Development

The International Social lssue still requires urgent action. About 1.3 billion people world-wide live in absolute poverty and are not even able to satisfy their basic needs. The German Commission for Justice and Peace is committed to direct German development policies particularly towards fighting global mass poverty. lt demands that the interests of the poor in the developing countries are considered in all fields of German politics. lt helps drawing the Church's and the public's attention to world-wide poverty. The German Commission for Justice and Peace is absolutely committed to fighting poverty by means of self-help. The poor need to get the opportunity of changing their living conditions themselves. This is what the development co-operation of the industrialised countries has to focus on. The framework conditions set by the international community and by the individual developing countries must also aim at self-help. The German Commission for Justice and Peace is known for its Exposure and Dialogue Programmes (EDP). These programmes give managers and multiplicators of the Church, in society, business and politics the opportunity to experience (to expose themselves to) the living conditions of the poor in the Third World as well as their problems and their potential for self-help. Many EDP participants have discovered a new approach to poverty and development problems and have become - in their own fields of activity - important actors in the fight against poverty by means of self-help. Further, staff members of state and Church institutions working in the field of development co-operation are offered subject-orientated Exposure and Dialogue Programmes. The EDP method helps to find new structurally effective means to fight poverty and to elaborate concepts to improve existing development programmes. In January 1998, the German parliament pointed out that Exposure an dialogue Programmes are becoming increasingly important in poverty-orientated development politics. In future, members of parliament will use this method during their visits to developing countries to inform themselves on successful self-help organisations of the poor.