Publications

Standard Publications

Standard publications are the annual report, the annual program and the documentation of the lectures of the annual academies.
In addition, academies abroad and journals of the alumni associations are published.

Annual Reports

Our annual reports provide information about KAAD's work with articles and detailed statistics on funding.

To the annual reports

Newsletter

The newsletters are published once or twice a year and provide a brief overview of current developments at KAAD.

To the newsletters

Alumni Brochure

In our alumni brochure, we present former scholarship holders and their work for their region of origin.

Alumni brochure

 

General Publications

Continent-related (academies abroad)

  • KASEA Newsletter No. 8
  • John Kabutha Mugo, Proscovia Namubiru-Ssentamu and Mukirae Njihia (eds.): The Good Education & Africa's Future - Concepts, Issues and Options. Nairobi 2019; 271 pp. ISBN: 9966-60-140-7
  • Marko Kuhn (ed.): Development Needs Change - How Can Change Be Achieved? Bonn 2017; 109 p. ISBN: 978-3-926288-34-9
  • Marko Kuhn (ed.): Facing Africa's future in a Global Era. The Power of Higher Education and Research. Bonn 2011; 123 pp. ISBN: 978-3-926288-33-2
  • Worlds Apart: Local and Global Villages. Nairobi 2004. ISSN: 1681-5890
  • Kossi J. Toussou: Earthly Inculturation. Contributions to African Theology (Series Africa, Vol. II) Bonn, 1999; 151 pp. ISBN: 3-926288-15-9
  • Human and Economic Development. The Importance of Civil Society and Subsidiarity. Ghana 1998 (Series Africa, Vol. III) Bonn, 2000; 142 pp. ISBN: 3-936288-17-5
  • Hermann Weber: Change Agents for Civil Society and Church in Myanmar: The Role of KAAD-Alumni; lecture at the KAAD alumni meeting in Myanmar, November 2012.
  • Hermann Weber: Science market and science culture: The added value of international exchange using the example of Vietnam and Germany; lecture at the KAAD Academy Abroad in Vietnam, 2010.
  • Migration between social conflict and resource - International perspectives and the case study of China, Bonn 2007; 174 pp. ISBN: 978-3-926288-31-8.
  • Myanmar. Education and development in a multi-ethnic state. Bonn 2007; 128 pp. ISBN: 978-3-926288-29-5.
  • On the threshold. Society and religion in China's transformation process. Bonn 2005; 146 pp. ISBN: 3-926288-26-4.
  • Southeast Asia: Religion - Culture - Education. Bonn 2001; 171 pp. ISBN: 3-926288-20-5.

World church and university pastoral care

Other

Materials from the annual academies

Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role in global discourse; it permeates science, politics, our everyday lives and even religious spheres. The development of AI raises profound questions about humanity, consciousness and identity. For example, the emergence of autonomous AI systems requires fundamental ethical reflections on responsibility, control and decision-making. Against the background of the structural changes brought about by automation, questions of inequality and social participation also arise - the effects of AI on work, power and social dynamics must be assessed and questioned with regard to their human rights compliance.

In view of so-called voice AI chatbots (such as ChatGPT), the scientific community in general is also confronted with various questions such as the value and protection of intellectual property, transparency, ethical responsibility and data protection.

The opportunities and risks of the increasing implementation of artificial intelligence must also be weighed up for the Global South: AI can be used in different areas such as healthcare, education and agriculture to improve services and make them more accessible, especially in rural areas. On the other hand, an already existing digital divide can be deepened and prejudices and inequalities can be reinforced by AI-supported systems.

Artificial intelligence can also have positive and negative consequences for the Catholic Church and for religions in general, for example in terms of communication and interaction between believers, educational work or pastoral work. At the same time, AI raises a number of theological questions.

A fundamental debate, which includes a technology assessment for the various areas, is therefore essential in order to find out - in the words of Pope Francis - how artificial intelligence "can be placed at the service of humanity and the protection of our common home".

