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Six e-cars for outpatient health services handed over in La Paz
The City of Bonn supports its partner city of La Paz with the purchase of e-cars for outpatient health care services. After the symbolic handover of the first car in February, all six e-cars have now been handed over in La Paz. The small environmentally friendly cars had been tested beforehand to ensure that they could be used in the small steep streets and alleys in the city and surrounding areas.
Nawruz Festival: Delegation from Bukhara visits Bonn
A project partnership has been in place between Bonn and the Uzbek city of Bukhara for 20 years. Joint projects have successfully been implemented and close cooperation has been maintained throughout the years. As a sign of their solidarity, the cities again celebrated the Uzbek Nawruz spring festival in the Old Town Hall on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.
Group photo from left to right: Dr. Maria Hohn-Berghorn, Khushvakht Akramova (Chairwoman of the Bukhara City Partnership Association), Oksana Ten (Executive Director of the German-Uzbek Society e.V.), Bobir Khalilov (Head of the Center for Work with the Mahallas and Promotion of Entrepreneurship of the City of Bukhara, Head of the Delegation from Bukhara), Dr. Colin Dürkop (President of the German-Uzbek Society e.V.), Melanie Grabowy (Deputy Mayor of Bonn)
For this purpose, a delegation from Bukhara traveled to Bonn from Monday to Thursday, March 13 to 16.
The Nawruz festival (Kurdish 'newroz' literally means 'the new day') is a New Year and spring festival celebrated in Uzbekistan on March 21. It represents the end of winter and the beginning of spring. The celebration had first been held in the Old City Hall of Bonn in 2002. Corona-related, the format changed to an online gathering for the past three years.
At this year's celebration, which the city held jointly with the Uzbek Consul General and the German-Uzbek Society in the Old Town Hall, about 100 guests were present. Amongst them were the press secretary, Hokimijat of the City of Bukhara, Olim Jo'raev, the Head of the Department of Culture of the City of Bukhara, Abror Ortiqov, as well as the Chairwoman of the Bukhara City Partnerships Association, Khushvakht Akramova. In addition to traditional Uzbek music with dance, the national dish "Plov" (an originally oriental rice dish) was served, which a cook from the Uzbek Consulate General prepared in the traditional way on site.
The basis of the project partnership between Bonn and Bukhara was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of friendly relations in 2003. There have been regular delegation visits on both sides, which focus on the topics of environment and sustainability, economy and tourism as well as education and culture. The German-Uzbek Partnership Association has also been accompanying and supporting the partnership for many years.
Bonn supports partner city of La Paz with the purchase of e-cars for outpatient health care services
The city of Bonn supports its partner city of La Paz in the expansion of decentralized health care. The core of the project is the purchase of e-cars for the city's newly established outpatient health service. On February 3, 2023, the e-cars were symbolically handed over to the mayor of La Paz, Iván Arias.
During a public ceremony, the first of the Bolivian-built vehicles was put into operation. The greetings of Mayor Katja Dörner were read out at the ceremony by the German Ambassador on site, José Schulz.
For both mayors, the start of their respective terms at the end of 2020 and in mid-2021 was strongly influenced by the pandemic response. Iván Arias had already mentioned the pandemic as well as the climate crisis as important topics on the municipal agenda in an initial conversation with the Mayor of Bonn. Katja Dörner was therefore particularly pleased that the common concern to achieve climate neutrality now also plays an essential role in the current project to strengthen the health sector. She highly welcomes that emission-neutral mobility will now be used in this context in the future: "Bonn and La Paz stand together to work for the climate and the well-being of the people in our cities."
This project was implemented with funding from the Municipal Corona Solidarity Package of the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) of Engagement Global. The funding program enables German municipalities to support their partner cities in strengthening their infrastructure after the pandemic. The project is embedded in the implementation of the concept "Medico en tu casa" (Doctor in your house), which was introduced in La Paz to establish and professionalize outpatient decentralized health care.
