Aims of German development policy

The German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community, with Germany making effective and high-profile contributions. Germany has pledged to take an active part in realising the goals set out in the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The interdepartmental Program of Action 2015 is the German government’s principal instrument for implementing this pledge. Aids Education in Africa Enlarge image Aids Education in Africa (© picture-alliance/ dpa)
In the Program of Action 2015 the German government sets out the form its contribution will take within the overarching international framework for action, and how this is to be further developed. It will be guided in this by four guiding principles:

Reducing poverty worldwide

Protecting the natural environment

Building peace and realising democracy

Promoting equitable forms of globalisation

Since it is in Africa that the greatest efforts are required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, Germany’s engagement in Africa will be particularly strong. But other regions too will be able to count on Germany as a reliable partner. The German government intends to raise the effectiveness of German development policy in keeping with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, through a clear international division of labour and good coordination with other donors.

Germany is concentrating cooperation on some 60 partner countries worldwide. Here are soome exemplary examples of German commitment to the African continent.

GTZ project in Ethiopia

Germany supports new partnerships for rural development

German ministers have called for new partnerships between policymakers, the business community, academia, and civil society to meet the challenges of rural development and global food security together. To this end, the German Government will commit 700 million Euro annually. A new public-private partnership in Ethiopia is an example of one such project being implemented under this new strategy.

Germany supports new partnerships for rural development

Ghanaian woman entrepreneur

Germany's KfW disperses first microfinance funds in sub-Saharan Africa

Germany's development bank has dispersed its first loans totalling over 10 million Euro to microfinance banks in Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania. Germany will ultimately contribute 30 million Euro to the regional fund, the first to offer a range of financing tools to microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Microfinance funds for sub-Saharan Africa

Signing of agreement for support to Kenya's energy infrastructure

Germany commits 39 million Euro to power infrastructure in Kenya

During a visit to Kenya by Dr. Ulrich Schroeder, CEO of KfW Bankengruppe, an agreement was signed to expand the country's energy infrastructure. Dr. Schroeder, along with the German Ambassador in Nairobi, also met the Minister of Energy, Honourable Kiraitu Murungi.

Support for energy expansion in Kenya

Signing ceremony

German Development Assistance to Namibia to reach 127 Million Euro

Germany will provide a total of 127 million Euro of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Namibia over the two-year period 2011-12. An approximate 40 percent of that total will consist of concessional loans (mainly for the Lower Orange River Hydro Power Plant Project). The balance, 60 percent, will be made up for by grants in the form of financial or technical cooperation.

German ODA to Namibia

Niebel, Motlanthe and Westerwelle an the balcony of the Union Building in Pretoria

Germany bolsters support for an environmentally-friendly South Africa

The German Ambassador to South Africa, Dieter W. Haller and South African Finance Minister Pravhin Gordhan signed a 100 million Euro framework agreement on April 5, 2011 in support of development cooperation measures of the South African Government.

Germany bolsters support for an environmentally-friendly South Africa

Development Cooperation in Africa

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

The GIZ is responsible for the implementation of the development policy projects and programs of the German government. It was formed in late 2010, from the merger of the German development agencies GTZ (German Technical Cooperation), DED (German Development Service) and InWEnt (Capacity Building International).

GIZ website

The four guiding principles of German development policy

An AIDS orphan claps hands as she plays

Germany’s guiding vision  is one of globally sustainable development expressing itself in economic efficiency, social justice, ecological sustainability and political stability. Germany wants to reduce poverty worldwide, to protect the natural environment, to build peace and realise democracy and to promote equitable forms of globalisation.

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