Introduction: Staff from Population Action International are presenting “The Shape of Things to Come: Why Age Structure Matters to a Safer, More Equitable World” at several events in Europe. Join Tyler LePard, PAI’s Media Manager, for an inside look!
After the journalist workshop, the PAI team headed for lunch with DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevolkerung). Along the way, we passed the “Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe” (Denkmal fur die Ermordeten Juden Europas). It’s an eerie grid made with concrete blocks of differing heights that takes up a whole city block. The somberness of the subject contrasted sharply with children running and playing among the rows.
Near Gendarmentmarkt again, we met the Executive Director of DSW, Dr. Joerg Maas, for lunch, where he and PAI President/CEO Amy had the chance to catch up before she caught her plane back to the States.
On the way to the next event, the rest of the PAI team caught a few more sights: The Berliner Dom (Cathedral), Humboldt University and the Pergamon Museum.
For the final Berlin event, PAI and DSW convened an expert briefing at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (The German Institute for International and Security Affairs) in western Berlin, entitled “Population Growth and the Stability of the States – Consequences for Foreign and Security Policies.” Claudia Kennedy, Elizabeth Leahy and Tod Preston presented their findings to a group of about a dozen representatives of the German Foreign Office, other think tank notables and NGO colleagues. Dr. Steffen Angenendt called “The Shape of Things to Come” a “wake up call for Germany” and said that he really appreciates the report because it is “exactly what we need for our discussion.”
Our DSW hosts and the PAI team were excited that Markus Ederer, the chief of the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s policy planning office, attended the briefing and mentioned that German policymakers are becoming increasingly interested in international demographic issues as they relate to foreign assistance.
Many thanks to the DSW, PAI’s German NGO partner, who sponsored our events in Berlin.
Overall, we had a very productive week and successfully launched “The Shape of Things to Come” in Europe.
Tschuss/goodbye!
Leave a comment