The health care program was developed by the Health Secretariat of the City of La Paz. It includes a series of measures to strengthen decentralized health care. In particular, elderly, chronically ill and mobility-impaired people who cannot leave their homes receive access to curative health services as well as rehabilitation and preventive measures.
In the future, the new small Quantum E-cars made in Bolivia can be requested via a special emergency call system. They will help provide medical care at home, especially for elderly and mobility-impaired residents of La Paz.
A first step in the implementation of the program was the establishment of the central emergency call center "Auxilio La Paz 167," which was inaugurated by Mayor Arias in early August 2022. Mobile health teams linked to the municipal hospitals can be called through the emergency call center. Until now, there was still a lack of vehicles to adequately carry out the deployment of mobile teams for outpatient care.
Project partnership with La Paz:
The project partnership was approved by the Council of the City of Bonn in 2002. It places a strong focus on municipal approaches to environmental and climate issues. To this end, the two cities entered into a climate partnership in 2012. This is the first time that the partner cities are also working together in the health sector.
SDG partnership conference brought together guests from partner cities
Bonn's SDG Partnership Conference has kicked off at the Old Town Hall at September 26, 2022. For the first time, the three-day conference brought together representatives from the European partner cities of the districts as well as from non-European partner cities.
The aim of the conference, entitled "Building Bridges between Cities in Europe and Worldwide - Joining Hands for Localising the SDGs", was to exchange technical information, jointly discuss project ideas for the local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and initiate further networking between the partner cities. The focus has been on personal exchange between the partner cities and the City of Bonn, which has been severely limited over the past two and a half years due to the pandemic. The conference was intended to give new impetus to cooperation and twinning arrangements.
Representatives from Bonn's project partner cities Bukhara (Uzbekistan), Cape Coast (Ghana) and La Paz (Bolivia) as well as from Bonn's twin cities of Oxford (Great Britain) and Opole (Poland) have been present. In addition, the city of Ramallah (Palestine), with which Bonn has been cooperating for several years, was also taking part. The various twinning associations were also participating in the conference.
Project partnership between Bonn and Chengdu is continued online
From June 20-July 01, 2022, Chengdu University offered an online seminar on Bonn composer Ludwig van Beethoven to interested students. The course, entitled "Bonn and Chengdu: Beethoven as trademark" was held as part of the Summer School at Chengdu University and examined the question of Beethoven's role as a cultural "mediator figure" between Germany and China. Dr. Hannes Jedeck, a musicologist and sinologist himself, led the seminar from the German side.
Since the topic "Beethoven" apparently aroused more interest than expected, the seminar, initially limited to 15 participants, was eventually opened to 80 students from Chengdu University. The demand was simply too great. The Chinese coordinator of the program, Lianlian Gao, explained it as follows: "For us, Beethoven is an international icon. In China, almost every student knows his famous '9th Symphony' or the piano piece 'Für Elise'."
Numerous Bonn institutions and facilities supported the online seminar with their own contributions.
Cape Coast: Mayor Katja Dörner receives her counterpart Ernest Arthur with a delegation
Mayor Katja Dörner and Ernest Arthur.
For two years, the Corona pandemic has severely slowed down personal contacts within the framework of Bonn's city and project partnerships. Now, Mayor Katja Dörner has been able to welcome guests in Bonn again. Her fellow mayor Ernest Arthur and his staff members Abdul-Razak Mac-Abubakar (Metropolitan Planning Officer) and Richmond Yeboah (Investor Relations and Press) from Cape Coast, Ghana, visited the Mayor in her office on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.
A short exchange about the topical issues in Bonn and Cape Coast was followed by the signing of the guest book of the City of Bonn. The Mayor also invited the guests to the planned SDG conference of the twin cities in Bonn in September.
