Pakistan

A land of change

Pakistan a land between the Orient and the Occident

For many people Pakistan is associated with images of Islam and numerous domestic and regional conflicts. Yet it is also possible to take a totally different view: Pakistan can look back on a turbulent history and an extraordinary cultural heritage. The kingdom of Great Gandhara what is now Pakistan and the eastern part of Afghanistan experienced its heyday from the start of the 1st Century A.D. to about the 5th Century A.D. Today Gandhara is seen as proof of the multifaceted cultural exchange between the Orient and the Occident. What at first sight may seem familiar to western eyes, a closer look reveals to be a variegated spectrum of cultural influences within a diverse historical context.

A typical street scene: a man on a moped is weaving his way through the dense traffic between the typical motorised rickshaws and a newspaper stand.

Pakistans more recent history has been fraught with numerous conflicts within the country and with its neighbours. Independence from the British Empire in 1947 led to the division of British India into two dominions, Hindu majority India and the new Muslim majority Pakistan. This partition was one cause of the Kashmir conflict as it is known, leading to several wars between the two neighbouring countries. The last time the two antagonists, both of which are nuclear powers, came to the brink of war over Kashmir was in 2002. Since 2003, there has been a cautious rapprochement between Pakistan and India, with confidence-building measures having been agreed. The earthquake in 2005, which hit both countries badly, also prompted closer cooperation. In addition, Pakistans stability and security has also been undermined by internal political tensions. The military dictatorship that ruled the country between 1999 and 2008 was replaced in 2008 following parliamentary and presidential elections.

Germanys development partnership with Pakistan

Pakistan is a partner country under German development cooperation and is one of Germanys most important partners in South Asia. The regional focus of PakistaniGerman cooperation is on the north of Pakistan. Priority areas of this cooperation are as follows: > Primary education > Public health care > Renewable energies and energy efficiency

In addition, Germany is also involved in projects to foster democracy and support civil society in Pakistan. > Reconstruction is a special priority area: following the earthquake in October 2005, in which more than 70,000 Pakistanis died, agreements were concluded for programmes of humanitarian assistance and programmes to restore the health infrastructure.

Primary education
Roughly half the Pakistani population is still unable to either read or write. In the case of women the illiteracy rate is even higher, about 70 per cent, since the school enrolment rate for girls is very low in Pakistan. German development cooperation activities have been going on in this sector since 1994. Boys and girls are taught separately and girls classes are often not set up because

In Pakistan education in school is still a privilege. 70% of women are unable to read or write.

of capacity deficits. Various projects supported under German development cooperation are enabling children to gain access to education. Support is also being provided for the efforts made by the provincial governments to improve the quality of teaching, develop new curricula and teaching aids, and build new schools.

Project example: Qualified In-service Training

In order to provide Pakistani teachers with in-service training the cascade system was introduced: trainers instruct selected teachers in new teaching methods and acquaint them with revised curricula. These teachers act as multipliers, passing their knowledge on to their colleagues. Afterwards, visits are made to see if the new methods are being used successfully in lessons.

Public health care

In remote areas of Pakistan in particular, public health care is inadequate and child mortality is above the Asian average. Alternative delivery mechanisms are only available if at all through private providers, who operate on a profit-oriented basis and are not subject to government controls. The aim of German involvement in this sector is, therefore, to improve basic medical care and define quality standards for the commercial health sector.

Project example: Tuberculosis Monitoring Programme

Faced with an alarming rise in the number of people with tuberculosis, in 2001 Pakistan made monitoring tuberculosis a priority task and, with German support, developed a tuberculosis monitoring programme through which patients with tuberculosis are registered and treated. The project is strengthening both the diagnostic and treatment capacities of doctors and technical medical staff. Information campaigns teach the population about the symptoms and treatment options for those with tuberculosis, helping to remove the stigma of the disease.

