the EU. What role does tourism play in Luang Prabang? Our town has a population of 80,000. As a former royal city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it at- tracts around 650,000 tourists every year. The tourism sector is therefore of existential importance to us. What problems has tourism caused so far? A lot of waste without good waste management, for example, and we have used a great deal of energy and water. You were project ambassador because your hotel was already a shining example when the project started. What do you think has changed as a result of the proj ect? We used to have clean-up days in our hotel before, when the hotel staff teamed up with the community to clear away rubbish from the river bank. That al- ready helped raise awareness to some extent. But thanks to GIZ, the topic of sustainability has reached many more people, because it has brought together all of the groups connected with tourism. In addition to the private sector, government offi- cials and the general public were also involved. Training sessions with experts helped us use much less plastic and water, for example. www.bmz.de/webapps/tourismus/index.html#/en/

News Wanted: clever ideas for excellent coffee IDEAS COMPETITION A total of 125 million people throughout the world de- pend on coffee for their livelihoods. Around 70 to 75 per cent of production comes from small family-owned businesses. However, due to low world mar- ket prices and increasing production costs, many people cannot earn enough from growing coffee to survive – not even in Ethiopia, where coffee originated. Moreover, the impacts of climate change are posing a threat to yields and quality. This is where the Coffee Innovation Fund is trying to help. GIZ is us- ing the fund on behalf of the German Development Ministry to support proj- ects that promote a fair value chain and increase the yields of smallholder farms. The Coffee Innovation Fund is part of the Programme for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains and Standards and focuses on three areas: ideas for innovative farming systems that enhance quality and sustainability; ideas for transparent and integrative business models, for example using blockchain technology; and ideas that create access to new digital markets. The selected project ideas receive funding of up to EUR 50,000. ETHIOPIA WIKI Official language: Amharic, more than 70 regional languages with equal state recognition / Capital: Addis Ababa / Form of government: Federal republic / Head of state: Sahle-Work Zewde / Head of government: Abiy Ahmed Ali / Size: 1,104,300 km2 / Population: approx. 109 million / Population density: 101.9 per km2 (1) / GDP per capita: USD 790 (2) Addis Ababa ETHIOPIA www.giz.de/en/worldwide/77960.html Sources: (1) UN Data, (2) World Bank 2018 NEW PROJECTS ) T H G I R , 9 . P ( O T O F - N O I S R E V / R E K C Ä B F L O R , ) R E T N E C D N A T F E L 9 , 8 . P ( O T O H P K C O T S I / S E G A M I Y T T E G : S O T O H P Expertise for displaced people Chatbot for communities Biodiversity for jobs WORLDWIDE In order to help support displaced people and host communities more effectively in future, humanitarian aid, development cooperation and peace- building are to be integrated more close- ly. On behalf of the German Development Ministry, GIZ is working with the UN Ref- ugee Agency to implement this initiative. The organisations are cooperating in ar- eas such as sustainable energy, which has great potential as a means of secur- ing the supply of energy to refugee camps and settlements. SOUTH-EAST EUROPE Cumbersome, dif- ficult to reach, inefficient – this is how many people see the service offered by their local authorities in the Balkan countries. In a new develoPPP.de project, GIZ is cooperating with the software firm SAGA to improve quality. It has devel- oped a chatbot, a software program de- signed to act as a digital service agent to provide citizens with written (and in future possibly spoken) information around the clock, initially in Serbia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. NAMIBIA Three quarters of the popula- tion of Namibia in the south west of Africa depend directly on the use of natural resources. A new project being implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Environment Ministry aims to secure their livelihoods on a sustaina- ble basis. The project is supporting the introduction of the biodiversity econo- my. This includes companies and busi- ness activities that either depend on or contribute to biodiversity, such as sus- tainable tourism. akzente 3/19 9

Zurück in die Zukunft Back to the Future MEMORY Student Socheata Seng in the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. She made a video about the place for the Mapping Memories Cambodia app. Thousands of people were tortured here.

Zurück in die Zukunft A click on the app and MMC shows reports, for example about the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in the centre of Phnom Penh (top). CAMBODIA Capital: Phnom Penh / Population: 16 million / GDP per capita: USD 1,380 (1) / Economic growth: 7.5 per cent (2) / Human Development Index ranking: 146 Source: (1, 2) World Bank 2018 CAMBODIA Phnom Penh On behalf of the German Development Ministry, GIZ’s Civil Peace Service is supporting efforts to come to terms with the past in connection with the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. This includes Mapping Memories Cambodia, a map-based smartphone app: www.mappingmemoriescambodia.com Contact: Julia Ilse, julia.ilse@giz.de They travelled across the country, to the towns and cities and to remote regions. They interviewed survivors of the regime, both vic- tims and perpetrators. Then they produced audio and video docu- mentation, created photo galleries and wrote articles in English and Khmer. The app was published at the beginning of 2019 and is called Mapping Memories Cambodia. Sophiline’s story is part of the project too. ‘So many untold stories’ One spring morning, a student who helped to develop the app is sit- ting on a bench in front of the Department of Media and Commu- nication at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Around her, young people on mopeds and bikes are arriving at the university in small numbers. ‘I wasn’t so happy with the project to begin with. I won- dered how we were supposed to find a new and interesting approach to the time of the Khmer Rouge,’ Socheata Seng remarks. ‘But the more I worked on the topic, the stronger my feeling became that there are so many untold stories.’ She produced two contributions for the app. In a video docu- mentary, Socheata illustrates the functions of the individual build- ings all around the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former Khmer Rouge prison where thousands of people were tortured. She also in- terviewed a man who experienced the seizure of power by the brutal regime as a child in the French Embassy. While he and his mother akzente 3/19 13