The 37th Annual Academy of the KAAD wanted to make a contribution to this and, together with representatives of science, politics and the church from around fifty countries, looked at the (potential) effects of AI from an interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective and established criteria for an ethical approach to AI.

Text documents of the annual academy

Programof the Annual Academy

Introductory lectures:

  • "Dilemmas in the new form of the knowledge society: ethicalreflections"
    Auxiliary Bishop Dr. Dr. Anton Losinger, Episcopal Representative for the KAAD

  • "Brave New World? Artificial Intelligence and the Global South"
    Prof. Dr. Jerry John Kponyo, co-founder of the Responsible AI Network Africa (RAIN Africa), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Forums:

Musical ceremony

International festive service
Celebrant: P. Prof. Dr. Thomas Eggensperger OP; P. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Engel OP

Specialist groups

Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role in global discourse; it permeates science, politics, our everyday lives and even religious spheres. The development of AI raises profound questions about humanity, consciousness and identity. For example, the emergence of autonomous AI systems requires fundamental ethical reflections on responsibility, control and decision-making. Against the background of the structural changes brought about by automation, questions of inequality and social participation also arise - the effects of AI on work, power and social dynamics must be assessed and questioned with regard to their human rights compliance.

In view of so-called voice AI chatbots (such as ChatGPT), the scientific community in general is also confronted with various questions such as the value and protection of intellectual property, transparency, ethical responsibility and data protection.

The opportunities and risks of the increasing implementation of artificial intelligence must also be weighed up for the Global South: AI can be used in different areas such as healthcare, education and agriculture to improve services and make them more accessible, especially in rural areas. On the other hand, an already existing digital divide can be deepened and prejudices and inequalities can be reinforced by AI-supported systems.

Artificial intelligence can also have positive and negative consequences for the Catholic Church and for religions in general, for example in terms of communication and interaction between believers, educational work or pastoral work. At the same time, AI raises a number of theological questions.

A fundamental debate, which includes a technology assessment for the various areas, is therefore essential in order to find out - in the words of Pope Francis - how artificial intelligence "can be placed at the service of humanity and the protection of our common home".

The 37th Annual Academy of the KAAD wanted to make a contribution to this and, together with representatives of science, politics and the church from around fifty countries, looked at the (potential) effects of AI from an interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective and established criteria for an ethical approach to AI.

Text documents of the annual academy

Programof the Annual Academy

Introductory lectures:

  • "Dilemmas in the new form of the knowledge society: ethicalreflections"
    Auxiliary Bishop Dr. Dr. Anton Losinger, Episcopal Representative for the KAAD

  • "Brave New World? Artificial Intelligence and the Global South"
    Prof. Dr. Jerry John Kponyo, co-founder of the Responsible AI Network Africa (RAIN Africa), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Forums:

Musical ceremony

International festive service
Celebrant: P. Prof. Dr. Thomas Eggensperger OP; P. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Engel OP

Specialist groups

Although climate change has been talked about for a long time, while in some places it has been perceived more as an abstract phenomenon, its effects have been felt in various dimensions elsewhere for some time. It is now being reflected worldwide in multiple 'climate crises' in the form of floods, heatwaves, droughts and storms.

Climate change affects the entire world - but although the industrialized nations are responsible for it, it is primarily people in the Global South, and here too the poorest, who are bearing the brunt of the effects.

The terms 'economic growth' and 'ecological sustainability' have nevertheless long been played off against each other in discourses in the Global North - although it is becoming clear that it will ultimately be future prosperity that will be set against constant economic growth. Sustainable development, a fundamental socio-ecological transformation and, above all, international climate justice are essential.

The Catholic Church - as a global faith community with resources of various kinds - has a special role to play in this transformation process. In his encyclical "Laudato si'", Pope Francis calls on us to "protect our common home" (LS 13) and to enter into a "new dialog [...] about the way we shape the future of our planet" (LS 14).

