Degree Programme: International Relations and
International Organization - Career Minor
Student Number: 3295192
Name: Carlotta Biege
Address: Coendersweg 2b, 9722GE Groningen
Telephone number: +49 172 6575 444
E-mail address: c.v.biege@student.rug.nl
Name and location of placement organization: Senatskanzlei Hamburg, Staatsamt - Internationale Zusammenarbeit Name of external supervisor: Wolfgang Grätz
Name of placement lecturer: Lies Feringa
Placement as Part of the Career Minor
Placement Report
Preface
When faced with the choice between the practical assignment and the internship, I chose the internship because doing an internship was a unique chance that I had not had in my degree programme thus far. As I am unsure where exactly I want to go with regards to a future career, this opportunity offered to bring some clarity into this matter.
The first deciding factor regarding my internship was the location. I had decided to do my internship in my hometown, Hamburg, as to not put an additional financial burden on my parents. As I do not speak Dutch, I did not look into internships in the Netherlands because it would have been a rather large disadvantage. Following my decision, I talked to friends about looking for an internship in Hamburg.
I had at that point come up with a few organizations I would have liked to intern for, like Greenpeace or Plan Germany. As I am interested in pursuing a career related to NGO- work, especially connected to the environment, these kinds of organizations seemed suitable for an internship. However, I had only done some research online but had not yet contacted any organizations. When speaking to a friend of mine about this, she told me about her summer internship in the Division of International Cooperation in the Staatsamt Hamburg. She described the tasks she had had as well as the organization itself.
From her experience the internship sounded interesting and like a job I would enjoy as well.
As I had not heard of the division before, I did some further research. Even though it was a very different type of organization from what I had originally aimed for (a city government department instead of an NGO), the topics they are dealing with are relevant to my studies, maybe even more so than other internships would have been. The division deals with international cooperation in its most direct forms, for example by taking care of Hamburg’s city partnerships. I then inquired with the division if they have internship places available for the period I was aiming for. I was happy to receive a positive reply and applied for the position. I was then invited for an interview during the summer holidays after which I was accepted for the position.
The learning outcomes I had hoped to achieve were connected to learning goals I had set up with an advisor from the Career Services prior to starting the Career Minor.
My first goal was to further work on being more decisive when it comes to getting certain
tasks done. As I tend to get stressed by relatively minor tasks, because I build them up to
be more difficult than they actually are, I have been working on improving this kind of indecisiveness.
Another goal that I had stated in my contract with the university was to apply the skills I had learned in my networking workshop in real life situations. I had participated in the networking workshop offered in the career minor but had not had any actual experience in this field. I was therefore looking forward to practicing the tips I had received in a real- life situation.
Table of contents Page
Introduction 5
Description of the Placement 5
Tasks connected to China 7
Further experiences 8
Personal Development 10
Conclusion 12
References 14
Appendix 14
Introduction
I spent my placement period at the Staatsamt Hamburg in the division of international cooperation. The Staatsamt is one of the four departments of the Senatskanzlei (senate chancellery) of Hamburg. Because of this, the Staatsamt is directly subordinated to the the First Mayor of Hamburg himself. It also works for the two State Secretaries who are assigned to the First Mayor, one for internal affairs – the Head of the Senate Chancellery (Chef der Senatskanzlei) -, the other for external affairs – the Plenipotentiary to the Federation, to the European Union and for International Relations.
The division I was working for is responsible for the international connections and development cooperation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, which includes topics such as the city partnerships, consular affairs as well as receiving delegations from abroad. It supports the First Mayor in these issues. Furthermore, is it responsible for organising certain events relating to the international connections, like the “China Time”
or “India Week.” Another example of this are anniversary celebrations of city partnerships. Extensive preparation and cooperation with relevant associations and the economic and cultural partners in the city are needed for all of these.
The division is divided into eight specific units, organized by continents and regions. Each area is being dealt with predominantly by one person. They are responsible for a wide variety of task relating to their country area. This includes appointment preparation (Terminvorbereitungen) for events related to their field of work for the First Mayor and State Plenipotentiary. Each unit is responsible for at least one of the city partnerships.
