On behalf of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the German Federal Office of Administration (BVA), GIZ has been implementing the Programme for National Minorities since 1993 in the states that now exist on the territory of the former Soviet Union (CIS).
The programme aims to improve the living and working environment ethnic Germans, offering them an alternative to resettlement in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Since 2007 the German Government’s support has focused on:

• support for community centres
• non-school German language tuition
• work with children and young people
• promotion of future leaders of the community
• humanitarian and social assistance.

All of the support measures follow the well-established principle of help towards self-help and include the non-German population.
Thanks to the German measures and the generally improved outlook for the future in the CIS, more and more people from ethnic German minorities are deciding to stay in their country of origin. Nevertheless, to ensure that their prospects continue to improve, the German minorities will require German support for the foreseeable future. However, given the declining budget available from the German Government, the people concerned will increasingly have to take the initiative and step up their own active involvement. For this reason, a key focus is on ensuring that the results of all measures are sustainable.

The mandate for this programme is given by:

• Federal German Ministry of the Interior (BMI)
  http://www.bmi.bund.de
• German Federal Office of Administration (Bundesverwaltungsamt, BVA) - an institution subordinated to the BMI
  www.bundesverwaltungsamt.de
• Further information is available at the website of the German-Russian House in Moscow
  Deutsch-Russisches Haus Moskau
top