Renewable energies and energy efficiency

Although, in essence, Pakistans power stations have sufficient capacity, power supplies are often unreliable, since many of the installations are antiquated. Power cuts that last for hours, resulting in enormous economic losses and causing restrictions in daily life, are the order of the day. Until now the main source of energy has been oil, which is imported at a high cost. The main focus of German-Pakistani cooperation in this sector is therefore on making use of domestic resources, mainly hydropower, since there is huge as yet untapped potential. One hydropower plant has already been built with German support and others are being planned. In addition, Germany and Pakistan are working together in the field of alternative energy sources such as biomass, wind and solar power.

Project example: Using the countrys potential

In 2002, the Pakistani government decided to provide public funding to support domestic energy producers that get involved in the restructuring of the energy sector. Germany is supporting this project by providing training and advisory services for scientific institutions and authorities, with the aim of strengthening local research and teaching institutions in order to secure the training of Pakistans own hydropower specialists in the long term.

Future outlook
Pakistans biggest development potential is its people. However, poor social indicators are a sign that a large share of the existing talent within the population is not being used. This is particularly true in the case of the countrys 82.5 million women and girls, whose social status often makes it difficult or even impossible for them to gain access to education and medical care. This discrimination particularly affects the countrys development, since an enormous amount of potential in terms of labour, knowledge and creativity is not being used, which in turn puts a brake on economic progress. By improving administrative efficiency and involving all sections of the population in political decision-making, it should be possible to motivate the agricultural, industrial and energy sectors to implement the necessary reforms. These far-reaching reforms will give a healthier, better educated population opportunities for productive employment and to participate in the countrys development.

German development cooperation

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is responsible for the planning and management of development cooperation on the German side. However, the Ministry does not implement any projects or programmes itself; instead it coordinates the work done by the implementing organisations. The implementing organisations for Technical Cooperation are the Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), InWEnt - Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH (Capacity Building International, Germany) and the Centrum fr internationale Migration und Entwicklung (CIM). Financial Cooperation is carried out by the Kreditanstalt fr Wiederaufbau (KfW). Federal funding is also provided to support the work of church development agencies, political foundations and other non-governmental organisations.

The aim of German development cooperation is to improve peoples quality of life.

The key players in German development cooperation

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Postfach 12 03 22 53045 Bonn Germany Tel. +49 (0)228 99 535 - 0 Fax +49 (0)228 99 535 - 3500 www.bmz.de Centrum fr internationale Migration und Entwicklung (CIM) Mendelssohnstr. 75 - 77 60325 Frankfurt am Main Germany Tel. +49 (0)69 719121-0 Fax +49 (0)69 719121-19 www.cimonline.de Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH Dag-Hammarskjld-Weg 1 - 5 65760 Eschborn Germany Tel. +49 (0)6196 79 - 0 Fax +49 (0)6196 79 - 1115 www.gtz.de Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH (InWEnt) Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 40 53113 Bonn Germany Tel. +49 (0)228 4460-0 Fax +49 (0)228 4460-1766 www.inwent.org KfW Entwicklungsbank Palmengartenstrae 5 - 9 60325 Frankfurt am Main Germany Tel. +49 (0)69 7431-0 Fax +49 (0)69 7431-2944 www.kfw.de

Published by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Bonn Office Postfach 12 03 22 53045 Bonn Germany Tel. +49 (0)228 99 535 - 0 Fax +49 (0)228 99 535 - 3500 Berlin Office Stresemannstrae 94 10963 Berlin Germany Tel. +49 (0)30 18 535 - 0 Fax +49 (0)30 18 535 - 2501 poststelle@bmz.bund.de www.bmz.de Editors-in-chief Final editing Officials responsible Design Photos Stephanie Gelbrich, Jana Lynne Hennings Gabriele Hollederer Christiane Hieronymus, Dr Maren Bettina Lipps F R E U D E ! design, Kln Dr Jochen Hippler, Institute for Development and Peace (INEF), University of Duisburg Schloemer Gruppe, Dren September 2008

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