Hamburg currently has nine sister cities all over the world, for example in Russia (St.
Petersburg), China (Shanghai), and Tanzania (Dar es Salaam).
During my time at the Staatsamt I wrote several appointment preparations, fact sheets, and notes on different topics. I also supported my superiors in the daily work of the division by writing protocols, assisting in organizing events, and helping with the execution of these.
Description of the Placement
Interns in the division of international cooperation are actively incorporated in the above-
mentioned tasks. While the Referenten (Referent: the person responsible for a certain
country area) often approached the interns with tasks, we were also encouraged to come to them if we had finished all our tasks and to approach the person responsible for the unit we are most interested in. The interns are therefore not bound to one person and field but receive tasks from the whole division. This leads to a greater variety in the tasks and topics I dealt with.
One of the tasks I performed frequently was the preparation of fact sheets and the abovementioned appointment preparation. The fact sheets describe the general relationship Hamburg has with a certain country or sister city. It is a short bullet point overview of the most important facts. It is supposed to be between one and two pages long. Information to include are for example the number of people from that country currently living in Hamburg, trade relations with Hamburg, especially in the shipping sector, and whether there is a city or harbour partnership with a city in that country. Some of the information is supplied to the division by other city government authorities. For the less technical data I usually consulted old records, the website of the city, or other publicly accessible sources. This was a task where I realized that having a solid basis of knowledge in several areas, like I have gained during my studies, can help me immensely in the future.
Knowing about certain historical developments or economic processes helped me in gathering the information I needed quicker and more accurately. The process of knowledge-gathering and researching in itself is one that I have extensively learned and practiced in my studies. I therefore enjoyed these tasks because they were interesting and also showed me that the skills I have acquired in my degree programme are actually helpful in the real world.
I prepared fact sheets about for example Latvia, South Korea, or the Kosovo. The task might not be the most challenging, but I enjoyed being able to get a closer look at countries that I sometimes did not know much about before. By preparing these fact sheets I also helped in building a solid base of knowledge other colleagues can base their own reports off.
An appointment preparation is usually prepared for the First Mayor of Hamburg as well
as the State Plenipotentiary to the Federation, to the European Union and for
International Relations. It is a more elaborate look at a country including more in-depth
information about the country's economic situation as well as its connection to Hamburg
and Germany as a whole. It is written as a continuous text and usually prepared on the occasion of the First Mayor or the Plenipotentiary meeting a state representative, for example a minister or an ambassador, but also for meetings with representatives of organizations. Hence, the text also includes a short description of the person they will be meeting. In my time at the Staatsamt I prepared appointment preparations for countries like Peru, the Kosovo, or Finland as well as the European Union – Latin America and Caribbean Foundation.
I supported my supervisors in the daily dealings of the department as well. This included performing tasks such as taking the protocol in meetings, compiling address lists for events organised by the Staatsamt, or helping with the organisation of said events. This gave me first-hand experience of what the work behind the scenes leads to in the end. It also gave me the opportunity to attend different types of meeting and events. As I have not worked an office job like this before, it was a valuable experience to see the different types of interactions which happen in a business environment. This can give me an advantage in later life as I now have a broader set of experiences to draw from for future events and meetings.
Tasks connected to China
As I told my supervisors in the beginning of the internship that I took Chinese as my language as part of IRIO and am interested in the country and culture, the Referent for Asia included me in several projects and tasks concerning China. Through this I could apply some of the knowledge I gained in my language classes, both by having a deeper knowledge of cultural differences which I used to complete certain tasks, as well as my actual language ability. Although my understanding of Chinese is better than my speaking ability, I was able to communicate on a basic level with members of Chinese delegations.
I was able to do so on different occasions as the Referent took me along to three different
events. For example, I got to accompany her to a meeting between representatives of the
anti-corruption department of the city of Shanghai and Hamburg’s Department of the
Interior. The delegation listened to a presentation about how Hamburg as a city tackles
corruption issues. This was a thought-provoking talk, not only because of the topic itself
but also because of the follow up questions the delegation asked, which showed the different mindsets the two administrative bodies have in the fight against corruption.