Back to the Future were allowed to leave the country, his father had to stay in Cambodia and died there. ‘That has left a mark on him that remains even today,’ Socheata explains. Mapping Memories Cambodia (MMC) has powerful stories to tell. When you open the app, the first thing you see is a map. Your current location is shown by a blue dot. Yellow pins show places in the immediate vicinity, which you can click on to see the contribu- tions developed by Socheata and her fellow students. They include well-known locations such as the central market in Phnom Penh, where the Khmer Rouge used to keep supplies and animals. The app also highlights less well-known places, such as a derelict building complex in the south of the city, in which displaced artists sought refuge after the fall of the regime. That is the innovative thing about the project: it aims to use locations that still exist today to confront users with the past and encourage them to take a look at these places for themselves. By using a digital format, the students hope that MMC will reach young people in particular. In contrast to people in Germany, the young generation in Cambodia knows very little about the grue- some history of their own country. A study conducted by the Uni- versity of California, Berkeley in 2009 concluded that eight out of ten Cambodians born after the end of the Khmer Rouge reign had no or very little knowledge about the regime. This young generation is in the process of losing access to its country’s history. The Khmer Rouge was only introduced into the national school curriculum a decade ago. Yet in families too, people barely talk about the brutal regime. The wounds are too deep, and the sense of shame is too overwhelming. A bridge between the generations ‘When I was young, I thought the Khmer Rouge was a kind of fairy-tale,’ says Socheata. ‘My aunt used to make jokes about it, as if it wasn’t anything bad or painful. But now I feel sorry for them. I’m sad about what my family had to go through in the past. Some- times I cry because they suffered so much.’ The project is helping Socheata to take a close look at her own family history for the first time. During her research, she found out what her family experi- enced under the Khmer Rouge. In the radical system, in which money and property were banned and city dwellers were marched forcibly to the countryside, people starved – and many died as a result. Since helping to develop the app, Socheata has been seeing her city through different eyes. If she spots a striking building, she asks herself and others questions. When was it built? How was it used under the Khmer Rouge? What happened to the people inside it? ‘I feel responsible for documenting history,’ she explains. ‘We are like a bridge between the old and the young generation. And I don’t want people to say: You didn’t pay any attention to history.’ When Sophiline, the artist and eye witness, hears about this, she believes it confirms the importance of her work. Under a roof supported by columns at the art school, a few metres away from her, a group of young men and women are practising traditional Khmer akzente 3/19 15 20 YEARS OF THE CIVIL PEACE SERVICE November 2019 marks 20 years since the first Civil Peace Service (CPS) experts left Germany to promote peace in regions of crisis and conflict and to prevent violence. In 1999, their destinations were the former Yugoslavia, Guatemala, Romania, Zimbabwe and the Palestinian terri- tories. Since then, 1,400 experts have been sent to nearly 60 countries. The CPS Consortium is made up of nine German peace and development organisations – as the only fede ral enterprise, GIZ, working on behalf of the German Development Ministry, has been part of the consortium from the outset. At present, more than 100 CPS experts from GIZ are collaborating with partner organisations in more than 20 countries. Their work varies, depending on the country. In Cambodia, for example, they aim to promote the creation of democratic structures by helping people come to terms with the past. In Guatemala, victims of violence receive support in fighting for their rights. In West Africa, work focuses on peaceful conflict resolution between livestock herders. Through CPS, Germany is assuming responsibility in the world where conflicts need to be defused and stability promoted. dance. They are wearing skirts and colourful scarves. Following a teacher’s instructions, they move their hands to the rhythm of a chant. Sophiline looks over at the students, a reflection of her own history. ‘It is important that this project exists. We older people must talk about the past more.’ She pauses. ‘But we have to move on too. Draw strength from the past. You have to use your energy to create something new and productive.’ Her group’s next perfor- mance is in two days’ time. The topic: Can the cycles of revenge and violence be overcome? A question that many people who delve into Cambodia’s past using the Mapping Memories Cambodia app will ask themselves. — JOHANNES TRAN was born in 1996, studied South-East Asian studies in Hamburg and works for a number of organisations, including the German broadcasting association ARD. He heard about MMC when travelling through Cambodia. LIM SOKCHANLINA is a Cambodian photographer and artist who focuses on portrait and documentary photography. Exhibitions of his work have been shown in places such as Singapore, New York and Berlin.

REPORT A question of trust On patrol with the mobile police station in the Palestinian territories p. 18 OVERVIEW New ways forward with digital tech Five projects that demonstrate how technology can improve human security p. 22 GUEST COLUMN ‘No reason for doom-mongering’ Guest column by State Secretary Martin Jäger p. 23 ESSAY Two steps forward, one step back US security expert Mathew Burrows explores the concept and the reality of human security. p. 24 INFOGRAPHIC The biggest risks of all In today’s world, war and weapons are no longer seen as the biggest dangers. In fact, the greatest risks that lie in wait for us concern the environment. p. 30 INTERVIEW ‘It’s not just wrong, it’s stupid’ Chantal de Jonge Oudraat, President of WIIS, on the significance of women in the field of security p. 32 BACKGROUND United for peace Randa Kourieh-Ranarivelo, Country Director in Mali, talks about the challenging work in a fragile state. p. 34 EXAMPLES OF GIZ’S WORK Focus on people How GIZ is working to improve human security around the world. p. 35