Cape Coast: Managing waste generation
Even in times of the Corona pandemic, two new projects were launched with the partner city of Cape Coast through several online meetings. For example, the two partner cities participated in UN Habitat's Waste Wise Cities Initiative, which aims to support African cities in particular in managing waste generation.
Already in 2021, a solid waste survey was conducted in Cape Coast in this context. This was made possible by funding from the Japanese Development Agency. In February 2022, the first results of the analysis were presented at a workshop in Cape Coast, which was attended by representatives of Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly as well as by UN Habitat and the University of Cape Coast.
The project also received support in the form of advice from a German expert recruited by Bonn Orange. It was found that a major problem in solid waste management is the weak funding base, which means that the municipality has hardly any resources to tackle improvements. Based on the report, recommendations for further possible collaborative projects will now be developed.
The first learning lab under the Urban Natural Assets project was also held in Cape Coast in February 2022. The participation of the City of Cape Coast in the ICLEI Africa project came about through the mediation of the City of Bonn. The aim of the project is to strengthen the climate adaptability of cities, especially through nature-based solutions, and thus to protect biodiversity in urban areas. In these activities, the two partner cities can build on their previous cooperation in the Fosu Lagoon renaturation project: https://cbc.iclei.org/una-resilience-cape-coast/ (opens in a new tab)
A visit by the Ghanaian partners to Bonn and Düsseldorf is planned for the end of May 2022 as part of the NRW - Ghana municipal exchange. This first face-to-face meeting after almost three years (the last visit to Bonn took place in September 2019) can hopefully be used as a basis for further revitalization of the cooperation.
La Paz
The overall difficult tense situation made cooperation very difficult. Due to the new elections and the subsequent changes in staff, the contacts at the municipal level had to be rebuilt. In January 2022, a first (online) conversation between the two mayors took place to enable personal contact and mutual exchange. Both Mayors are leading their cities towards climate neutrality and expressed their will to continue working together, also in the framework of @ICLEI and under the @EngGlobal climate partnerships.
In a further video conference with the new staff members responsible for international work, the desire was expressed to work together in the field of health in addition to the existing focus areas of renewable energies, waste management and recycling, and environmental education. Currently, it is being explored whether and in which form cooperation and financial support is possible.
Mayor Ivan Arias took office in La Paz in May 2021. Bonn's Mayor Dörner was particularly interested in his extensive expertise on participation processes. The new mayor of La Paz cordially invited Ms. Dörner to the Bolivian project partner city.
Highlights 2021
Workshop for people with disabilities has been opened in Minsk
Within the framework of a joint project run by GIZ and IBB Dortmund on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, as well as the City of Bonn as the project partner city of Minsk, the first workshop for people with disabilities has now been opened in Minsk, Belarus. To begin with, 18 people with disabilities are now working in the workshop in various fields of activity.
The Red Cross Minsk, together with the City of Bonn as the main project partner, has applied for funding from the funding program Belarus 2019 - 2022. The Belarus funding program is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and the Internationales Bildungs- und Begegnungswerk Dortmund gGmbH (IBB Dortmund) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The overall goal of the Belarus support program in the 9th phase (2019-2022) is the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Belarus.
The application for the project had been approved on 17 April 2020. The aim of the joint project, in which the City of Bonn plays an advisory role, is to create real employment opportunities for people with disabilities to manufacture goods which are in demand on the open labor market. Within the framework of the project, the first workshop for people with disabilities has now been opened in Minsk. The Deputy Mayor of Minsk, Mr. Artiom Tsuran ( 3rd from right in the picture) participated in the opening ceremony. To begin with, 18 people with disabilities are now working in the workshop and are employed for three months in various fields of activity in order to test their potential.
Mayors' conference of the sister cities in Chengdu
Since 2016, Chengdu has hosted the Mayors' Conference of Sister Cities and Friendly Cooperative Cities of Chengdu. This year, the Mayor of Chengdu, Wang Fengchao, has again invited to the conference under the motto "Stand United to Create a Better Life". On April 15, 2021, 29 mayors or their deputies from all over the world met online to exchange experiences. On behalf of the City of Bonn, Deputy Mayor Dr. Ursula Sautter participated in the event.
