About us

The friendship between Hannover and Blantyre began when a delegation of young Malawians visited Germany, including Hannover, during an information tour. Upon the invitation of Councilor and founder of the "Freundeskreis Zentral- und Ostafrika e.V." (Association for Central and East Africa) Dr. Lore Henkel, the visitors were presented with the opportunity to have ten young women trained as nurses at the Oststadtkrankenhaus Hannover (East City Hospital Hannover). Thanks to the dedication of the Henkel couple, the Hannover City Council unanimously decided to establish a sister city partnership with Blantyre in 1968. To this day, this partnership serves as a catalyst for personal exchanges and numerous projects in municipal development cooperation.

In the EU project "aware&fair," initiated by Silvia Hesse, the first chairperson and former head of the Agenda21_Office, the partnership with Malawi, as well as with the sister cities Bristol and Poznań, took on a new dimension, in line with the principles of sustainable development. Fair trade and climate protection are of equal importance, along with a cultural exchange in the fields of theater and music.