Report A question of trust Guided by the principles of human rights and the rule of law, Germany supports police forces in various countries to deliver a professional, community-oriented service. One example of this engagement can be found in the Palestinian territories. To see exactly how this works, we accompanied a mobile police station on patrol around Bethlehem. Text BRIGITTE SPITZ Photos AHMAD AL-BAZZ / GIZ A crowd gathers every time the white police van turns into a village road. Teenagers crane their neck and jostle for a good view as they make their way to school. Younger children point excit- edly at the vehicle and call out to their mothers. As the police van makes its way around this rural area on the southern out- skirts of Bethlehem, it soon becomes clear that the sight of a Palestinian police unit is quite a special occasion. That morning, Zahra Sukkar gathered her team at Bethlehem district police station: seven male officers and two female officers – including Sukkar herself, who commands the Bethlehem District Mobile Police Station. There is now a dedicated mobile station for each of the eleven districts that make up the West Bank with its population of nearly three million. The mobile police stations are just one example of GIZ’s work on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office in the Palestinian territories. The objective of this particular project is to strengthen local police structures and the rule of law. ‘Yallah – let’s go!’ says Sukkar. Accom- panied by traffic officers, an anti-narcotics officer, a cybercrime specialist and an envi- ronmental protection officer, she heads off in the direction of Beit Fajjar, a small town right down at the southern end of her dis- trict. She is holding a permit issued by the Israeli authorities. Without this document, she is not allowed to pass through any part of Area C, where the Palestinian Authority has no jurisdiction of any kind. The team climb into the large white police vehicle. With a blue stripe running along the side, it vaguely resembles a camp- ervan. There is a good reason for that. The vehicle was designed by the police officers themselves with the help of GIZ experts. Unlike other police vehicles, it is not fitted with window guards. Inside there is a table with benches. On the outside, the van has an extendable awning so that the team can set up chairs in the open air. As a result, whenever they stop in one of the villages, the van can be quickly transformed into a miniature police station with an inviting outdoor area. The message – that police of- ficers are approachable and there to serve the people – is intended to create a greater sense of community and trust. The Palestinian Civil Police force strug- gles with a limited presence and the fact that its officers are not seen often enough in remote areas. In part, this is due to the po- litical situation. The West Bank resembles a THE WEST BANK ABC In 1995, following the Oslo II Interim Agreement, the West Bank was divided into several areas of control. Area A: This makes up around 18 per cent of the entire West Bank. Larger cities such as Ramallah and Bethlehem were placed under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Around half of the West Bank’s three million people live in Area A. Access is controlled by the Israeli army. Area B: 20 per cent of the West Bank is classed as Area B. This consists mainly of rural communities. While administrative control rests with the Palestinian Author- ity, Israel has control over security. Area C: This covers 62 per cent of the West Bank and consists mainly of sparsely populated areas of undeveloped land, Palestinian villages and Israeli set- tlements. Area C is exclusively controlled by Israel. It is home to around 300,000 Palestinians and some 400,000 Israeli settlers. Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA oPt) akzente 3/19 19

Report INTERVIEW The project contributes to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): JOACHIM VON BONIN Programme Manager, Strengthening of Police Structures in the Palestinian Territories Working in the Palestinian territories, how do you manage to keep a sense of direction and distinguish between right and wrong? That’s a question I think a lot about – especially as a German citizen. I work for GIZ so I am guided by the policies of the Ger- man Government, which continues to support the two-state solution. A vision in which a viable Palestinian state and an Is- raeli state coexist in peace and security. This is the foundation for all activities in our police programme. As programme man- ager, I am also committed to the values enshrined in the Ger- man Constitution and the UN Convention on Human Rights. That’s not always easy in the Palestinian territories, but we have es- tablished a trustful and open dialogue with our Palestinian part- ners on these issues. What is the key to successful cooperation? First and foremost, in such a difficult and volatile situation you need a great deal of patience in your work. I was involved in setting up the first phase of the police programme ten years ago. Since then, my predecessors have achieved an incredible amount of progress. It is this kind of continuity that explains why we are highly valued as a partner in the area of policing. Another important factor is the strong mutual trust we have built up over that time. That allows us to address difficult is- sues and work on them together as partners. Finally, I have been deeply impressed by the tremendous motivation and strong qualifications of our national staff in the Palestinian territories. They are the real backbone of our work here. How do you see the future of the region? The first thing you realise when you come to work in the Mid- dle East is: there are no easy solutions to this conflict. Still, I remain an optimistic person so I concentrate on taking one step at a time. I believe it makes absolute sense to help im- prove human security for the people who live in the West Bank. Perhaps, in a small way, that will contribute to a bigger solu- tion later on. And besides the political context: for me person- ally it’s a great honour and privilege to live and work in this region with its wonderful people and such a diversity of cul- tures and religions. ficer. Together with her team, she wants to maintain that contact over the long term, so that they can take appropriate action before things happen – especially when young peo- ple are involved. Signs of change Young people and women are particularly at risk from domestic violence, cybercrime and drug abuse, observes Colonel Wafa Mua- mar, who leads the Family and Juvenile Pro- tection Unit operated by the Palestinian Police in Ramallah. The unit was set up in the West Bank ten years ago with a team of just three people. Today, it consists of 112 officers, 40 per cent of whom are women. ‘We are still a conservative society, and problems are usually settled within families,’ explains the Colonel. ‘What’s more, many of our laws are obsolete,’ she continues, de- scribing the challenges. However, things ap- pear to be changing. A specialist officer from her unit is now assigned to each mo- bile police station to deal with cases of do- mestic violence. More of these incidents are being reported overall. Awareness of the is- sue seems to be increasing. One example is the recent killing of a young woman, which set off street protests in Palestinian towns. The 21-year-old had posted a video with her future fiancé on social media. Investigations are still ongoing, but there are indications that the fact that she had shown herself with her partner online before her official en- gagement might have triggered violence by male relatives that caused her death. ‘One of our main goals is prevention. We want to build up trust in the police ser- vice so that people know they can turn to us even if they have problems,’ says Sukkar. The mobile unit has now moved on to a pri- mary school. Their task here is to train young members of the school crossing pa- trol. Wearing high-vis yellow jackets, the girls listen attentively to the traffic officers. Together they practice how to control the traffic and learn how to exert authority. The atmosphere is relaxed. Everyone is smiling or laughing, and after a while the children seem to lose any nervousness they may have had in the presence of the police officers. The girls confidently hold up the red sign ordering drivers to stop. — akzente 3/19 21