The main topic of the conference was the exchange of experiences made during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially regarding the aspects of digitalization of urban services, creation of a stable and just business environment, environmentally friendly as well as smart, resilient and safe city. Dr. Sautter addressed the topic of digitalization of urban services and reported on the projects already implemented within the city administration.
This exchange is to be continued, in line with the motto of the conference.
Bonn and Cape Coast celebrate 10 years of municipal climate partnership with a short film
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Bonn and the Ghanaian city of Cape Coast have maintained a city-to-city partnership since the year 2008. They were among the first municipalities to join the programme “Municipal Climate Partnerships”, which was started by the Service Agency Municipalities in One World in 2011, and have intensified their collaboration with a strong focus on climate.
Throughout 2021, the Service Agency Municipalities in One World is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the programme with numerous activities. One of the first announcements in this context was a call on all participating municipalities to produce small films on their partnership.
The City of Bonn readily followed this invitation and brought together different stakeholders who have been involved in the partnership at various stages of the last decade, asking them for interviews. Of course, many more people were active for the partnership than could be shown in the short clip.
Starting with the development of a joint climate action programme, the two cities engaged very quickly also in concrete actions. With funding from the Service Agency Municipalities in One World, they started their first major cooperation project in 2012, the restoration of the Fosu Lagoon. Sensitisation campaigns, trainings, waste facilities and cleaning measures were some of the key elements of the project. Central was also the establishment of the Biodiversity Centre, an environmental education centre on the shores of the lagoon.
The new education centre has now become the hub of activities in the partnership. The Bonn-Cape Coast partnership association is using the space for the organisation of related school activities, the Bonn-based Fringe ensemble together with actors from Cape Coast have performed theatre plays there and two student volunteers from the Rhine region supported the educational activities of the centre at the beginning. Later on Engagement Global, with its North Rhine-Westphalian office, also rendered support for some of the educational activities there.
Bonn and its project partner City of Bukhara receive funds under muncipal Corona solidarity package
Information event for kindergarten staff on 12 February
Engagement Global and its Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) have launched a Municipal Corona Solidarity Package on behalf of and with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The aim of the program is to consolidate solidarity in municipal partnerships and mitigate pandemic-related emergencies.
Together with its project partner city of Bukhara, the City of Bonn applied for funds from this support program and received funding approval.
The focus of the joint project is to strengthen the administrative structures and processes of the city administration in Bukhara to cope with the Corona pandemic, in particular to improve the work of the crisis team established in Bukhara. If necessary, there will be professional exchanges with the relevant departments of the City of Bonn, especially on issues related to the handling of the pandemic with regard to the work in schools and kindergartens. In addition, information and public relations work is to be improved.
Partners on the Uzbek side are the city administration of Bukhara as well as the Association of Town Twinning of Bukhara. On the German side, the City of Bonn receives valuable support from the German-Uzbek Society (Deutsch-Usbekische Gesellschaft e.V.).
The project was successfully launched in October. In a first step, protective masks and disinfectants were purchased and 21,000 information brochures were printed in Russian and Uzbek on how to deal with and behave properly during the pandemic. The protective equipment was deliberately purchased in Bukhara and Tashkent in order to strengthen the local economy during the pandemic. The printing of the brochures was also carried out locally in Tashkent.
Disinfectants and masks as well as 2,000 information brochures were distributed to participants in initial information sessions with staff from schools, kindergartens, district administrations and the Hokimiat (city administration) of Bukhara. The participants are now acting as multipliers to further disseminate this information in their institutions. The other brochures will be distributed by volunteers in the local mailboxes to inform as many citizens of Bukhara as possible.
The end of the project period in April does not mean that the collaboration and support will end at that point. The successful and fruitful cooperation that has been maintained for years will definitely continue.
