Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit owned by Germany
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (English: German Agency for International Cooperation GmbH), often simply shortened to GIZ, is the main German development agency. It is headquartered in Bonn and Eschborn and provides services in the field of international development cooperation and international education work. The organization's self-declared goal is to deliver effective solutions that offer people better prospects and sustainably improve their living conditions.GIZ's main commissioning party is Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Other commissioners include European Union institutions, the United Nations, the private sector, and governments of other countries. In its projects GIZ works with partners in national governments, actors from the private sector, civil society and research institutions. 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.GIZ was established on 1 January 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). The merger was overseen by Dirk Niebel, federal development minister from 2009 to 2013. His predecessor had previously tried and failed to merge the DED with the KfW. GIZ is one of the world's largest development agencies, with a business volume in excess of €3.1 billion in 2019 as well as 22,199 employees spread over more than 120 countries.Organisation
GIZ's headquarters are located in Bonn and Eschborn. It also has an office in Berlin and at 16 other locations across Germany. Outside Germany, the company has a representation in Brussels and operates 90 offices around the world.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. Additionally, GIZ also has a board of trustees and a Private Sector Advisory Board. GIZ's management board consists of two managing directors, namely Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel (Chairperson) and Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven.Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, a former Social Democrat local politician, was previously one of three managing directors. Prior to him, the inaugural chairperson was Tanja Gönner, a former state-level minister of the Christian Democrats, who left politics during protests against the Stuttgart 21 train station project. She came to GIZ without prior experience in international development. She left GIZ in November 2022 to lead the German industry lobby BDI.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. 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).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.