Guest column ‘No reason for doom- mongering’ By State Secretary MARTIN JÄGER 3 2 . P ( K E H T O T O H P , ) T H G I R , 2 2 . P ( O D A C R E M / S R E T U E R , ) R E T N E C , ) R efugee crisis, climate disaster, terrorism. Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria. Our living rooms are regularly bombarded with images of crisis and vi- olence, brought to us courtesy of the media. In many cases, however, those pictures are one-sided and pes- simistic. Today, we can follow events in East Timor, El Salvador or Malawi in ‘real-time’. Crises, wars and conflicts that appeared so dis- tant just a few decades ago now unfold before our eyes and demand an emotional response. That can leave many people with the impres- sion that the world around us is becoming more insecure, that prob- lems and conflicts are on the increase, and that we are losing control. Objectively, however, the idea that everything is getting worse is by no means true. In 2018, the Heidelberg Institute for Interna- tional Conflict Research recorded another fall in the number of con- flicts worldwide. According to data released by the World Bank, the proportion of the total global population living in absolute poverty is now well below ten per cent. Twenty years ago, it stood at nearly a third. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural 2 2 . P ( F I A L / N N A M S S O R G : S O T O H P akzente 3/19 23 Organization (UNESCO) estimates that 86 per cent of the world population can now read and write. Back in the 1960s that figure was under 50 per cent. Even the deep concern that people feel today about migration or climate change is not necessarily any greater or worse than that experienced by many who were alive 60 years ago, when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war. I certainly don’t wish to imply that everything is OK. Yes, we need to address some very serious and potentially existential chal- lenges, but that’s no reason for doom-mongering or resignation. The resources and tools we need to help us find lasting solutions to problems and improve the lives of many people are available to policy- makers. In that context, development policy has a particular role to play, especially when it comes to tackling complex problems with multiple causes. ‘Yes, we need to address some very serious and po- tentially existential chal- lenges, but that’s no reason for doom-mongering or resignation.’ Take Afghanistan, for example. The conflict has been generating headlines here in Germany for two decades. Afghanistan is a land- locked country. Most of the land is desert or mountains. The pop- ulation is rising much too fast compared with the rate of growth in food production. There is too little employment and hardly any in- dustry. Socially and institutionally, Afghanistan bears the scars of a half-century of war, conflict and mismanagement. As yet, all efforts to bring about peace, establish the rule of law and create stability have proven unsuccessful. As a result, there are many who believe that its problems cannot be solved, that the country is akin to a ‘black hole’. But that is overlooking the fact that per capita income has quadrupled in Afghanistan since the end of the Taliban regime. Life expectancy has increased by 20 years. More boys and girls than ever now attend school. Afghanistan is also one of the few coun- tries between the Mediterranean and the Pacific with freedom of expression and press freedom. Without international support, in- cluding the contribution made by Germany, none of this would have been possible. Development experts, soldiers, diplomats and police officers have all contributed to those outcomes, working together as part of an integrated strategy. Personally, I remain hopeful that there will be a peace process in Afghanistan. Even apparently hopeless, complex, multicausal crises and wars can be resolved step by step if we take the time and make the effort needed to address their root causes. These actions really can make the world a safer place. —

Essay Two steps forward, one step back Human security encompasses more than the absence of war. It envisions a life free from fear and want – for all. The US security expert Mathew Burrows analyses where we stand, what we have achieved and which obstacles we have to overcome in this endeavour. Illustrations: Florian Bayer W ith the Cold War end- ing, the exclusive fo- cus on state security vanished, and the wellbeing of individ- uals came to the fore. Only a few years into this ‘New World Order’, the United Nations Development Programme introduced a new paradigm – Human Security – in its annual Human Development Report (HDR). The UNDP warned that ‘without the promotion of people-centred development none of our key objectives can be met – not peace, not human rights, not environmental protec- tion, not reduced population growth, not social integration. It is far cheaper and far more humane to act early and to act upstream than to pick up the pieces downstream …’ Built on four principles – people-centred, comprehensive, context-sensitive, preven- tive – the new Human Security approach was IN THIS ARTICLE 1. PAST How the concept of human security emerged and took root. 2. PRESENT Which developments threaten the world and therefore undermine human security. 3. FUTURE Five points which the global community should address in order to promote human development. preceded by a shift in development econom- ics. The Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and the Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen introduced an approach that switched from national income accounting to peo- ple-centred politics. ‘People are the real wealth of a nation,’ Haq wrote in the first Human Development Report in 1990. Hence, human development needed to be- come ‘a process of enlarging people’s choices’ – most critically about how to lead a long and healthy life, how to be educated and how to enjoy a decent standard of living. Without ‘political freedom, guaranteed hu- man rights and self-respect,’ Haq insisted, ‘all foreign aid would be in vain.’ Freedom and dignity Despite this forceful, forward-looking par- adigm shift, it took the United Nations akzente 3/19 25

Essay ‘There is less pub- lic interest in help- ing others, even as globalisation has made us more interdependent.’ ganised crime and the proliferation of deadly weapons likewise show little regard for the niceties of borders; they are prob- lems without passports and, as such, our common enemy.’ The biggest human security challenge requiring collective action is climate change. Those living in the sun belt, north and south of the equator, are most at risk. Sub-Saharan Africa – which could see the biggest impacts – is also where population growth is still surging. Hardly able to feed itself now, the expected increases in temper- ature will make it difficult to grow existing crops. The climate change threat is more widespread, with no country likely to be spared. Still, gaining international agreement on measures has been difficult. Advanced economies believe developing countries should bear more of the burden for cutting back CO2, while developing countries blame the West for the problem. in the West it saw its household incomes stagnate or decline, fuelling the current populist sentiment, and thus increasing in- equality and reducing human security. Education is key The increasing levels of educational attain- ment are perhaps the most positive sign of permanent change for the better. Educa- tional attainment in the developing world is rising faster than it did for the West in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Young girls, not just boys, are benefiting. It is pro- jected that the average number of years in education for women in the Middle East and North Africa could rise from five to seven years by 2030, which begins to close the gap with boys, who will go from 7.1 to 8.7 years in the same period. So, if we take stock of the progress achieved during the last 25 years, there has been real advancement. The World Bank estimated that the first Millennium Devel- opment Goal (MDG) of halving the pro- portion of people living on less than one US dollar a day was achieved in 2008, mainly due to progress in China, India and East Asia. Looking to the future, though, the most recent UN Global Sustainable Devel- opment Report in July 2019 warned that none of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals will be reached until 2030 if there is not a more concerted global effort. The danger of climate change After hundreds of years of imperialism, he- gemony and conflict we should welcome the fact that we now live in a world of greater economic opportunity, individual em powerment, including that of women, and decreasing war. But with the rise of populist parties in Western countries and nationalism everywhere, democracy is in re- treat and authoritarians are gaining ground. There is less public interest in helping oth- ers, even as globalisation has made us more interdependent. As the late UN Secre- tary-General Kofi Annan once put it: ‘Ours is a world in which no individual, and no country, exists in isolation. Pollution, or- akzente 3/19 27