It was interesting to see that international cooperation and exchange also works on a comparatively low level between two city departments. The two sister cities are connected on a high level, but exchanges like this are what makes the relationship come alive. Of course, it remains to be seen if the content of the discussions will have any impact on the respective partner, but it was a stimulating exchange no matter the outcome.
Another amazing opportunity I was given by the Referent for Asia was to join her at an official reception for the Chinese Spring Festival which coincided with the re-opening of an original Chinese tea house. This tea house had been given to the city of Hamburg by Shanghai as a token of appreciation and had been refurbished in recent months. I was invited to join her as I had helped with preparing the invitations for the guests. This reception was attended by Hamburg’s First Mayor as well as the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China. Therefore, the preparations were very thorough and extensive. Through events like this I also got a small impression of the work that the Protocol of the Staatsamt does. The event in itself was very interesting because of two speeches given by the Consul General and the First Mayor.
Further experiences
2020 is the year of the 30th anniversary of the city partnership between Hamburg and Prague. Naturally, this comes with a lot of preparation for the people in charge. The Referent for middle and eastern Europe, who was therefore also responsible for the partnership with Prague, included me in a lot of the preparations related to this.
For me, an exciting process I was included in was the choosing of a poster to be hung in
the city as well as a logo that will represent the anniversary throughout the year. The
Referent had commissioned a graphic designer with creating different options for this. As
the other three attendees in the deciding meeting were middle-aged, I was asked to join
the meeting to give my opinion as a “young person.” It was interesting to exchange views
on the different designs and to hear what aspects people who have experience with
choosing these types of posters were most looking at. As someone who has seen the same
kind of poster hung around the city many times it was fascinating to be on the side of the creators of these posters for once.
One of the less exciting, but nevertheless necessary tasks I helped her with was the supplementing of an address list for a network meeting of actors related to the anniversary. I researched the missing addresses of the guests as well as their contact details. As I was tasked with the preparation, I went to the network meeting together with the Referent and wrote the protocol as well. This meeting was once again a new experience for me. As I had never been to a similar event, I did not know what to expect from it. To watch how networking works in real life right in front of me was very interesting. People where introducing their work and what they are doing with regards to a connection between Hamburg and Prague. When talking about planned events, the Referent or other attendees of the meeting were at times able to connect people for possible cooperation immediately. An example for this is was that a new ship in Hamburg will be named after the city of Prague. However, the official launching of the ship was not yet scheduled and still needed some further specification. It was then suggested to have the orchestra of a music school play at the occasion because they had a yearly exchange with Prague.
This was a very visible example for me of how networking works. Even though I had a workshop on the topic in the minor, “networking” had stayed a rather unclear and somewhat mysterious term to me. Even though I didn’t participate in the actual networking on this occasion, it gave me a realistic picture of what networking looks like in “real life,” an alternative to the rather LinkedIn-centric focus of the Career Service workshop.
Connected to the anniversary of the city partnership between Prague and Hamburg I was also invited by the Referent to accompany a delegation from Prague, which included the city’s vice mayor, on their visit to Hamburg. I accompanied them during their trip and then helped with the preparation of a meeting between the delegation and Hamburg’s State Plenipotentiary. I was honoured to be allowed to attend this high profile meeting myself.
To see a meeting like this in action was very interesting to witness. As these are the types of meeting appointment preparations are written for, I enjoyed seeing the other side of it as well.
I was also given the responsibility for the technical implementation as well as evaluation of a survey regarding EU funding. This was a unique task as I had to set up the survey in an online portal and then evaluate the results according to a certain scheme. As my Methodology and Research Practice course in IRIO had touched upon some of these issues I had a general idea of how to go about writing the evaluation. The Referent for this task then went over the evaluation with me and gave me an example of how she wanted it to be written. The evaluation itself was a rather long process, so I was happy to receive positive feedback from her when I handed it back in.
