Chinese Association for International Understanding

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Seminar on the Internationalization Strategy and Experience Sharing of FES Held in Beijing


Ma Jingjing On the morning of January 22, 2016, CAFIU held the Seminar on the Internationalization Strategy and Experience Sharing of FES in Beijing, inviting Mr. Christoph Pohlmann, Director of FES Beijing office to brief on the internationalization of FES and have discussions with the participants. Mr. Liu Kaiyang, Deputy Secretary-General of CAFIU attended and addressed the Seminar, and Mme. Zheng Yao, Deputy Secretary-General of CAFIU chaired the Seminar. Besides the staff of CAFIU, present at the Seminar were CAFIU’s Council members namely Mr. Huang Haoming, Vice-President and Secretary-General of China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO), Mme. Hong Ping, Deputy Secretary-General of China Family Planning Association and Mr. Ke Yinbin, Secretary-General of the Charhar Institute, as well as representatives from Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD) and China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE). In his opening address, Mr. Liu Kaiyang said that as the think tank of SPD, FES has become the largest political foundation with the longest history in Germany thanks to 90 years of development. It is also the largest foundation for workers’ movement, with significant influence worldwide. At present, FES has set up offices in about 90 countries, and carried out cooperation projects with over 100 countries, accumulating considerable experience in internationalization. Recent years have witnessed rapid development of Chinese NGOs. The 18th National Congress of CPC decided to promote international exchanges of NGOs, which has further unleashed the enthusiasm of Chinese NGOs to carry out international exchanges and cooperation. The internationalization experience of FES serves as good reference to Chinese NGOs. Mr. Pohlmann briefed the audience on the basics of FES from three aspects. First, the historical development of the international work of FES. Founded by SPD in 1925, FES is a political foundation conducting political and social education with the purpose of advancing social democracy. It is also the only foundation representing the German trade union. In the early years, FES aimed to recover domestic political order and democratic tradition, and then was re-founded after World War II with the rebuilding of SPD. In the 1960s, with the improvement of the international influence of Germany, FES started its international activities funded by the German Federal Parliament. After the end of the Cold War, with the emergence of a multipolar world order and economic globalization, the newly-emerged powers have exerted more influence on the world, so the international work of FES has become more regionally- and globally-oriented. After the collapse of the former USSR and the upheavals in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, FES has strengthened its efforts towards CEE countries to preserve the unity and stability of Europe. In the second part, Mr. Pohlmann introduced the guiding principles and experience of the international work of FES. Over half a century, FES had set up 112 offices worldwide, employing 612 staff globally by 2014. The budget of FES reached 153 million Euros in 2013, of which 80 million Euros was invested in its international work. Over these years, FES has worked out four guiding principles: First, it encourages a pluralistic understanding of political and social development; second, it advocates a deliberative process in decision-making; third, it values international understanding and transcends ideological differences through dialogues; fourth, it holds full respect towards national and international laws and avoids interference into other countries’ internal affairs. Mr. Pohlmann summarizes their experience of international work as follows: adoption of long-term perspective based on pluralistic values; intercultural awareness and respect for different political, legal and social systems and contexts; highly qualified resident representatives and staff, stable financial background and trust-building through partner networks; scientific analysis and evaluation of projects and rational policy advice; communication and coordination with other German foundations to avoid overlaps in respective projects. In the last part of his briefing, Mr. Pohlmann introduced the operation and evaluation principles of the overseas offices of FES, based on the example of FES China offices and FES EU office in Brussels, and pointed out in particular some ongoing cooperation projects and key areas of research. The facts and materials help the audience gain a better understanding about the international work of FES, and provide good reference for Chinese NGOs seeking a greater space for development. In the Q&A session, the audience had an in-depth discussion with the speaker on topics like possible clashes of culture and values in internationalization, the selection of partners, evaluation mechanisms, etc. Then the seminar was concluded in a frank and easy atmosphere.