Shift away from reactive mode To overcome the current nationalist back- lash and cooperate with one another, gov- ernments need to shift away from their reac- tive crisis management mode. If political leaders want to reinvigorate the 2030 Agenda and deliver on their promise to im- prove human security, they need to better understand the fundamental drivers of change in our highly dynamic world. Only then will they be able to develop and imple- ment policies relevant for solving challenges over the long term. Otherwise they will face a severe legitimacy gap and mistrust in insti- tutions. This creates a fertile breeding ground for new social movements like Fri- days For Future and eventually puts the po- litical system under even more pressure. It is therefore all the more important to act swiftly and prudently. Not everything de- mands systemic change on a big scale; there are also low-hanging fruits: First and foremost, political decision-mak- ers and bureaucracies need to better under- stand the systemic interdependencies of a world that is becoming increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Second, honest and straightforward com- munication with constituencies about the societal and individual costs of the desper- ately needed green socio-economic transi- tion is indispensable. Policy-makers need to address vested interests if they want to achieve collective action. Essay ‘To overcome the current nationalist backlash and co- operate with one another, govern- ments need to shift away from their reactive crisis management mode.’ Third, politics needs to become solution-fo- cused instead of problem-oriented. It is not what people need to give up that should be in the centre of political communication but what could be gained. Fourth, better coordination and harmonisa- tion of sectoral policies (whole-of-govern- ment approach) and new forms of political participation, decision-making and shared responsibility are needed. Interministerial cooperation can be easily enhanced within national governments without constitutional changes. Fifth, alignment with like-minded people – nationally as well as internationally – to demonstrate that change is possible. Human development based on the princi- ple of human security – i.e. a life free from fear and want for all races, genders and na- tionalities – will only be achieved if we re- invent our societies and political processes and understand that the welfare of others is just as necessary as our own. — MATHEW BURROWS is a US expert on global trends and security issues. He is currently Director of the Atlantic Council’s Foresight, Strategy, and Risks Initiative. Previously, he spent many years with the CIA and the US Department of State. akzente 3/19 29

4. Data fraud Over recent years, data theft and data fraud have emerged as a major security risk. According to forecasts, the resulting economic damage will reach USD 3 trillion by 2020. Source: World Economic Forum 5. Cyberattacks Hackers are constantly inventing new ways of stealing data. One method that has recently proliferated is ‘formjacking’. This involves manipulating checkout payment forms on e-commerce sites in order to extract credit card information. It is estimated that around 4,800 sites are affected every month. Just ten stolen credit cards per compromised website can generate up to USD 2.2 million per month. Source: Internet Security Threat Report 3 trillion 6. Human-induced natural disasters 4.9 million In many cases, natural disasters are caused by humans, for example oil tanker spills and oil drilling accidents. In 2010, 4.9 million barrels of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico when a BP drilling platform exploded and later sank. Source: Disaster Rally 42 million 44 million 0 2 1 0 45 million 60 million 2 2 0 0 8 2 0 1 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 6 66 million 71 million 0 2 1 8 7. Forced displacement 71 million There are more displaced people today than at any other point in recent decades. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) put the figure for 2018 at over 70 million – 25 people per minute. According to all forecasts, that figure is set to increase further as the changing climate forces people to abandon their homes. akzente 3/19 31 8. Biodiversity loss We are losing species at an astonishing rate. Based on the most recent calculations, a million species are at risk of extinction. Biodiversity can be seen as a kind of life insurance policy. If one species disappears – perhaps because it could no longer cope with rising temperatures – its place can be taken by another. It is for this reason that diversity is so important. Source: World Biodiversity Council

Interview ‘It’s not just wrong, it’s stupid’ Excluding women from security matters – as is still widely the practice across the globe – seriously affects the success rates of peace processes, says Chantal de Jonge Oudraat. She is President of the network Women In International Security, which advocates equal female representation Security has traditionally been a male field. Where do we stand in terms of female participation? Across the globe, the under-representation of women in national and international se- curity institutions remains glaring. Gender perspectives are insufficiently integrated into analyses of national and international security challenges. Gender perspectives are usually afterthoughts, if they are thought about at all. Lastly, violence against women continues at horrifyingly high levels. Are there any geographic differences? Progress towards gender equality has varied greatly from country to country. But no country has achieved gender equality. When you examine the obstacles to progress, it is not the differences that are striking, but the similarities between countries. Most national and international security establishments are comprised mainly of men and run by men. They have been reluctant to bring women into professional or policy-making positions, especially if this would displace men. These policy establishments also look at national and international security issues in very tra- ditional ways and continue to treat gender issues as marginal issues. Are we moving forward or backwards here? Progress is uneven across the world and has ) 2 3 . P ( E T A V I R P : O T O H P in all security issues. Interview: Friederike Bauer even been reversed in some countries. To me, the wave of neo-patriarchs coming to power in the 2000s and 2010s is particu- larly worrisome in this regard. Why is it important to have women en- gaged in security issues? There are rights- and needs-based argu- ments. The first is grounded in the principle of gender equality. The second acknowl- edges that neglecting 50 per cent of the population leads to ineffective outcomes. In Afghanistan and Iraq, for example, the US military had to recognise that its male-dom- inated forces could not engage with half of the population. It led the USA to rescind its prohibition on women serving in combat positions. Would you say this rationale is the same all over the world? Yes, this is universal. Are there matters where women can make a real difference? Of course, and so can men! But we must stop talking about women and instead talk about gender. The Women, Peace and Secu- rity resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council explicitly refer to ‘women’. This has helped to highlight the important role of women in security affairs. Unfortunately, it has also made it easy for the traditional security community to pigeonhole this agenda as a ‘women’s issue’ and treat it as a secondary or tertiary issue in national and international security policy. In addition, many policy discussions in this context con- flate ‘women and girls’, ‘women and chil- dren’, and ‘women and youth’. I personally feel this points in the wrong direction be- cause it infantilises women, reinforces the idea that women have no agency and bol- sters the prevailing pattern that excludes women from participating in national and international security policy-making. What are the next important steps to in- crease female representation in security issues? Policy-makers need to understand that the perpetuation of gender inequalities is not just wrong, it is stupid. Research has shown that higher levels of gender inequality are correlated with a greater propensity for conflict and instability. We also know that peace processes that include women are more likely to last and 64 per cent less likely to fail. The current inequitable state of affairs has serious, negative consequences for national and international security. Pro- moting gender parity in security policy af- fairs is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. — akzente 3/19 33

