Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel

GIZ Management Board Chair Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel on his inner compass, issues close to his heart and the importance of international cooperation

What motivates you to work for GIZ?

I want to help make the world a fairer and safer place. I’ve been concerned with the issues of solidarity and justice since my school days. At the time, I was actually planning to go to Africa and help shape change there. Instead, I studied political science and history and went into politics. 

However, thoughts of international cooperation never completely left me. Even when I was a member of the Hessian State Parliament, I acted as the SPD’s spokesperson on development policy for many years. The driving force behind this was and is a socio-political one – to create a world worth living in for everyone – but also a value-oriented one – to enable everyone to live a dignified life. In the end, it’s about the individual and about real opportunities to shape, change and participate. Making a contribution to this motivates me anew every day. 

Which topics are particularly close to your heart?

Finding solutions to the complex challenges of our time. This is all about interrelationships: Is climate protection more important than peace, is economic progress more important than stability? Certainly not. Looking at things in isolation will not get us anywhere in this rapidly changing world. 

I am also particularly concerned with the criticism of international cooperation. I can understand when people want to know more precisely where tax money goes. I also think it is legitimate to ask sceptically why we invest money in other parts of the world when bridges are collapsing in Germany. But there are good reasons for our commitment, and we need to communicate these more proactively and better. International cooperation is indispensable right now and is in our own best interests.

Why is international cooperation indispensable?

Firstly, because global crises require working in partnership. Nobody can solve challenges such as water scarcity, the loss of biodiversity or climate change alone. Not even big players like the USA or China. It is only possible if we work together. And, secondly, because our prosperity depends on effective globalisation and open markets. Germany is one of the world’s largest trading nations. We earn every second euro from exports; around one in four jobs depends on them. This makes it imperative to act in partnerships. 

In times of upheaval such as these, when power blocs are shifting rapidly, it’s more important than ever to maintain and cultivate relationships based on partnership. A functioning partnership is the strongest currency for our creative power, and international cooperation is an important instrument for achieving this. Not the only one, but an important one. Over the years, we have established good and trusting relationships all over the world, which we can and should make use of – for the well-being of our countries of assignment, but also for ourselves. In this way, values and interests can complement each other in a meaningful way and create real added value for Germany.