Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (English: German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH),[n 1] often shortened to simply GIZ, is a German development agency headquartered in Bonn and Eschborn that provides services in the field of international development cooperation. GIZ mainly implements technical cooperation projects of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), its main commissioning party, although it also works with the private sector and other national and supranational government organizations (but usually not with non-governmental organizations) on a public benefit basis. According to the OECD, 2019 official development assistance from Germany decreased 1.4% to USD 23.8 billion.[2] In its activities GIZ seeks to follow the paradigm of sustainable development, which aims at economic development through social inclusion and environmental protection.[1] GIZ offers consulting and capacity building services in a wide range of areas, including management consulting, rural development, sustainable infrastructure, security and peace-building, social development, governance and democracy, environment and climate change, and economic development and employment.[3]

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
AbbreviationGIZ
Formation1 January 2011 (2011-01-01)
Typegovernmental
Legal statusGmbH
PurposeDevelopment aid
Location
Executive director
Tanja Gönner
Budget
€ 3.1 billion [1]
Staff
22,199[1]
Websitewww.giz.de/en

GIZ was established on January 1, 2011, through the merger of three German international development organizations: the Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), and Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung (InWEnt).[4] GIZ is one of the world's largest development agencies, with a business volume in excess of €2.4 billion in 2016 as well as 19,506 employees spread over more than 120 countries.[1] Additionally, in cooperation with the German Federal Employment Agency, GIZ operates the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM), an agency specialized on international cooperation activities related to global labor mobility.[5]

Organisation

Building of GIZ headquarters in Bonn, Germany

GIZ's headquarters are located in Bonn and Eschborn. It also has a representation in Berlin and offices at 16 other locations across Germany. Outside Germany, the company has a representation in Brussels and operates 90 offices around the world.[6]

Because GIZ is incorporated under German law as a GmbH (limited liability company), it is governed by a management board that acts on behalf of the company's shareholders and is monitored by a supervisory board.[7] Additionally, GIZ also has a Board of Trustees and a Private Sector Advisory Board.[8] GIZ's management board consists of the three managing directors Tanja Gönner (Chairperson), Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel and Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven (October 2019), while the Federal Republic of Germany (represented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF)) is GIZ's sole shareholder.[9] The organization is structured into eight corporate units (Corporate Development; Corporate Communications; Legal Affairs and Insurance; Compliance and Integrity; Auditing; Evaluation; Corporate Security; Academy for International Cooperation (AIZ)) and ten departments (Commissioning Parties and Business Development; Sectoral Development; Sector and Global Programmes; Africa; Asia, Latin America, Caribbean; Europe, Mediterranean, Central Asia; International Services; Human Resources).[10]

GIZ holds a 49% share in sequa gGmbH, the implementing partner of the German business community, in line with the company's objective to foster private sector development and cooperate closely with business chambers and associations abroad. Moreover, GIZ is a member of the European Network of Implementing Development Agencies (EUNIDA), which was co-founded by GTZ in 2000.[11]

Activities

Staff members of GIZ and KfW together with local partners visit a project at a school in Gitega, Burundi

GIZ's considers capacity development to be its core competence.[12] The company's services are grouped into eight so-called "product areas" (as of January 2017):

  1. Methods:[13]
    1. Advisory services: management of complex projects and programs (Capacity WORKS); development partnerships with the private sector; social impact assessment;
    2. International competency development: e-learning, e-coaching, and e-collaboration; Leadership Development Workshop; key qualifications for international cooperation; strengthening training in partner countries (capacity to build capacity); training specialists and managers from partner organisations;
    3. Networking, dialogue and moderation: network management; alumni networks without borders; twinning (EU administration partnerships); stakeholder dialogues; competition management; knowledge sharing;
    4. Management and logistics: grants; fund management; public procurement; knowledge-based services; evaluation; results-based monitoring; Systemic Quality Improvement (SQI);
  2. Rural Development:[14]
    1. Agricultural policy and food: agricultural policy; rural development; land management; food and nutrition security/right to food;
    2. Agricultural trade, agricultural economy, standards: standards and food safety; agricultural trade; value chains; fisheries, aquaculture, and coastal zones; local and regional development;
    3. Agricultural production and resource use: sustainable use of natural resources and production systems in agriculture; agricultural research, innovations, education and extension; water and agriculture; climate change and agriculture; biological diversity;
  3. Sustainable Infrastructure:[15]
    1. Water: in the field of water, sub-topics include sustainable sanitation and water supply, water policy, water resources management, water and the nexus between water and agriculture;
    2. Energy: basic energy supply services (rural electrification, solar lanterns, etc.), renewable energy; energy efficiency; international energy policy;
    3. Transport and infrastructure: transport policy and infrastructure management; sustainable urban mobility;
  4. Security, Reconstruction and Peace:[16]
    1. Emergency aid and disaster risk management: disaster risk management; food security in the context of conflicts and disasters; reconstruction for crisis prevention;
    2. Peace and security: security sector reform; crisis prevention and peacebuilding;
  5. Social development:[17]
    1. Health: health promotion; improving sexual and reproductive health; strengthening health systems; HIV and health;
    2. Education: quality education for a better future; training and capacity building for teachers;
    3. Social protection: social health protection; strategies to implement social justice;
  6. Governance and Democracy:[18]
    1. Democracy and the rule of law: democracy promotion; good governance, gender; corruption prevention; human rights; law and justice; promoting citizen involvement;
    2. Decentralization and urban development: decentralisation; urban and municipal development;
    3. Public finance and administration: Public finance reform; public administration; strengthening good governance in the extractive sector (e.g. EITI);
  7. Environment and climate change:[19]
    1. Climate change: climate change (implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change); integrated ozone and climate protection;
    2. Natural resource management: forest policy and sustainable forest management; combating desertification (e.g. based on the UN Convention to Combat Desertification); biological diversity (implementation of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity);
    3. Urban and industrial environmental management: waste and recycling management; resource efficient economy; sustainable tourism;
    4. Environmental policy: environmental policy; environmental finance; regional environmental cooperation; green economy;
  8. Economic development and employment:[20]
    1. Labor market and TVET: labour-market oriented TVET systems; skills development for secure livelihoods; promoting sustainable employment and employment policies (including occupational safety and health, labor rights, unionisation, etc.);
    2. Financial system development: microfinance; rural finance, financing agriculture and SMEs; insurance; financial sector stability and capital market development;
    3. Private sector: private sector development; supporting value chains; local and regional economic development; shaping migration;
    4. Economic policy: economic policy advice for sustainable economic development; trade; quality infrastructure and consumer protection; green economy; regional economic integration;