Examples of GIZ’s work Focus on people Security provides the framework for sustainable development. Drawing on our experience, GIZ is working to improve human security around the world. The spectrum of activities is broad. Protection first and foremost The guidelines entitled ‘Prevent- ing Crises, Resolving Conflicts, Building Peace’ define the way in which Germany helps to improve people’s security world­ wide and pave the way for sustainable development. For the German Government, they represent an interministerial compass which also forms the basis for the actions we take. At the same time, we can only carry out our work if we protect our staff and their families in places where the situation is difficult. That involves risk analyses, training and security offices. — 126,000 CITIZEN FOCUS Police units that specifically seek to enter into dialogue with local people are new in many parts of Afghanistan. Their aim is to create trust and stability. In this way, GIZ is supporting the country in the Hindu Kush on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office. In 15 provinces, GIZ is promoting police officers’ social skills and direct dialogue with citizens. The younger generation is also addressed in a range of information events. For instance, 126,000 schoolchildren have already learned how to react in an emergency. — MEXICO More than 40,000 missing persons, 26,000 unidentified people and almost 100 murders every day: that is a huge challenge for the rule of law in Mexico. On behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office, GIZ is supporting the efforts of the Latin American country to improve its crime investigation work and the systems that underpin the justice system and forensic medicine. — 12 countries BIOSECURITY Outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola demonstrate time and again how quickly such highly contagious pathogens can spread. They threaten people’s lives and the stability of societies. The same is true of bioterrorist attacks. To prevent this danger, Germany has launched a biosecurity programme, which is active in 12 countries across Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. On behalf of the EU and the German Federal Foreign Office, GIZ is cooperating in this venture with German research institutions. The aim is to strengthen our partners in their crisis response capacities. To this end, we are primarily supporting networking and communications strategies. — Women for peace GENDER The number of peace missions in Africa is increasing, as is their significance. On behalf of the German Development Ministry (BMZ), one way in which GIZ is supporting the African Union is in helping it to deploy a larger number of women in its work to promote security and stability across the continent. We are training about 200 women as civilian experts and supporting a network of female mediators. — United against crime WESTERN BALKANS Since organised crime operates across borders, efforts to combat it also require an international approach. On behalf of BMZ, GIZ is working with the Italian Ministry of the Interior to carry out a security project in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Public prosecutors, crime­fighting authorities and ministries are supported in dismantling criminal structures. Police officers and public prosecutors from EU countries are using information from ongoing investigations to advise partners. — akzente 3/19 35

Everything flows IMPORTS A woman in Xa Cau cycles quickly past an imposing river – a river of plastic bot- tles. This is an everyday sight in the Vietnamese town near Hanoi and is no reason to interrupt your journey. It is also a symbol of the global plastic waste exports that end up in Viet Nam. Since China stopped allowing plastic waste to be imported in 2018, the vast quantities have mainly been sent to Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam and Indonesia. The gov- ernments of the emerging economies in Asia are now issuing bans on plastic waste imports themselves. It remains to be seen whether sights like this will therefore become a thing of the past. Photo: REUTERS/Nguyen Huy Kham

Perlen des Wissens INSPIRING Literature scholar Deeda Shakeb in front of a painting of the icon of Afghan poetry: the national poet Rumi. The 29-year-old works at the Faizabad teacher training college.

Perlen des Wissens ‘ The head of the teacher training college in Faizabad is now a woman. That would have been inconceivable a few ayears ago.’ NIAZMOHAMMAD PUYA, Director of the Basic and Secondary Education Programme for Afghanistan (BEPA) in Badakhshan Province. The full interview is exclusively available at: akzente.giz.de/en A primary school teacher talks about improving the quality of lessons in an akzente video at: akzente.giz.de/en degree in Sweden. Personal contacts with international organisations had enabled her to get a grant to gain this qualification abroad. How- ever, this is very much the exception for Afghan citizens. The linguist exudes an air of confidence and radiates enthusiasm for education. School syllabuses and lesson plans are scattered all over her desk. Behind her is a picture of Afghanistan’s national poet Rumi, who was one of the most eminent Persian-language poets of the Middle Ages. Shakeb heads further training courses in didactics for lecturers in teacher training, partly on behalf of GIZ. ‘One of the most impor- tant attributes of a good teacher is flexibility,’ says Shakeb. ‘This means adapting methods to the situation in the classroom and the needs of the students.’ In Shakeb’s Dari lessons, trainee teachers are taught on two lev- els simultaneously: content and method. Today, Shakeb is teaching a class of 16 young women in their third semester, explaining the dif- ferences and similarities between classical and contemporary poetry. The students work in groups, after which two overlapping circles are drawn on the board, their intersection showing the features that are common to poetry of different eras. ‘How did we arrive at this dia- gram from the initial issue we discussed?’ asks Shakeb. One of the students stands up and summarises the learning steps and the teach- ing methods used. Shakeb’s students come from different regions of northern Af- ghanistan and hope to find a good teaching post soon. Fereshta Mahmudi, a 21-year-old, chose Dari as a subject because at second- ary school she herself had a teacher who kindled in her a passion for akzente 3/19 41 literature. What was it that she liked most about this teacher? ‘She looked after all of her pupils equally, regardless of how clever they were,’ says the young woman with the bright-red headscarf. ‘That’s the kind of teacher I would like to become.’ Maneela Mahdi took that step quite some time ago. She is fully aware of how important good teachers are for Afghanistan’s future. ‘The biggest problems in Afghanistan are lack of education and the resulting unemployment,’ she says. ‘This creates a breeding ground for war and violence.’ Mahdi works to combat this every day. When the young mother starts to talk about her four-month-old daughter, her face breaks into a smile. ‘I want my child to have the opportuni- ty to study for a Master’s degree in future. To be able to do this, she must have the chance to grow up in a peaceful environment. This is my greatest wish.’ — MARIAN BREHMER is a freelance journalist with a passion for Islamic culture from Turkey to India. He has a degree in Iranian studies and in Persian language and literature. Brehmer now lives mainly in Istanbul, but he has also visited Afghanistan several times on behalf of akzente.

