Joint Media Statement on the Partnership between the National School of Government and the German Institute for Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

Joint Media Statement on the Partnership between the National School of Government and the German Institute of Sustainability and Development (IDOS)

TheGerman Institute of Sustainability and Development (IDOS) is pleased to announce a partnership with the National School of Government of South Africa (the NSG). This partnership marks a significant milestone in the peer-exchange on capacity-development in the public sector with South Africa.

The NSG has a responsibility to build capacity through education, training and development initiatives for the public sector to effectively pursue sustainable socio-economic transformation in South Africa and also contribute to a “Better Africa and Better World” through partnerships.

IDOS advocates for policies towards the global common good, focused on sustainable development through interdisciplinary research, impactful policy advice, and internationally focused training to address poverty, inequality, global risks, environmental threats, and ensuring political participation through forward-looking concepts for strategic cooperation and policy-making activities.

The collaboration between the NSG and IDOS aims to strengthen the capacity of Schools of Government, Schools of Public Administration, and other training institutions for the public sector, to support the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This is done through a number of initiatives including the cooperation in the Managing Global Governance (MGG) Programme, including its MGG Academy as well as knowledge cooperation and policy dialogues across the thematic strands of ‘training & learning’, ‘global partnerships’, and ‘digitalisation’. The initiatives convene governmental institutions, think tanks and research institutions, civil society and private sector professionals from Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa.

On 6 May 2024, the NSG and IDOS kickstarted a three-day international conference in Cape Town to discuss how to harness the transformative power of digitalization to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and develop public sector capacity in the digital era. The Conference started with a Masterclass by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on “Artificial Intelligence as a Tool for Accelerating the Achievement of the SDGs”. The Conference concluded with the development of an action plan for the participating training institutions to foster international collaboration, and fast-track skilling for digital capabilities to achieve the SDGs. With not quite six years left to 2030, progress towards the achievement of the SDGs remains bleak, and capacity for the implementation of the goals need to be accelerated now more than ever. This calls for increased capacity in innovation and the purposeful handling of artificial intelligence.

The partnership is the commitment of both parties to promote global cooperation, including South-South and triangular cooperation, for the common good. “This partnership signals the NSG ongoing commitment to use the power of collaboration to bolster efforts of public institutions as uniquely placed institutions to drive transformation and sustainable development in an increasingly complex world” said the NSG’s Deputy Director-General Dr. Botshabelo Maja. On the occasion of the signing of the partnership agreement, Dr. Sven Grimm, Head of Programme on Inter- and Transnational Cooperation of IDOS underlined that “cooperative capacity development for the 2030 Agenda and international peer-exchange between training institutions are key to supporting the achievement of the SDGs with the public sector”.