The annual academy celebrating KAAD's 65th anniversary builds on this: Its aim is to highlight solutions and opportunities to shape the necessary multidimensional change. One of KAAD's focal points - both in its scholarship and networking activities - is dedicated to the preservation of creation and the shaping of a holistic socio-ecological transformation. Scholarship holders, alumnae and alumni are involved in countless research and networking institutions in this field; the KAAD is also a member of the papal Laudato Si' action platform.

This annual academy, which will bring together guests from around fifty countries in Bonn, therefore does not want to dwell on describing the problems, but rather ask about our possibilities for shaping this transformation and present various measures and initiate others.

Text documents of the annual academy

Programof the Annual Academy

Introductory lectures:

  • "Socio-ecological transformation and climate justice - Catholic perspectives in caring for the 'common home'"
    Prof. Dr. Adrian E. Beling, Global Studies, Latin American Institute of Social Sciences (FLASCO), Argentina / Canada Research Chair in Transition to Sustainability

  • "Responsible Production and Consumption: A Necessary North-South Dialogue"
    Prof. Dr. Marian Asantewah Nkansah, Chemistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Forums:

  • Forum 1: Climate change? -Energy transition - renewable energies to combat climate change
    Speakers: Dr. Christian Bußar, Head of Department, Grid Integration and Storage System Analysis, RWTH Aachen University; Ba Htoo Thant, Renewable Energies, University of Oldenburg; Willis Awandu, Hydraulic Engineering and Hydraulics, University of Karlsruhe
  • Forum 2: The climate crisis and its impact on biodiversity and food security
    Speakers: Prof. Dr. Joachim von Braun, Centre for Development Research, University of Bonn; Neema Robert Kinabo, College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka/Tanzania and Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt am Main
  • Forum 3: Climate justice - the challenge of shared but differentiated responsibility
    Speakers: Antje Kathrin Schroeder, Head of Policy and Global Issues Department, Misereor; Hellen Mugo, Global Climate Justice and Sustainable Development Officer, Misereor
  • Forum 4: "It's Our Future": Young people, religious education and caring for the common home
    Speakers: Dr. Stefan Einsiedel, Head of Research Projects on Socio-Ecological Transformation, Munich School of Philosophy; Prof. Dr. Adrian E. Beling, Global Studies, Latin American Institute of Social Sciences (FLASCO), Argentina
  • Forum 5: Economic growth versus ecological sustainability?
    Speakers: Dr. Matthias Kranke, Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research, University of Duisburg-Essen; Prof. Dr. Cezary Kościelniak, Political Philosophy, University of Adam Mickiewicz Poznan, Poland

Encounter in prayer

Musical ceremony

  • Concert by the scholarship holders
  • Awarding of the KAAD-Stiftung Peter-Hünermann Prize to KAAD alumnus Prof. Dr. Babu Thaliath, India

International festive service
Celebrant: P. Prof. Dr. Thomas Eggensperger OP; P. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Engel OP

Specialist groups

  • Report of the specialist group "Water"
  • Report of the specialist group "Global Health"
  • Report of the specialist group "Peace and Justice"
  • Report of the specialist group "Religion in Dialogue"
  • Report of the specialist group "Language(s)"

In recent years, the image of a Catholic Church in need of renewal and conversion has manifested itself in the German public. The uncovering of a complex and shocking abuse of power has led to a crisis of credibility, to a supposed "dead end". The so-called Synodal Path, an ecclesiastical reform process supported by both the official church and the laity, aims to identify the general structural aspects underlying the abuse of power and develop proposed solutions for renewal. The questions of clerical power and lifestyle, the separation of powers and participation as well as the responsibility of women in the church are the particular focus of the debate.

This path of renewal taken by the German local church is being closely monitored from the outside. It is repeatedly criticized that the German church is too preoccupied with itself and too little with the problems that other local churches are facing. Are the concerns and topics of the Synodal Path really particular or can other local churches also tie in with them - or do other topics (such as environmental justice, religious freedom or the growing influence of Pentecostal churches) seem more pressing? The convening of a synod of bishops on the topic of "synodality" by Pope Francis, preceded by a consultation process at local church level, illustrates the relevance of a global church dialog process.

