The 15th Federal Conference of Municipal Development Cooperation (BUKO) took place from 14 to 16 June 2021 in Bonn under the title “Together. Fair. Global. Sustainable. 2030 Agenda – Municipalities Shape the Future.” The conference was organised on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) by Engagement Global/the Service Agency Communities in One World in cooperation with the City of Bonn and relayed live from the World Conference Center in Bonn.

In addition to keynote speeches, panel discussions and various other plenary activities, the programme included more than 30 interactive workshops, which were held in parallel sessions on days two and three of the conference. The workshops focused on three key themes of municipal development cooperation: “Working locally and globally through municipal development cooperation”, “Tackling challenges together”, and “Implementing projects sustainably”. More than 800 people from throughout Germany took part in the conference and discussed themes and projects related to municipal development cooperation in the workshops.

On day two of the conference, the utility platform team held a workshop on “Municipal utilities in development cooperation – the pilot project Utility Platform for Strengthening the Partnerships of Municipal Utilities Worldwide”.

At this workshop, Heiko Heidemann (GIZ) and Silvia Boehmsdorff (Service Agency Communities in One World) presented the pilot project and outlined the project context and objectives. In her presentation, moderator Nadine Gerks (German Association of Local Public Utilities – VKU) first gave an overview of the ways in which municipal enterprises can engage in development and drew attention to the new VKU Brochure on this subject.

Over 30 people took part in the workshop organised by the utility platform. This was aimed first and foremost at representatives of municipal enterprises who are interested in establishing international partnerships. Accordingly, the project participants explained the legal framework for municipal development cooperation and highlighted the added value of engaging in such activities. By drawing on specific examples, the reports of the lead partners on the lessons learned to date gave the participants an insight into municipal development cooperation in practice.