Rural development in areas with special support needs

completed

Due to their shared historical background, Germany and Namibia have a particularly close partnership. In its 1989 Namibia resolution, the German Bundestag acknowledged Germany's special historical and moral responsibility towards Namibia and expressly reaffirmed this responsibility in a further resolution in June 2004. The then Federal Minister for Development took part in the central commemorations of the centenary of the colonial war in August 2004 as the Federal Government's representative and announced, among other things, a special initiative to support Namibia's policy of national reconciliation and to further deepen the cooperation and friendship between the two countries with a view to the future. The program is intended to support participatory municipal development projects in areas with particular need for support. The areas receiving support include in particular the settlement areas of those ethnic groups that suffered under German colonial rule. The project helps to support the Namibian government in its policy of national reconciliation (overall objective). By implementing some very small-scale measures in different sectors, a contribution is to be made to improving living conditions in selected project areas (program objective). The project explicitly relies on a development process that is embedded in Namibian development planning and is directed towards the future, with visible results, rather than on backward-looking reparations. It combines aspects of poverty reduction and the participatory development of marginalized regions in Namibia, as well as encounters and understanding. A total of EUR 31.0 million in FC funds were pledged for the project in financing agreements. These amounts are based on the EUR 12.0 million pledged during government negotiations in 2006 and 2007, as well as EUR 8.0 million during government negotiations in 2009 and a further EUR 11.0 million in 2012. A further EUR 5.0 million was pledged during government negotiations in 2015, of which EUR 3.6 million still has to be pledged in a financing agreement and EUR 1.4 million is only available as a reserve in case the Namibian side fails to meet its obligations (own contribution and provision in the state budget for unforeseen costs) even if construction work is not completed. With the additional EUR 3.6 million, the projects currently under construction can be completed by September 2016 - according to current planning.