The worldwide KAAD community represents the universal church and thus the diversity of local churches and their concerns. Consequently, KAAD can also be described as a "community of prayer, learning and solidarity", as the German bishops did in the document "Evangelization and Globalization" with regard to the world church as a whole. This annual academy, which brought together guests from around fifty countries in Bonn, therefore brought the German local church into conversation with the world church in order to shed light on the discourse on church reform within Germany from the perspective of the world church and to take a look at reform debates in other parts of the world church.

Text documents of the annual academy

Programof the Annual Academy

Introductory lectureOn the path of conversion and renewal. Church Reforms in Germany and the Universal Church
Prof. Dr. Thomas Söding, Ruhr University Bochum / Vice President of the Central Committee of German Catholics

Forums:

  • Forum 1: Power and separation of powers in the church - joint participation and sharing in the mission
    Speaker: Dr. Thomas Arnold, Academy of the Diocese of Dresden-Meißen
  • Forum 2: Priestly existence today
    Speaker: Father Matthias Haas, Director of the Catholic University and Student Community, Stuttgart
  • Forum 3: Synodality and gender justice - theological reflections on the forum 'Women in ministries and offices of the church'
    Speaker: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Margit Eckholt, University of Osnabrück
  • Forum 4: Changing sexual morality! From the forum 'Living in successful relationships'
    Speaker: Prof. Dr. Andreas Lob-Hüdepohl, Catholic University of Applied Social Sciences Berlin

Encounter in prayer

Ceremony

  • Honoring the outgoing members of the Academic Committee and the long-time Secretary General of the KAAD Dr. Hermann Weber
  • Presentation of the KAAD-Stiftung Peter-Hünermann Award
    Award winner 2021: Dr. Constansia Connie Mumma-Martinon
    Award winner 2022: Partner committee Lebanon:
    Prof. Dr. Souad Slim, Prof. Dr. Roula Talhouk, Prof. Dr. Ziad Fahed, Father Prof. Dr. Jules Boutrous

Video ceremony part 1 Video ceremony part 2

International festive service
Celebrants: Father Prof. Dr. Thomas Eggensperger OP; Father Prof. Dr. Ulrich Engel OP

Specialist groups

  • Report of the specialist group "Water"
  • Report of the specialist group "Global Health"
  • Report of the specialist group "Peace and Justice"
  • Report of the specialist group "Religion in Dialogue"

Before all technology, language is the original medium for understanding the world and social interaction. Since biblical times, linguistic diversity has stood for a division of humanity as well as for the promise of "Pentecostal" unity. In times of globalization, uniformization tendencies - and the loss of linguistic "biodiversity" - go hand in hand with identity-political defensive movements that tie languages to nation and homeland, as an expression and promise of rootedness, but also as a danger of excluding "others".

Against the backdrop of these global areas of tension, the annual academy, with its participants and guests from around fifty countries, drew on the often multilingual biographies of the scholarship holders and also addressed the experience of difference to the German language and culture. This can also be seen in the way language is standardized and regulated, especially in public and media discourse, in which digitalization is increasingly gaining formative influence. At the same time, we used selected linguistic and identity-political conflict situations to ascertain the role of language as a medium of freedom and an instrument of power. For the first time, a forum was prepared together with the Cusanuswerk episcopal study grant.

Due to the pandemic-related restrictions, the Annual Academy had to take place purely digitally for the first time.

Text documents of the Annual Academy:

  • Forum 1: Between origin and future: Language as home
    Presentationby Franz-Thomas Sonka, Pastoral care for Catholics of other mother tongues in the diocese of Münster
  • Forum 2: The happiness of multilingualism: language biographies and intercultural education
    Presentationby Prof. em. Dr. Annick de Houwer, University of Erfurt/Director HaBilNet
  • Forum 3: Genus and gender in language comparison
    Presentation by Prof. Dr. Damaris Nübling, University of Mainz
  • Forum 4: Language and truth in the media
    Presentation by Dr. Jobst Paul, Duisburg Institute for Linguistic and Social Research
  • Forum 5: Why it is (still) worth learning German
    Presentation by by Prof. Dr. Claudia Stockinger, HU Berlin
  • Report of the Water Section
  • Report of the Global Health Section
  • Report of the Peace and Justice Section
  • International closing service
    Celebrants: P. Prof. Dr. Thomas Eggensperger OP; P. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Engel OP
    Video of the service