Pioneers from the jungle

Pioneers from the jungle ‘We sell good coffee at a good price.’ AUGUSTO SALAZAR (50), a coffee grower, is president and founder of the Waylla Kuri (Green Gold) cooperative in the provincial capital Tena, in the Amazon Basin. ‘I am a child of the chakra. Even as a little boy, I was intrigued by the different plants in my family’s forest garden. I learned how to look after them and began to understand that all those different plants growing in our region protect each other. It was my father who told me about this, and he also taught me to respect the rain- forest all around us. These are traditions handed down to us by our ancestors, which I’m now passing on to my own children. Like me, they are coffee growers. In 2007, we founded the Waylla Kuri co- operative to market coffee and other products from the chakra. Back then, we had only just started growing coffee. Although we had little experience, it didn’t take us long to produce good-quality coffee. GIZ helped us sell our coffee by putting us in touch with Quijote Kaffee. This means that we now get a good price for our cof- fee and have a secure sales market. This year we expect to produce 350 quintals (equivalent to about 16,000 kilograms) of robusta coffee, all thanks to the work of the 330 members of our coopera- tive. I myself produced between four and five quintals of coffee (over 200 kilograms) last year. The number of members is growing, and more and more of them are women – about 40 per cent now. The area where we grow our crops is increasing, too, although we only use land that was already being used for agriculture. The Que- chua tradition forbids clearing the rainforest. Collectively, we have titles to more than 41,000 hectares of land, around half of which is primary forest that we don’t touch. People are allowed to grow crops on the remaining area – but must use the ‘sistema chakra’. These forest gardens are cultivated according to the Quechua tradi- tions, entirely organically. We don’t even use copper, which is al- lowed as a pesticide in organic farming in Europe.’ — ) 5 4 . P D N A 2 4 . P ( E D I E H G N I N N E H , ) 4 4 . P ( E T A V I R P : S O T O H P akzente 3/19 45

Pioneers from the jungle ‘Our aim is to improve together.’ ANDREAS FELSEN (46) is a direct importer of coffee and coffee roaster at Quijote Kaffee in Hamburg. ‘I arrived in the Río Napo region in June 2010 with the aim of finding producers of high-quality robusta coffee. A coffee importer in Hamburg had told me that it was grown there. So I went in search of it and my attention was drawn to the Jatary cooperative in the provincial town of Tena. This was a stroke of luck for me be- cause the robusta produced by the sixty or so farmers, most of them women, is of excellent quality. Jatary has been supplying us since 2011, and as we pay regular visits to our partners we get to know a lot of people – including from GIZ. It was through these personal links with GIZ that we also came into contact with the Waylla Kuri cooperative in 2013. Today, both cooperatives supply us with increasing quantities of robusta coffee of ever better qual- ity. This fits in well with the philosophy of Quijote Kaffee: to im- prove together. It all starts with choosing the right beans, then drying them and selecting the dried beans. All of these steps are labour-intensive, but the hard work is worth it – for both sides. The minimum price we pay for one American pound, or 454 grams, of robusta is USD 2.80, but we do expect excellent quality for that. We only accept beans that reach a very high level on the Specialty Coffee Association scale. In exchange for this we pay much more than the global market price for robusta (USD 0.71 per pound as of August 2019). With us, therefore, a significantly higher percentage of the final consumer price goes back to the co- operatives, which is what we want. We believe in a partnership of equals, which also includes providing training and advice on the ground, whether about cultivation or about developing their own roasting profiles to sell their own coffee locally. In addition, we pre-finance the harvest, paying for 60 per cent of the ordered quan- tity, interest-free. In that way we take our share of the risk – after all, the farmers have the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, in the form of harvest failure, loss of quality due to climate impacts such as rainy seasons at entirely the wrong time, and fi- nancing risks. This isn’t fair and we are doing things differently.’ — Interview by Knut Henkel ) 7 4 . P ( L E K N E H T U N K , ) 6 4 . P ( E D I E H G N I N N E H : S O T O H P akzente 3/19 47 Andreas Felsen (right) with Alejandro Grefa, president of the Jatary coffee cooperative EMPOWERING NATURE AND HUMANS Ecuador is one of the most species-rich countries in the world. It has areas of rainforest and dry forests, mangroves and upland moors. Climate change poses a threat to these ecosystems, and with them the lives and livelihoods of the people living there. The poorer sec- tions of society suffer the most. On behalf of BMZ and with cofinancing from the EU, GIZ supports the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Autonomous Decentralised Governments in their efforts to increase the resilience of the population to these challenges. The aim is to protect the treasures of nature and show people how they can protect themselves against the impacts of climate change and develop economic alternatives – in harmony with nature. The in- novations in coffee growing are an example of how everyone can reap the rewards. Contact: Karin von Loebenstein, karin.loebenstein-von@giz.de THE PROJECT IN FIGURES Up to 400 per cent higher coffee prices paid to family-run farms thanks to improved quality, organic certification and direct marketing.

