What we do

China is passing through a broad process of economic, political and social transition. The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (hbs) accompanies this process and supports the exchange of Chinese, German and international stakeholders from academia, governmental and party institutions, NGOs and media involved in debates and decision making on different levels. Together with our partners we want to reflect on achievements, challenges and opportunities of current developments in China.

Chinese civil society is currently still at an initial stage of development. However, for more than a decade China’s NGOs have been growing fast in number and working capacity and are more and more making significant contributions in many important fields, such as environmental sustainability, public health, poverty alleviation and gender equality. hbs with its partners support NGOs in their capacity building and promote the exchange with relevant other actors within China and on an international level.

Under the umbrella of the German-Chinese Rule of Law Dialogue, hbs supports lawyers and researchers who contribute to the debates about legal reforms in China. At the same time we also provide background information of China’s legal reforms to German policy makers and civil society in order to contribute to an informed and constructive dialogue between Germany and China and to foster mutual understanding.

Gender democracy is an overarching goal of our work and a cross-cutting theme for all activities of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. This concept addresses the deep-rooted structural (including economic, political and legal) as well as societal and cultural causes of the persisting inequality of men and women. We integrate considerations of gender equality into all of our programs and try to raise the gender awareness of partners and relevant actors.