Does development cooperation bring us closer to a "shared future in a just world" (the motto of KAAD's anniversary year 2018)? The term "development" and some of the concepts that are closely associated with it (such as "sustainability", "change agents", and since 2015 also "combating displacement") are by no means clear and uniform in the understanding of "donors" and "recipients" or partners from different cultural backgrounds. The effectiveness of development projects, for which "Western" donors invest around 120 billion euros per year, is assessed ambivalently in scientific studies, especially with regard to their vested interests and (lack of) foresight.

But is it even possible to adequately quantify development as a positive change towards the future, as envisaged by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG, a voluntary commitment by the international community by 2030)? What role does economic growth and its "values" play in this? Doesn't this mean that the supposed "One World" is heading in a single direction, which needs to be readjusted or even reversed in view of the obvious (ecological) limits?

Against the backdrop of these questions, the Catholic world church develops the concept of "development" as a path that aims for a good life "for the whole person and for all people" (cf. Populorum progressio, 42). Pope Francisʼ encyclical "Laudato siʼ" (2015) emphasizes the relationship of this deeply humane intention to the whole of creation as a common "home". In a new dicastery for "Integral Development", the Vatican has also anchored this mission institutionally and politically.

As an international scholarship organization of German Catholics, the KAAD is not only part of the development budget of church and state through the promotion of personalities and networking. "Holistically" oriented support has also proven itself in how the scholarship holders, as "responsible elites", help shape development processes and, in doing so, use and create scope in which people can develop. With this in mind, Cardinal Turkson, the Vatican's "Development Minister", described KAAD as a "unique instrument of 'communio' in our Global Catholic Church". Our annual academy, which once again brought together guests from almost 50 countries in Bonn, was therefore able to include examples of good practice from the global KAAD community in a critical analysis of current development discourse. The country of Myanmar and our alumni association there were particularly in focus.

Text documents of the Annual Academy:

  • Lecture "Holistic development: A paradigm for science and (church) practice?", Prof. Dr. Markus Vogt, LMU Munich (English translation)
  • Presentation of the alumni association "MyanKAAD" by Claudia Api

Forum 1: "Combating the causes of flight" as a development goal?

Presentation by Dr. Benjamin Schraven, German Development Institute (DIE), Bonn

Forum 2: "Aid" versus "Participation"

Presentation by Michael Hippler, Misereor/KZE

Forum 3: "Transformation": analytical concept for "system change"

Prof. Dr. Heinz Theisen, Catholic University of Applied Sciences NRW, Cologne

Forum 4: "Sustainability" versus "Growth"

Presentation by Dr. Andreas Exner, University of Graz

Presentation by Jonathan Barth, Institute for Future-fit Economies, ZOE, Bonn

Forum 5: Responsible elites as "change agents"?

Presentation by Prof. Dr. Dagmar Hellmann-Rajanayagam, University of Passau

New borders and walls are emerging ever more clearly from the shadow of a technologically and economically accelerating globalization: Nationalisms and fundamentalisms fighting for power and recognition of 'identities', which make the idea of the "One World" with its common future for humanity appear as a far-fetched dream of a real, dividing "world community". Despite cosmopolitan visions, steadily growing "net communities" and technology-believing, even "transhuman", projections of a feasible optimal future, the intellectual and political climate is anti-utopian.

From a biblical-Christian perspective, it therefore remains urgent to keep alive the promise of an all-encompassing peace between man and nature as the fruit of justice (Isaiah 32:17). In this context, the universal Catholic Church also develops the concept of "development", which aims at a good life for "the whole person and all people" (cf. Populorum progressio, 42). Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato si'" (2015) emphasized the intimate "involvement" of this deeply humane intention with the whole of creation as a common "house" (oikos) and presented it to a global community working on new "Sustainable Development Goals" (SDG by 2030), combined with a clear reference to the limits of growth and the need to reduce the lifestyle of rich countries and sections of the population (LS 193; 201).

