We build bridges
The city partnership between the port cities of Dar es Salaam and Hamburg has existed since 2010. Groups, initiatives, and people from both cities shape this friendship. Thanks to this commitment in both cities, numerous initiatives and projects have since been created that bring people from both cities closer together. The groups and initiatives are as diverse as the twin cities.
Similarities and differences
Our partner city Dar es Salaam is a lively metropolis with 5.5 million inhabitants on the Indian Ocean.
- It is not only the largest city in Tanzania but one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.
- The city is young (33% of the population is under 14 years) and has 10 universities.
- Many cultures and religions mingle here and live peacefully together. (there we can still learn a lot from you :-))
- The country has only been independent for 60 years and is trying to go its own way. They are proud of that.
- There is a lively cultural life, whether in music, art, or the start-up scene.
- Soccer is a passion, and Dar es Salaam, like Hamburg, has two important soccer clubs. Their names here are Simba and Yanga.
- The tropical climate, palm trees, and beaches in the city invite you to relax.
- Yes, and then Dar, as it is affectionately called by its inhabitants, is the economic center of the country, with over 500 businesses and huge markets.
- The port is of international importance and a major transshipment point for East and Central Africa, whether by rail, road, or via the modern airport.
- Tanzania has experienced consistently high economic growth of between 6-7% per year for the past 10 years.
- At the same time, Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. Almost half of the people (49.1%) earn less than $1.90 a day. Yet per capita income has already doubled in the last 10 years. Rising food prices, however, have led to private incomes being used up mostly on food.
Above all, Dar is a city with wonderful hospitable people.
An overview
Hamburg and Dar Es Salaam, two multicultural port cities and metropolises, share a common history and both face similar challenges, though under very different circumstances.
Long-standing civil society contacts culminate in 2010 in Hamburg’s first official twinning with a city on the African continent. Since then, the partnership has intensified and there is a lively exchange between the citizens of both cities.
A brief overview:
Schools from Hamburg and Dar es Salaam organize student exchanges and youth groups experience different worlds here and there together. Universities work together on pressing issues and university students spend semesters abroad locally. Museums cooperate with each other and learn from each other. In Hamburg, anyone can learn the language of our partner Kiswahili at the Volkshochschule and also in open courses at the university.
Cultural exchanges of actors, filmmakers, musicians, and acrobats appeal to all the senses and process experiences and insights in a different way. Churches in Hamburg maintain long-standing partnerships with congregations in Tanzania. Hospitals connect and assist each other. Specialists from Dar receive further training in Hamburg, and Hamburgers work on projects in Dar. People exchange ideas and look for solutions together with their colleagues. There is an exchange of expertise between the authorities of both cities, e.g. on civil protection, traffic issues, waste disposal, and the climate. Projects are underway.
There are also initial cooperations in the economic sector, for example in the field of solar energy. At the political level, reciprocal visits take place. The political foundations of the parties, FEB, RSL, and KAD, maintain offices in Dar es Salaam. The Hamburg Senate supports the civic commitment by setting up a cooperation office, and the city of Dar also has a coordinator for the city partnership. And we have the only Honorary Consulate of Tanzania here in Hamburg.
Details can be found under Partnerships
“No nation has the right,
Making decisions for another nation;
no people for another people.”
(Quote from Julius Nyerere, “Father of the Nation” who led Tanzania to independence)
Encounters with Tanzania, its culture, with the warmth and hospitality of its people motivate and give impulses for life in Germany. They form a way to overcome foreignness and stereotypes, to learn and understand that beyond material wealth there is another wealth.
We are interested in the life of the people, the joys and also the sorrows and hardships, festivals and celebrations, political and social developments in Hamburg and Dar es Salaam. We want to learn from each other and get a new perspective on life and our own city. To this end, the twinning ties in a network of contacts and friendships between the two cities.
Most of the activists have formed groups and connected with a group in Dar es Salaam. Soccer club with the soccer club, a fire department with the fire department, college with college. This is how you get to know each other better and better and trust develops.
The global disparities in wealth and power can be difficult to deal with, but we are recognizing, learning, and getting better at dealing with them.
We are convinced that the people from Hamburg and Dar es Salaam know best themselves what they need and where support makes sense.
In the concrete work with the partners, we experience enrichment. The immediate visits and contacts let us experience a different reality. This does not infrequently lead to a change in attitude towards one’s own prosperity and one’s own way of thinking and acting. The consequences of globalization with its economic, social, and societal changes are experienced and comprehended in their everydayness.
The work of the twinning is independent of political parties and takes place primarily on a voluntary basis in civil society.
A good relationship of trust and cooperation with the city of Hamburg and the administration enables us to have a broad impact in our cooperation with Dar es Salaam.
