Development Cooperation

Development cooperation (DC) recently replaced the term development aid because it focuses on creating global cooperation and jointly reducing socioeconomic differences between the poorer and wealthier countries of this world. Even when Development Cooperation has already accomplished much progress, the term still feeds the narrative of people who help and those who are helpless. The course “Development Cooperation” deals with the challenge of not reducing the people of the global South to their needs, what effective development cooperation is and how we can work together side by side to achieve successes for people and the planet on a global level as well as with many other exciting questions about development cooperation.

The course discusses how the legacy of the colonial era influences the work of development cooperation organizations, how today’s widespread savior narrative emerged and is propagated and how development cooperation is financed and organized with examples of successful, effective cooperation. Development cooperation itself as well as the people working in the projects come from all disciplines due to the need for international cooperation as the need for exchange and improvement on a global scale exists regardless of professional boundaries. Therefore, this module is suitable for all interested people regardless of their field of study. The more diverse the team, the more diverse the solutions!