In a new dicastery for "integral development", the Vatican has also anchored this mission institutionally. As the Catholic Church's largest international scholarship organization, KAAD's work in the global church and education is committed to this cause. With around 50 partner committees and 30 alumni associations in the Global South and Eastern Europe, it also sees itself as a form of global church community building at the interface to the scientific community. Its scholarship holders and alumni place themselves at the service of a common future in justice as part of a new elite of responsibility. The celebratory anniversary academy to mark the 60th year of KAAD's founding brought together a total of 340 scholarship holders and important partners from the church and politics from all over the world in Bonn from April 26-29, 2018.

In the face of increasingly complex and globally condensed challenges, interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and "integrative" research is becoming a necessity. However, this requires not only a (multidisciplinary) compilation of results, but also a difficult path of bringing together methods and specialist languages, and ultimately also scientific cultures. "Transdisciplinary" should also critically incorporate the action and political dimension of science.

In a university and academic world that appears to be characterized by trends towards economization, interdisciplinary study and research should therefore not only be about pragmatic problem-solving networks, through which, for example, individual and regional in-depth knowledge is hastily skipped over globally and in ever broader "clusters" - starting with the curricula of Bachelor's and Master's degree courses. The horizon of the unity of the sciences, which interdisciplinary research presupposes and creates, should instead be characterized by ethical guiding principles and keep the cultural-religious basis of science in mind. In this way, a global "scientific community" could also prove to be a peacemaker and - in the face of increasing political irrationalism - an actor committed to the struggle for truth.

The KAAD Annual Academy, with students and researchers from over 50 countries, made its own interdisciplinary richness "resonate" in this resonance space and at the same time embedded it in an intercultural and interreligious dialog. This was done using the example of some overarching issues that are particularly relevant for a globally oriented (development) policy.

FORUM 1:
Peace and conflict research regional, global, interdisciplinary

FORUM 2:
Water: molecules - resource - source of life

FORUM 3:
Ethical perspectives in medicine and the natural sciences

FORUM 4:
From "Mental Health" to "Healing the Soul": Mind and Soul interdisciplinary

FORUM 5:
"Campus of religions"? Theologies between religious dogma, science and dialog
Presentation: Prof. Dr. Klaus von Stosch, University of Paderborn

Peace research and peace ethics as an interdisciplinary task
Presentation: Prof. Dr. Eberhard Schockenhoff, University of Freiburg, President of KAAD (English version)

The often violent conflicts that pervade our converging world are almost always linked to questions of identity recognition. While globalization - as intensified real and virtual networking, marked by migration flows and growing pluralization everywhere - seems to undermine or even dissolve fixed attributions of identity, the need to "identify" and legitimize oneself as an individual, as a group, as a political or religious community is increasing or at least remains. With increasing mobility and expanded communication possibilities, the tension between ascribed and self-chosen identity is also growing, and the change of identities, even "multiplicity", is becoming easier, even more compelling.

Identities are often part of ideologies, of instrumentalization for economic and political interests, especially when the exclusionary or even marginalizing aspect dominates. Academic criticism of identities is thus often able to point out the "constructed", "invented" elements that can be found in "rediscovered" nationalisms, regionalisms, but also, for example, in religious fundamentalisms. The "identity games" of the virtual world, from the masks of individual users to the mutating group formations in social networking, seem to form a flexible, but not very sustainable contrast to such hardened, potentially "murderous" identities.

Can "transnational" or "cosmopolitan" concepts of identity prevent conflicts and help people and their communities to achieve a truly shared future? At our annual academy with participants from over 50 countries, this question was also explored in depth in intercultural and interreligious dialog. The Catholic Church, which invited participants through the KAAD, sees itself as a "world church" that transcends borders and is thus "placeless", yet is grounded anew in concrete congregations and communities, united by the Spirit of God.