Highlights 2020
Partnership unites: Fruitful exchange with Minsk, Belarus
A delegation from Bonn’s Belarusian project partnership city visited Bonn at the beginning of February. The delegation from the capital of the Republic of Belarus included the Deputy Mayor of Minsk, Artiom Tsuran, and several representatives of the city administration and Belarusian social and educational institutions. The focus of the trip was the exchange on the topic "Inclusive City in the Context of Agenda 2030". Concrete cooperation projects were developed in several meetings between the city representatives of Minsk and Bonn. The City of Minsk will apply for funds from the Belarus 2019-2022 funding programme for one of these projects. The City of Bonn is providing support in an advisory capacity during the application process.
Implementing Agenda 2030 with partners across the world: Funding approved for a joint project between Bonn and Minsk
In the Republic of Belarus, an inclusive labor and employment policy is aimed at integrating socially vulnerable groups of the population, such as people with disabilities and special needs who are not able to compete in the labor market, in the sphere of social and labor relations. It is possible to ensure this integration by creating secure employment and supportive labor relations, which will be realized through the opening of specialized labor workshops. These will help ensure the social and labor adaptation, rehabilitation and integration of people with disabilities into society and allow them to exercise their constitutional right to work. Funding for this project was approved in April and will help support a number of project measures in Minsk.
Implementing Agenda 2030 with partners across the world: Collaboration with Cape Coast (Ghana) on waste management
Partnership work goes digital
Both cities have joined the Waste Wise Cities Campaign launched by UN Habitat in February 2020.
With the support of the program the two cities want to specifically address the challenges of municipal solid waste management. In a first step, a waste profile will be established for Cape Coast. Based on this analysis, priorities will be identified and suitable pilot projects will be developed. UN Habitat will also assist in the mobilization of funds for these activities.
All three partners, Bonn, Cape Coast and UN Habitat, have committed themselves to collaborating within the framework of the Waste Wise Cities Challenge through the exchange of knowledge, expertise and experience.
Due to the current Corona crisis affecting all countries around the globe, a first kick-off meeting took place online with partners from UN Habitat in Nairobi, the Mayor of Cape Coast, Ernest Arthur, several colleagues in Ghana and their counterparts from the City of Bonn.
One concrete next step the two cities have taken under the leadership of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, which also supports these endeavors, is a joint application for a project under the International Climate Initiative (IKI). Together with local stakeholders from civil society in Cape Coast, the partners would like to expand the work on the protection of the Fosu Lagoon through systemic circular economy measures. These will involve local civil society organizations, especially waste pickers, and will also be geared towards developing education activities focused on the biodiversity and climate benefits of the lagoon.
Partnership unites: Bonn receives 12,000 Masks from Chengdu
A nice example of our friendly relations has reached the City of Bonn from its project partner city of Chengdu in China this spring - in the form of 12,000 medical mouth and nose protection masks. After the pandemic had abated in Chengdu, the Chinese City of Chengdu supported the City of Bonn with this special gift in the Corona crisis. A wonderful sign of friendship in times of crisis and concern!
Bonn’s project partners attend virtual UNSSC Summer Academy in August
Two participants from Bonn’s project partner cities of Cape Coast (Ghana) and Chengdu (China) have been invited to participate in this year’s virtual edition of the annual UNSSC Summer Academy. The five-day programme fosters interaction on Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
The City of La Paz also celebrates Beethoven's 250th birthday
On the occasion of Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday, a newly renovated Beethoven memorial stone was inaugurated on Monday, September 28, 2020, in Bonn's partner city of La Paz in Bolivia. The Mayor of La Paz, Luis Revilla Herero, and the German Ambassador in La Paz, Stefan Duppel, both were present at the inauguration ceremony. Mayor Ashok Sridharan sent his greetings to the partner city via video message, thus building a bridge between the anniversary celebrations in Bonn and La Paz.