On one occasion I was given the opportunity to watch a meeting of the Bürgerschaft of Hamburg, which is its parliament. This was not directly a work-related event but as the office I was working in was across the street from the Town Hall, our superiors encouraged my fellow interns and I to listen in on it when the opportunity presented itself.
I had never been to a parliamentary session before, so this was an interesting chance. As Hamburg is preparing for parliamentary elections in February, the debates were very lively. Even though I am interested in politics and enjoyed seeing a parliament “in action,”
this visit reaffirmed my wish not to be a politician. While politicians doubtlessly have a great impact on the people, I would like to work a job which is closer to the people themselves. Politicians are representing the population of a certain district and can give those voices a greater weight but in the end, they are not working together with the people they represent on a daily basis.
Personal Development
I really enjoyed my internship at the Staatsamt in Hamburg. My superiors were welcoming and always open for answering my questions. The tasks that I performed are varied, especially because there are so many countries being dealt with within one division. Even if I technically did the same task, for example writing a fact sheet, several times, it was never actually the same as I prepared them for different countries. Through this did not only gain knowledge of the processes, but also on certain countries and organisations, which was a useful additional benefit of this work.
I also learnt about how to work in a governmental organisation like this. While many of
the procedures are quite specific to this division and will therefore not be directly
applicable in later jobs, I still feel like learning to work in an environment like this will be universally helpful in the future.
Getting used to a nine-to-five type of working day was tiring in the first week. However, after a while I got used to it and enjoyed the free time that comes with regular working hours. This was quite different from the non-stop mentality I have adopted in university.
The personal goals I had set myself for the internship were connected to being more decisive, meaning to procrastinate tasks less as well as coping with stress and setbacks.
In addition to this I wanted to improve my networking abilities.
I am unsure about whether or not I reached my goal related to networking. There has been no measurable effect, like a higher number of LinkedIn contacts as an indicator. As the Staatsamt is a department of the city, most people have studied to be in this specific position and to be employed by the state and therefore do not have the need for a LinkedIn account to find job offers. I have learned that here, networking is usually done at bigger events or specific networking meetings for a certain topic, like the one mentioned above regarding the partnership between Hamburg and Prague. Building up a network with the different city departments as well as civil society organisations is crucial for the Referenten to be able to organize projects like city partnership anniversary celebrations.
As we learned in our minor, networking is one of the most important skills and task in many jobs. However, the theory is quite different from the actual practice of it. Through my experience at the Staatsamt I have now seen how it can work in real life and how people go about approaching others in this way. I am hoping that I will be able to apply this in future jobs as well by being more confident when it comes to networking and having a better idea of what this entails.
I therefore have gained experience in how people network, even though it is not as measurable as I hoped it would be, for example through LinkedIn. Whether or not I have improved my ability to network will only be clear once I am in a situation where I actually have to network myself. For now, I have at least gained second-hand experience on the matter.
With regards to my second goal, as I was often given rather urgent tasks, the possibility
to procrastinate was limited. I had to focus more on how to prioritize my tasks to make
sure I finish them all in time and in the most efficient way. I have tried to complete my tasks as quickly as possible while also being thorough and as complete as possible. My insecurities about making mistakes and getting stressed by this have lessened in some regards. The first few days in the Staatsamt was more stressful than the time after has been because everything was new and the way a city administration operated was completely unfamiliar to me. However, the Referenten were forthcoming and took time to explain things to me in greater detail if I had questions. They occasionally reviewed the work I did together with me so I could see where they made changes so that I would be able to improve the quality of my work the next time I did a similar task. As I got more experienced with the work I was doing, I did not feel overwhelmed or stressed by the tasks and therefore had no reason to procrastinate them.
A skill that I improved over the course of my internship was being proactive in terms of approaching the Referenten myself once I had completed all of my current tasks. As every intern answered to all the Referenten, the Referenten did not know how much work each intern would have. Therefore, it worked the best if we asked them for further tasks once we completed the ones we had been given before. While I was hesitant at first, especially because I still felt somewhat out of my depth as everything was new to me, I gained confidence as time went on. This confidence is something I want to take from this internship to apply in future jobs or internships. While it might still take some time to settle into new modes of working in the future, I now have some experience in working an office job and will therefore have some knowledge to base future work on.