  • Forum 1: Found and invented communities: The return of ethnic and national identities
    • Presentation by Lars Leszczensky, University of Mannheim: "Ethnic and national identity of children and young people"
    • Presentation by Dr. Lutz Schrader, University of Hagen
  • Forum 2: Religious identities in the field of tension between political and economic interests
  • Forum 3: As an avatar in social networks: virtual identities
  • Forum 4: "Typical - Typically us" - Difficulties in presenting our identity(ies)
    • Presentation by Prof. Dr. Erwin Orywal, University of Cologne
  • Forum 5: "Heimat" - Rootedness in a globalized world
    • Presentation by Prof. Dr. Beate Mitzscherlich, Zwickau University of Applied Sciences
  • Panel discussion: Identity politics for a common future: Opportunities and limits of transnationalism and cosmopolitanism

Health is not only a key factor in individual happiness, but is also a public good and a core human right. The fact that, according to experts, around one billion people have inadequate access to doctors and health services is just one indication of the lack of health equity in our globalized world. The current discussions about new development goals (post-MDGs) and the German government's concept for "Global Health Policy" (July 2013) make it clear that providing those in need with what they need and thus prioritizing the strengthening of health systems (in rural areas) in developing countries on a global scale remains a desideratum of global health policy in view of the great inequalities, which is based on values and not just on expedient rational or economic requirements.

Church development work attempts to keep all of this consistently in view and to work on building reliable structures beyond disaster-driven interventions, especially when the recruitment of medical professionals by richer countries is increasing in the context of global competition for specialists ("care drain"). This also poses a particular challenge for the KAAD's scholarship policy.
Our annual academy with participants from 47 countries offered a broad interdisciplinary forum to address health issues in connection with ecology, migration and other cross-border fields of action - always including cultural and religious dimensions.

  • Forum 1 "Priorities for health systems in developing and transition countries"
    • Presentation by Dr. Marlies Reulecke, Medical Mission Institute Würzburg: "Priorities for health systems"
    • Presentation by Fr. Carlos Man Ging Villanueva, Ecuador: "The health system in Ecuador"
    • Presentation by Joseph Kwame Wulifan, Ghana: "Health Care in Ghana"
  • Forum 2 "'Care Drain': Competition in a global skilled labor market"
    • Presentation by PD Dr. Michael Marx, University of Heidelberg
  • Forum 3 "'Health' and 'illness' as cultural constructs
    • Lecture by Dr. Katarina Greifeld, Frankfurt: "Biomedicine and traditional medicine - understandings of health and illness"
  • Forum 4 "Healing and Healing: Health in (inter-)religious perspective
    • Presentation by Dr. Vaja Vardidze, Georgia: "Healing and Healing from an Existential Analytical Perspective"
    • Speech by P. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Engel, Berlin: "Healing and Healing"
  • Forum 5 "High-tech medicine between ethos and market"
    • Presentation by Dr. Andreas Wulf, medico international: "Reflections from a basic health perspective"
  • Panel and plenary discussion: Paths to global health justice
    • Keynote speech by PD Dr. Walter Bruchhausen, University of Bonn/Aachen
    • Presentation by PD Dr. Walter Bruchhausen, University of Bonn/Aachen: "Pathways to global health justice"
    • Presentation by Dr. Gerd Eppel, GIZ Bonn
    • Statement by Martin Adokiya, Ghana: "Global (political) impact on the health system in Ghana"
    • Presentation by Martin Adokiya, Ghana: "Global (political) impact on the health system in Ghana"
    • Statement by Dr. Marlies Reulecke, Missionsärztliches Institut Würzburg: "Church contribution to global health justice"

Article by Dr. Marlies Reulecke in the journal Herder Korresondenz 68 (04/2014): "Taking a look at the realities of life. Mother-child health in Africa as a challenge for the church".

In the German conceptual tradition, "community" is associated with the element of personal closeness and sympathy over and above a rational, mostly economically motivated "socialization". Communities live from the power of human relationships, from a common "center" that is more than the sum of the individuals. As "identity-forming", however, they are also subject to the danger of demarcation and exclusion of others.

