German foreign policy is peace policy

One aim of our training courses is to foster peace policy in various ways.


On the one hand, this goal can be achieved simply by bringing people together. People who exchange ideas on neutral ground, learn together and get to know each other as individuals can develop an understanding for other people’s positions. In role plays, for example, our participants also take on roles for a limited time in which they have to represent positions differing from their own. Through such a change of perspective, they become more aware of what lies behind other opinions.


At the same time, we invite our guests to learn more about the attitudes, priorities and ideas of German foreign policy. It is important to us that we do not aim for consensus but instead endeavour to create understanding for our goals. For example, why are we striving for the transformation of energy systems? Why do we regard the fight against corruption as essential for democracy? And why do we see mediation as a target-oriented foreign policy instrument?


A third objective of our programmes is thus to train our guests in skills such as mediation and negotiation.

 

 

Our Diplomacy by Networking project

To date, more than 4000 diplomats and executives from almost 190 countries have taken part in our programmes. Several hundred of them currently represent their countries in Germany, some of them as ambassadors. They all remain important contacts for us at home and abroad. As part of our network-oriented foreign policy, we hence aim to keep in touch with our alumni after they have completed their courses. In the Diplomacy by Networking project, we have developed instruments that enable us to promote this global alumni network and deepen contacts within it: regional network meetings abroad, network-consolidation programmes and individual events in Germany, online-seminars, services in the field of German as a foreign language, and scholarships for selected partners’ programmes.


We also welcome the opportunity to open our services to alumni from our partners’ networks in order to foster exchange between actors from different sectors. Particularly close partners include the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa), the German Bundestag and the International Alumni Center of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. You can find out more about our collaborations here.


Another idea of the project is to integrate more Germans into the international network. Thus, colleagues from the Federal Foreign Office and its diplomatic missions abroad, participants and alumni of the voluntary service of the Federal Foreign Office kulturweit and the Network for International Tasks, and former programme associates are invited to join our events.


In terms of network orientation, we use the Alumniportal Deutschland as our homepage. It serves as an interactive platform for German alumni from all over the world. The portal, which is financed by the Federal Foreign Office, is a collaboration between the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Goethe Institute.