German ONE Office Launches Election Campaign

Feb 12th, 2009 12:57 PM UTC
By Carola Bieniek

This Monday we launched our German 2009 election campaign “Be ONE of Us”. A panel featuring Bob Geldof as well as Die Toten Hosen front man Campino and ONE’s Germany Director Tobias introduced not only an ad campaign soon to be seen around the German capital Berlin but also a brand new poll showing encouraging results:

71% of Germans say that the government should keep the promise to increase ODA to 0.51 % by 2010 and give half of the increase to Africa. This is particularly interesting since the poll was undertaken last week – so these are figures from the midst of the financial and economic crisis.

Out of these 71%, 74% agree that the promises should be kept even if this involves minor additional burdens for the citizens.
59% of Germans find party positions on supporting the distress in poor countries very important or rather important for their ballot decision.
67% agree that Chancellor Merkel’s credibility depends in part on keeping the promise to Africa

The most important election in Germany 2009 will be the elections for German parliament – the Bundestag. In addition there will be several other elections on regional, national and European levels. It is important to discuss with people why the fight against extreme poverty in Africa needs to be continued also in times of crisis. The “Article ONE” (below) is a brief summary of our agenda. It can be supported by anyone around the world in order to be a strong impulse for the governmental program of the next German administration.

The Article ONE:

The German government has the duty to act decisively against extreme poverty. The successes of the past years show that there is a way out of poverty. Germany keeps its promise to Africa and will allocate in 2010 0,51% and no later than 2015 0,7% of its gross national income to development assistance.
Ownership as well as transparent and coordinated aid is key to highly effective development assistance. The efforts need to be focused on the MDGs. Thus the German government extends its engagement in the sectors health, agriculture, education and infrastructure. In addition, Germany supports a trade initiative for Africa and a fair debt process for countries threatened by unsustainable debt.

Germany is the largest bilateral donor in the area of water and sanitation but is also increasingly focusing on health and “Good Governance”. As we expect development assistance to be raised next year (there have been substantial increases for last year and this one as well) Germany should be in a position to also contribute more to global responses in sectors such as education and agriculture. Additional revenues from the auctioning of carbon emission certificates are an innovative way for Germany to contribute significantly to these sectors but also to support African countries in their effort to adapt to climate change.

German ONE’s election campaign – by both calling on the public support of ONE members but also by sharing our policy ideas with the candidates – will show African successes and remind of promises made.

Check out the latest action on our German election campaign website.

-Carola Bieniek

TAGS: From ONE Members, German Election 2009, ONE