Conclusion
Overall, I have really enjoyed my internship at the Staatsamt. The tasks I dealt with were interesting and varied and gave me many new insights into this field of work. While I did not directly achieve all of the goals I had set out to achieve, I have gained other skills and competences as well as useful work experience overall.
The processes themselves were unfamiliar to me at first but skills acquired in different
courses of my degree programme were helpful in accomplishing certain tasks given to me
in the Staatsamt, as mentioned above.
With regards to a future career, this internship showed me a field of work which I had not previously considered as an option for myself. While I would now consider working at a department like this for a few years, I still do not think that this is my ideal job. However, through this internship I have now gained experience in a sector to which I had not had many connections to prior.
References:
Header used on the title page (page 1 of this document): University of Groningen Logo Database; https://www.rug.nl/about-us/how-to-find-
us/huisstijl/logobank/corporatelogo/corporatelogorood/rugr_logoen_rood_rgb.jpg
Appendix: examples of my work
- Note on the air raids on Dresden 1945
- Indicators for the local application of Sustainable Development Goal 17 in Hamburg
- Appointment preparation for a meeting between the Consul General of the Kosovo and the State Plenipotentiary
- Fact Sheet on the Republic of South Korea
Internationale Zusammenarbeit
Dok.: Vermerk Luftangriffe auf Dresden Datum: 09.01.20
Name: Carlotta Biege
App.: 4097 Vermerk - Luftangriffe auf Dresden 1945
Ab Herbst 1944 griffen die alliierten Luftwaffen den Großraum Dresdens an. Zuvor lag Dresden außerhalb der Reichweite der alliierten Bomber und war deshalb neben Breslau der letzte größere unbeschädigte Verkehrsknotenpunkt sowie Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungsstandort in Deutschland.
Besonders bekannt sind die Angriffswellen vom 13. bis 15. Februar 1945. In der ersten Angriffswelle am 13.02. kurz nach 22 Uhr wurden drei Viertel der Dresdener Altstadt in Brand gesetzt. In der zweiten, welche gegen 1:30 Uhr am 14.02. begann, entstand ein Feuersturm welcher ganze Straßenzüge zerstörte. Die letzten beiden Tagangriffe fanden am 14.02. und 15.02. statt und trafen Rüstungsbetriebe und erneut den Bahnhof. Des Weiteren wurde auch ein Krankenhaus getroffen.
Nachforschungen einer von der Stadt Dresden beauftragten Historikerkommission kam 2009 zu dem Schluss, dass zwischen 22.700 und 25.000 Menschen bei den Luftangriffen starben, weit weniger als die bis dahin angenommenen sechsstelligen Opferzahlen.
Dresden war für die Alliierten von Interesse, da sich laut der US Air Force im Februar 1945 mindestens 110 Fabriken und Unternehmen in der Rüstungsindustrie tätig waren, welche ein
„militärisch legitimes Ziel“ darstellten wie z.B. die chemische Industrie oder ein Stahlwerk.
Die Bombardierung der Stadt Dresden ist häufig geschichtsrevisionistisch missbraucht worden, von Holocaustleugnern sowie Vertretern der Neuen Rechten. Am Gedenktag der Zerstörung Dresdens gibt es seit den 2000ern jährlich Märschen von Neonazis, welche als Machtdemonstration und Vernetzung der Mitglieder dieser Gruppen genutzt wird.
Für seine Äußerungen, dass es Versuche zum Umdeuten der Geschichte gäbe um dadurch einen
Opfermythos für Dresden zu erschaffen, wurde Oberbürgermeister Hilbert scharf kritisiert. Er sagte
außerdem, dass Dresden keine unschuldige Stadt gewesen sei. Im Zuge dieser Äußerung wurde
Hilbert Opfer von Hetzte und Morddrohungen. Er steht deshalb seit 2017 unter Polizeischutz.