GIZ has been involved in the creation of various networks, associations and portals, and may carry out or support secretariat functions for some of these for a limited period of time. Examples of such networks and associations that have had some GIZ involvement include:

Other global agendas supported by GIZ include South-South cooperation, i.e. bilateral cooperation between developing countries and emerging economies, and triangular cooperation between developing countries as beneficiaries, emerging economies as "new donors" and traditional donors, e.g. Germany, as contributors of expertise.

GIZ works closely with the German government-owned development bank KfW, which is based in Frankfurt. While GIZ implements those projects on behalf of the BMZ that belong to "technical cooperation", i.e. capacity development, the KfW implements those BMZ projects belonging to "financial cooperation".[22]

GIZ is currently represented in the SuRe® Stakeholder Council.[23] SuRe® – The Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure is a global voluntary standard which integrates key criteria of sustainability and resilience into infrastructure development and upgrade. SuRe® is developed by GIB Foundation and Natixis as part of a multi-stakeholder process and will be compliant with ISEAL guidelines.[24]

Finally, GIZ also hosts the Eschborn Dialogue, a two-day event that offers international experts a forum to exchange knowledge and experiences on a given topic in international cooperation (e.g. "World in motion: mobility, migration, digital change" in 2014 or "Raw materials and resources: growth, values, competition" in 2013). The Eschborn Dialogue has been organized each year since 1988.[25]

Clients

GIZ Office in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

GIZ mainly operates on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). At the national level, GIZ, however, is also commissioned by other government departments, e.g. the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU), or the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi),[26] as well as by German states and municipalities.[27] At the international level, GIZ cooperates with the European Union,[28] UN agencies, other international institutions such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFFATM),[29] and foreign governments.[30] The cooperation with private enterprises is an emerging field, promoted under the name of sustainable development. The GIZ is set up with International Services (IS) and the Public Private Partnership (PPP)[31] in this area.

See also

Notes

  1. According to company policy, the German title of the organization is never officially translated into any other language in the company's publications or websites.

References

  1. giz. "Profile".
  2. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org//sites/0079f636-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/5e331623-en&_csp_=b14d4f60505d057b456dd1730d8fcea3&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=chapter#
  3. giz. "Products and expertise".
  4. BMZ (December 16th, 2010). "Merger of public development agencies". Retrieved September 15th 2013. Archived 15 September 2013 at Archive.today
  5. "CIM's profile on the CIM website". Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  6. giz. "Organisation".
  7. giz. "Management Board".
  8. giz. "Official bodies".
  9. giz. "Shareholder".
  10. "Organisation chart (GIZ website)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  11. giz. "Stakeholdings".
  12. giz. "Core competence".
  13. giz. "Methods".
  14. giz. "Rural development".
  15. giz. "Sustainable infrastructure".
  16. giz. "Security, reconstruction and peace".
  17. giz. "Social development".
  18. giz. "Governance and democracy".
  19. giz. "Environment and climate change".
  20. giz. "Economic development and employment".
  21. "Products and services: Sustainable infrastructure - Advisory service (sustainable sanitation)" (PDF). Website of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  22. BMZ, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. "The direct approach to the partner".
  23. "SuRe® Stakeholder Council - Global Infrastructure Basel". www.gib-foundation.org.
  24. "Nachhaltigesinvestment 2016".
  25. "Eschborn Dialogue". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  26. giz. "German Government".
  27. "German states and municipalities". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  28. giz. "European Union".
  29. giz. "International institutions".
  30. giz. "Governments worldwide".
  31. "Development Partnerships with the Private Sector (PPP)". Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. 25 October 2010. Archived from the original on 16 August 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.

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