Info GOOD READS from around the world IT WOULD BE NIGHT IN CARACAS After 20 years of Chavismo, once wealthy Venezuela is on its knees. The extent to which violence and lawlessness now reign is portrayed by Karina Sainz Borgo in her feisty debut novel It Would Be Night in Ca- racas. A passionate, uncompro- mising literary indictment. — Andreas Fanizadeh, literary critic and editor Karina Sainz Borgo, Venezuela/Spain. Translated from Spanish by Elizabeth Bryer. HarperVia, 240 pages LITPROM RECOMMENDS Litprom – the Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature – provided these reviews for akzente. The titles were selected from Litprom’s list of the best new releases. www.litprom.de/en ) M O T T O B E H T T A , 8 4 . P ( F E C I N U , ) E L D D I M , 8 4 . P ( S N I K W A H D E , ) P O T E H T T A , 8 4 . P ( H S A L P S N U N O E I P N A T A N O J : S O T O H P SIX RECORDS OF A FLOATING LIFE China around the year 1800: Shen Fu, the young son of a scholar, marries his cousin Chen Yun. They are very much in love, but lack financial means or an income. An inti- mate novel about the fleeting- ness of happiness, embedded in a deeply spiritual Taoistic attitude to life which says that everything must change and nothing lasts forever. — Katharina Borchardt, literary critic and editor Shen Fu, China. Translated from Chinese by Leonard Pratt and Chiang Su-Hui. Penguin, 176 pages LOST CHILDREN ARCHIVE A very timely novel. Children are fleeing from Mexico to the USA. A patchwork family travels in the opposite direction, south- wards, searching for echoes of dead Apaches and traces of two missing children from Mexico. A road movie and a migration novel. Full of emotion, full of concern for the children, full of fun and adventures. — Ruthard Stäblein, literary critic and editor Valeria Luiselli, Mexico/USA. 4th Estate, 400 pages akzente 3/19 49 THE HOLE Ogi’s wife dies in a car accident that was his fault. Badly injured and bed-ridden, he has to rely on his mother-in-law to look after him. Little by little the cracks, not only in the life he had with his wife but in his entire existence, begin to reveal themselves. Unimaginably dark places are laid bare. Nothing is at it seems. Hypnotising. — Anita Djafari, Managing Director, Litprom Hye-young Pyun, South Korea. Translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell. Arcade Publishing, 208 pages

SUSTAINABILITY A look back at a project and its results MEXICO Project: Sustainable Energy / Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) / Partner: Mexican Ministry of Energy (SENER) / Term: 2009–2019 THEN NOW Energy plays a crucial role in the global challenges of our time, not only in terms of climate change but also areas such as edu- cation, health and employment. For a long time, Mexico mainly relied on fossil fuels. In 2013, the Government launched an energy reform, initially focusing on electricity and hydrocarbon. Since 2015, efforts have pri- marily been devoted to achieving a sustain- able power supply. GIZ supported Mexico in implementing the project on behalf of BMZ. It soon became clear that the topic is not gender neutral. Women were thought to have less technical expertise; they were poorly represented and poorly informed. In Mexican households, women make 80 per cent of the purchasing decisions, however, and so de- cide whether energy is saved or not. The switch to renewable resources therefore al- so provides a major opportunity to promote women. In order to transform the Mexican market, 135,000 experts on renewable energy are required. Trained personnel are a key factor in the use of new technologies. The project produced material for women, offered special courses such as training on how to install solar ther- mal systems and organised childcare. As a result, the gender perspective spread to a traditionally male-dominated area. In addi- tion, the evaluation system SiseviveEcocasa was introduced to promote sustainable house building. By the end of the project, the architectural design and energy and water consumption of 250,000 houses had been as- sessed. GIZ also helped to develop clean en- ergy certificates, with which bulk energy purchasers can demonstrate that their share of power from renewable energy is in line with what is required. The results achieved by the project also made it attractive for neighbouring countries. Six triangular coop- eration arrangements were set up, with Gua- temala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Argentina and Cuba. https://mia.giz.de/qlink/ID=246060000 ) 0 5 . P ( Z I G D N A S E G A M I Y T T E G : S O T O H P akzente 3/19 51 AKZENTE Publisher: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Registered offices: Bonn and Eschborn, Germany Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 36 + 40, 53113 Bonn, Germany T +49 228 44 60-0, F +49 228 44 60-17 66 Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5, 65760 Eschborn, T +49 61 96 79-0, F +49 61 96 79-11 15 E: akzente@giz.de I: akzente.giz.de/en Sabine Tonscheidt, Director of Corporate Communications (GIZ) Responsible: Ute Schaeffer, Head of Media and Public Relations and Press Spokesperson (GIZ) Content concept and editing: GIZ: Nicole Annette Müller (editor) FAZIT Communication GmbH: Sabrina Pfost (project management), Friederike Bauer, Judith Reker, Brigitte Spitz, Oliver Hick-Schulz (artistic direction, photo editing), Martin Gorka (infographics), Corinna Potthoff (photo editing) English translation: Sue Harrison, Richard Holland, Alastair Penny, David Tonge, Leighton Twigger; Gillian Lester (GIZ Language Services) Proofreading: textschrittmacher Graphic design/lithography: FAZIT Communication GmbH URL-links: Where links are included to external sites, responsibility for the content of these sites lies solely with the provider. GIZ explicitly disassociates itself from all such content. Maps: GIZ/Ira Olaleye The maps are for information purposes only and do not constitute recognition under international law of bounda- ries and territories. GIZ provides no assurance that these maps are up-to-date, correct or complete and accepts no responsibility for loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from their use. GIZ is responsible for the content of this publication. Articles by individual authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher. Cover photo and p. 16: Morukc Umnaber/dpa All images: GIZ unless otherwise stated Copy deadline: November 2019 Published: quarterly Current issue: December 2019 Printed by: Druckerei Lokay e.K., Reinheim, Germany Printed on: Arctic Volume, certified to FSC standards ISSN: 0945-4497 You can subscribe to akzente free of charge as a printed magazine or as a pdf by sending your email or postal address to: akzente-vertrieb@giz.de. You can unsubscribe using the same address. akzente has received several awards for its high-quality journalism and design. In 2018, it won the Best of Content Marketing Award in silver in the crossmedia and website categories.