Carlotta Biege ST2-P1
Indikatoren für SDG Ziel 17 auf lokaler Ebene: Internationale Bezüge (z.B. Handel, Geldflüsse ect.) Die UN Statistikkommission führt zu jedem Unterziel der Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offizielle Indikatoren, die diese Ziele messbar machen sollen. Die meisten dieser Ziele und Indikatoren sind jedoch für Kommunen nicht anwendbar, da sie nationale Anliegen oder Werte behandeln. Einige richten sich auch explizit an Entwicklungsländer und treffen somit nicht auf Hamburg zu.
Die Bertelsmann-Stiftung hat eigene Indikatoren für das Erreichen der SDGs auf Kommunalebenen erarbeitet. Für Ziel 17 („Umsetzungsmittel stärken und die globale Partnerschaft für nachhaltige Entwicklung wiederbeleben“) wurden die Unterziele 17.16
1sowie 17.3
2für die deutschen Kommunen als relevante Unterziele herausgestellt. Kernindikatoren für diese Ziele sind laut der Stiftung die Ausgaben der Kommune für Entwicklungsarbeit sowie Ausgaben für fair gehandelte Produkte.
Die messbaren Indikatoren dafür sind die Official Development Assistance (ODA) Quote, welche den Anteil der öffentlichen Ausgaben für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit vom Bruttonationaleinkommen darstellt. Obwohl Entwicklungszusammenarbeit insgesamt Aufgabe des Bundes ist, übernehmen die Länder und Kommunen häufig freiwillig Projekte zu diesem Zweck. Dies kann Vorträge,
Austauschprogramme oder Partnerschaften zwischen Kommunen beinhalten.
Da solche Ausgaben Entwicklungsländer direkt bei dem Erreichen ihrer Ziele unterstützt, ist die Größe des Anteils der kommunalen Ausgaben für Entwicklungsarbeit (die ODA-Quote) ein aussagefähiger Indikator für das Erreichen des SDG 17.
Die Ausgaben für fair gehandelte Produkte sind ein Indikator für die globale Partnerschaft für nachhaltige Entwicklung, da bei fair gehandelten Produkten den Produzenten ein fairer Mindestpreis bezahlt wird. Dadurch wird wirkungsvolle Entwicklungsarbeit unterstützt und das Gemeinwesen vor Ort gefördert. Kommunen haben als öffentlicher Auftraggeber die Möglichkeit, den fairen Handel zu fördern, indem sie fair gehandelte Waren bevorzugt kaufen. Außerdem können sie bewusst Waren, welche soziale und ökologische Mindeststandards missachten, meiden. Durch den Anteil der kommunalen Ausgaben für fair gehandelte Produkte am Gesamthaushalt können Kommunen somit selbstständig feststellen, welche Wichtigkeit sie dem Thema fairer Handel beimessen und zu welchem Maße sie Entwicklungsarbeit in dieser Form unterstützen.
Das Statistische Amt der Europäischen Union Eurostat führt als Indikatoren für das Erreichen von Ziel 17 neben der Quote der ODA zudem unter anderem die Importe von Entwicklungsländern nach Ländereinkommensgruppen oder die Anteile von Umwelt- und Arbeitssteuern an der Gesamtsteuer auf. Während letzteres in diesem Fall weniger relevant ist, könnten die Importe aus
Entwicklungsländern ein für Hamburg interessanter Indikator sein. Allerdings besteht auch die Gefahr, dass der Indikator zu unpräzise ist, wenn z.B. alle Importe, von welchen viele wieder weiter transportiert werden, einbezogen werden würde. Dadurch würde der eigentliche Handel, den die Stadt Hamburg mit Entwicklungsländern betreibt, ungenau bemessen werden.
1
Ziel 17.16: Die Globale Partnerschaft für nachhaltige Entwicklung ausbauen, ergänzt durch Multi-Akteur- Partnerschaften zur Mobilisierung und zum Austausch von Wissen, Fachkenntnissen, Technologie und finanziellen Ressourcen, um die Erreichung der Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung in allen Ländern und insbesondere in den Entwicklungsländern zu unterstützen.
2
