Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Agency for International Cooperation) or GIZ is an international enterprise founded in 1975 by Erhard Eppler and owned by the German Federal Government, operating in many fields across more than 130 countries. It primarily works for public-sector organizations and is headquartered in Eschborn, Germany. It was formerly known as Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).

On January 1, 2011 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH merged with three other German organisations: the German Development Service (Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst, DED), the German Technical Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, GTZ), and International Training and Capacity-Building (Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung GmbH, InWEnt).

Clients

The GIZ mainly operates on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Further clients are other departments of the government, international donors like the European Union, World Bank or the United Nations, partner countries and the private sector. The cooperation with private enterprises is an emerging field in the domain of sustainable development promotion. The GIZ is set up with International Services (IS) and the Public Private Partnership (PPP)^[1] in this area.

Facts and Figures

With a total turnover of €1,057 million in 2007, some €860 million came from projects and programmes for public clients, such as the BMZ and other federal ministries. Some 81.3 percent of GIZ's turnover was under contracts from the German Federal Government. The GIZ made 18.7 percent (€197 million) in 2007 from contracts from other clients such as financing institutions or private sector companies. It has about 13,000 employees working in more than 130 countries, including about 1,700 at its head office in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main and Bonn.^[2]

Fields of activity

The GIZ provides services in the following areas of sustainable development:^[3]

• Economic Development and Employment (including services such as vocational training, economic policy advice, financial systems development or private sector promotion)
• Government, Democracy and Poverty Reduction (including services and working fields such as development-oriented emergency aid, peace building and crisis prevention, governance, sustainable urban development or structural poverty reduction)
• Education, Health and Social Security (including working fields such as education, development-oriented drug control, promotion of children and young people or HIV/AIDS prevention)
• Environment and Infrastructure (including activities such as waste, energy and water management, natural resource management, transport and mobility, implementing international environmental regimes or environmental policy, climate change-related capacity building^[4])
• Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (including services such as coastal zone management, land management, market-oriented farming and food systems, policy advice on agriculture and rural development or securing livelihoods in marginal rural areas)

GIZ works on a public-benefit basis. All surpluses generated are channeled back into its own international cooperation projects for sustainable development.

See also

• List of development aid agencies
• Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
• Capacity building
• Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21)
• BIOPAT

References

1. ^ "Development Partnerships with the Private Sector (PPP)". Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. 25 October 2010. http://www.gtz.de/en/unternehmen/2362.htm. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 
2. ^ "Impressum" (in German). Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. http://www.giz.de/de/meta/impressum.html. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 
3. ^ "Range of services". Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. 6 January 2011. http://www.gtz.de/en/leistungsangebote/1868.htm. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 
4. ^ "Low Carbon Leadership Network: Emission Trading Schemes – European and Asian Perspectives of Cooperation". China Carbon Forum / 中国碳论坛. 2 June 2011=. http://www.chinacarbon.info/?p=190. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 

External links

• GIZ's official site (German)
• GIZ's official site (English)