>> Mecklenburg-Vorpommern The State Chancellery of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern plays the leading role in the federal states’ development cooperation activities. These activities currently focus on supporting vocational education and training for qualified employees and executives from transition and developing countries in companies based in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Apart from the transfer of know-how, the training measures also serve to build bridges and to strengthen economic relations in the interest of both sides. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is an active member of the North German Partnership to Support the UNDecade “Education for Sustainable Development”. The partnership’s aim is to make a contribution to the reduction of global environmental pollution, to the alleviation of poverty and injustice as well as to sustainability. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Environment and Consumer Protection Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is hereby the responsible authority. It also represents the federal state at the Round Table of the German National Committee for the UN-Decade 2005-2014 “Education for Sustainable Development” (www.bne-portal.de). Furthermore, the Ministry co-ordinates education activities within the North German Partnership to Support the UN-Decade. Here, a main focus is set under the slogan „Learning from the South“ (www.nun-dekade.de). Another emphasis of the development cooperation activities in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is on the – often voluntary – work done by non-governmental organisations. Many initiatives dedicated to development cooperation joined forces in 1999 und created the One World Regional Network (EineWelt-Landesnetzwerk). In addition to its support to developing countries, the network plays an important role in the educational work against right-wing extremist ideologies. This task is faced by the network through education programmes of “One-World”-groups or the annual Development Days of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Landesweite Entwicklungspolitische Tage in MecklenburgVorpommern). Since 2001, surpluses of the state-owned Bingo lottery of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have been utilised to support the non-governmental organisations of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The money is allocated to the North German Foundation for Environment and Development (Norddeutsche Stiftung für Umwelt und Entwicklung – NUE) and to fund environmental and conservation projects as well as development aid projects. In this manner, 22 individual development cooperation projects could be funded with EUR 388,300 by the NUE in 2012, using proceeds of the Bingo lottery of MecklenburgVorpommern. The projects were realised by means of voluntary engagement. Translated from the German by the following MA students at the School of Translation, Linguistics and Cultural Studies of the University of Mainz, Germersheim:                Swenja Bauer Sina Brauch Miriam Eckers Ruthild Gärtner Bianca Gerards Christine Gubo Anna Maria Kwiatkowska Theresa Lupek Jan Maintz Susanne Mollen Lara Nettekoven Dorothee Schmitt Viktorija Tapai Anne Weber Lars Zankl We thank you for the good work!