Last semester I took a core class at Hertie, called the “Public Policy Process – German Budgeting”. As our final project, we were supposed to get into the shoes of the German Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (you don’t want to imagine how the full name sounds in German) and propose a new budget for 2010 for our ministry.
Initially, I thought I would learn a bit of number crunching and plenty of insights into German politicking. I ended up learning more about family/ population policy and demography (especially within a OECD context) than I ever imagined. Also, I ended up being totally alarmed by how little attention decision-makers pay to these matters. In Germany, they are at least on the agenda, while in Romania… Oh, my!
