Member Profile for DIE, Bonn

The EU-UNDP partnership and added value in EU development cooperation
The EU is an increasingly important funding source for UN development organisations. This paper outlines the priorities and modes of cooperation in the EU-UNDP partnership. It discusses the respective profiles of EU and members as funders and identifies perceived advantages of UNDP as a partner.

Global access to COVID-19 vaccines: challenges in production, affordability, distribution and utilisation
The global COVID-19 vaccination process calls for decisive, coordinated and forward-looking action. We propose short- and long-term actions and emphasise that activities should not only focus on short-term management, but on building long-term structures to prepare for future pandemics.

Municipal development policy in Germany: current status and prospects
Municipal development policy is growing in significance in Germany. Cities, districts and local authorities are working with numerous stakeholders to enhance their engagement in this field. The activities are being well received and having an impact in Germany and abroad.

Über Klimaneutralität hinausdenken
Die Klimakrise und die durch die Covid-19-Pandemie bedingten Krisen müssen gemeinsam bewältigt werden. Viele Staaten arbeiten an Strategien zur Umsetzung des Pariser Übereinkommens. Auf der Klimakonferenz in Glasgow gilt es daher, kurz- und langfristige Ziele und Maßnahmen in Einklang zu bringen. Das Bundesverfassungsgericht hat den deutschen Gesetzgeber verpflichtet, Klimaschutz langfristig zu planen. Die Erstellung von Langfriststrategien sollte auch international verpflichtend werden, über Klimaneutralität hinaus auf Klimastabilisierung abzielen und Mehrgewinne mit anderen Nachhaltigkeitsdimensionen anstreben. Dazu sollten sie erstens den schnellen und vollständigen Ausstieg aus der Nutzung fossiler Energieträger vorsehen. Zweitens sollten Schutz und Wiederherstellung von Ökosystemen sowie ihre nachhaltige Nutzung zum Schwerpunkt werden. Drittens sollte die Entfernung von CO2 aus der Atmosphäre strategisch vorbereitet werden. Als starken Impuls sollten sich Staaten auf der COP 26 dazu bekennen, ihre COVID-19-Stimulusprogramme im Sinne der Langfriststrategien zu nutzen.

Failing forward in the EU's common security and defense policy: the integration of EU crisis management
Recent years have witnessed renewed efforts to advance integration in the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), including in the domain of military and civilian capability development. The adoption of a Civilian CSDP Compact (CCC) and the creation of a European Peace Facility (EPF) are prominent examples of recent steps taken towards further integration. Still, despite recent progress, CSDP reforms have often been slow to materialise, lag behind the reform ambitions of key EU foreign policy actors, and fail to address important shortcomings experienced by CSDP. This article addresses why this might be by exploring the evolution of CSDP crisis management through a failing forward approach, which charts the course of integration dynamics, identified by neofunctionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism, through time, revealing its cyclical nature. Our case studies of the EPF and the CCC demonstrate how the long-term integrative dynamics in EU military and civilian crisis management are marked by a cycle of crisis followed by incomplete institutional reforms, policy feedback, experiential learning and subsequent, yet again incomplete, efforts to remedy institutional shortcomings and policy failure.

A systematic review on ethical challenges of 'field' research in low-income and middle-income countries: respect, justice and beneficence for research staff?
Primary data collection in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) is associated with a range of ethical complexities. Considerations on how to adequately ensure the well-being of research staff are largely neglected in contemporary ethics discourse. This systematic review aims to identify the ethical challenges that research staff across different hierarchical levels and scientific disciplines face when conducting research in LMICs. We searched 13 electronic databases and handsearched publications in six selected journals as well as the reference lists of all included studies. No restrictions were applied with respect to the publication date, research design, and target population. 23 151 studies were retrieved, 183 of which met our inclusion criteria. We identified nine different types of ethical challenges that research staff may be exposed to during field research, including (1) role conflicts that can emerge from participants’ help requests and the high level of deprivation found in certain study settings, (2) feelings of guilt and (3) detrimental mental health impacts. Further challenges were (4) sexual harassment (5) safety risks and (6) political repression, particularly in postconflict, disaster-ridden or autocratic study contexts. Additionally, studies reported (7) inadequate working conditions and (8) power imbalances within research teams, while (9) ethics boards were found to be ill equipped to anticipate and address emerging risks, thus increasing the ethical liability of researchers. This review revealed several complex ethical challenges that research staff may face during data collection. In order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 8.8 on ‘safe and secure working environments’ and to protect research staff from harm, amendments must urgently be made to current ethical standards.

Renewable energy output in sub Saharan Africa
In most Sub Saharan African countries renewable energy has been part of the energy mix balance-sheet for quite a long time. However, the share of total primary energy from renewable sources have declined over time despite significant investment into the sector in the last decade. This paper pierce the veil of the energy sector to unearth the underlying factors driving renewable energy output in the region using a panel data of 32 SSA countries from 1990 to 2015. The study rely on the Driscoll-Kraay estimator to correct the problem of cross sectional dependence and serial correlation in the model. Findings from the study point to the underlying factors of renewable energy output in Co2 emissions per capita, income per capita, oil prices, trade openness, natural resource rents, urbanization, population growth rate, and climatic stress. The study proposes policies that incorporates environmental awareness in the national development plans of countries; increasing renewable energy consumption among the middle class; encourage regional renewable energy grid sharing; implementing and expanding the feed-in-tariff system; and granting tax incentives to companies that seek to invest and develop the renewable energy sector in the region.