The Hanns Seidel Foundation

 

Democracy, peace and development are the core principles underlying the work of the Munich-based Hanns Seidel Foundation. Founded in 1967, the Hanns Seidel Foundation celebrates its 40th anniversary next year. The German Hanns Seidel Foundation is an independent political foundation, yet espouses principles and ideals close to those of the Christian Social Union (CSU) and its sister party the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

 

Political foundations in Germany are unique to the world: there is no other country that has similar institutions that engage in international development policies. The co-existence of different German political foundations reflects the plurality of the liberal-democratic system. Plurality is likewise the political concept underlying international development cooperation.

 

Within the scope of its international development cooperation the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) promotes good governance, democracy, the rule of law, peace and sustainable development. Grounded in ideals of Christian provenance and social justice, our aim is to facilitate better human living conditions all over the world.

 

The Institute for International Contact and Cooperation of the Hanns Seidel Foundation has been a global player for over 30 years and is running projects in over 50 countries. Within the scope of its international development cooperation the People's Republic of China is a main target region. Relations with China were established in the 1980's and have been strenghtend step by step since then, based on mutual trust and the ambition to join hands in development cooperation. Therefore, the participation of all stakeholders is an important element of our work and of grounding significance regarding the success of our collaborative ventures.

 

We support institutional change within China's transformation towards a civil society and the rule of law on the national and local levels through our manifold education, counseling and dialogue programs.