Our world of communication is increasingly shaped by electronic media, by (self-)socialization on the Internet, an availability that offers opportunities for free access to information and the power of mobilization, but also harbours dangers such as those arising from anonymity and superficiality. This massive acceleration of communication and economic dynamics, resulting in the short-term nature and short-lived nature of relationships and associations, raises the question of the meaning and possibility of lasting community building anew.

Since the Second Vatican Council 50 years ago, the Catholic world church has once again placed the concept of "communion" at the center of its self-understanding. It sees itself as a unity "in and of particular churches" (Lumen Gentium), but also as a sign of the unity of all humanity. What can such a claim, arising from the "living center" of Christ, mean in a global world in which, on the one hand, a "world (civil) society" is emerging and, on the other, conflicts over identities - ethnic and religious, for example - are becoming ever more acute? How should the church understand and revitalize its own community in the face of growing secularity, virtuality and loss of trust in it?

  • Presentation by Prof. Dr. Thomas Demmelhuber, University of Hildesheim: "Social networks as a power factor in civil society and politics"
  • Presentation by Jürgen Winnemöller, theologian and operator of the blog "Katholon.de": "Virtual spiritual communities"
  • Thesis paper by Prof. Dr. Dr. Karl Gabriel, University of Münster: "From territorial parish to network community?"
  • Outline by Prof. Chibueze Udeani, University of Würzburg: "Universal Church - A Model of a global Community? - A reflection"
  • Thesis paper by Fr. Matías Omar Ruz, Córdoba/Argentina, currently University of Münster: "World Church and World Society - Is there a Global Community?"

Annual Academy 2010: Hermann Weber (ed.): Global Powers and Powers - Who controls the world? The responsibility of the world's religions. Ostfildern 2011; 226 pp. ISBN: 978-3-7867-2880-1

Annual Academy 2009: Water: Resource - Commodity - Source of Life

  • Presentations Part 1 /Part2
  • Keynote speech "Changes in the global water cycle and the local impact on the population" by Prof. Dr. Paul L.G. Vlek from the Center for Development Research in Bonn

Annual Academy 2008: A shared future in a just world. The anniversary year of KAAD in text documents. Bonn 2008; 128 pp. ISBN: 978-3-926288-32-5, EUR 7.00

Annual Academy 2007: Science and Spirituality, Bonn 2007; 132 p.ISBN: 978-3-926288-30-1, EUR 7,00

Annual Academy 2006: In the mirror of others: Germany. History - Language - Mentality - Religion. Bonn 2006; 95 pp. ISBN-13: 978-3-926288-28-8, EUR 5.00

Annual Academy 2005: Rethinking social responsibility. Bonn, 2005; 128 p.ISBN: 3-926288-25-6, EUR 7,00

Annual Academy 2004: Religions on the move. Bonn, 2004; 128 p. ISBN: 3-926288-24-8, EUR 7,00

Annual Academy 2003: Roots of Conflicts - Instruments of Peace. Bonn, 2003; 106 pp. ISBN: 3-926288-23-X, EUR 6,00

Annual Academy 2002: Science culture or science market? Bonn, 2002; 218 p. ISBN: 3-926288-21-3, EUR 10.00

Annual Academy 2001: Between Power and Service: Elites in Society and Church Today. Annual Academy 2001. Bonn, 2001; 135 pp. ISBN: 3-926288-19-1, EUR 5,00

Annual Academy 2000: Conflicts and a common future: On the question of guilt and reconciliation in our time. Annual Academy 2000. Bonn, 2000; 127 pp. ISBN: 3-926288-18-3, EUR 5,00

Annual Academy 1999: Creativity - Creative Humanity. Annual Academy 1999. Bonn, 1999; 94 pp. ISBN: 3-926288-16-7, EUR 4,50

Annual Academy 1998: The people of God in the challenges of a society. Annual Academy 1998. Bonn, 1998; 160 pp. ISBN: 3-926288-14-0, EUR 6,50