Getting involved around the world

Development worker goes to Mozambique

Bonn/Eschborn. On 10 October, Uta Stippel will embark on a two-year assignment as a development worker in Sofala Province, Mozambique. Her goal: ‘Together with my local colleagues, I would like to improve teaching methods and the instructional design of teacher training.’ Stippel, who comes from Münster, will be working in Mozambique on behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH at two teacher training centres, and will advise education experts there on how to teach young children. Stippel studied special needs education in Cologne, and most recently worked as a teacher at a special needs school in Frechen. She received training for her new role at the Academy for International Cooperation in Bad Honnef. Stippel, 31, is the 17,000th development worker to be seconded abroad by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). ‘Becoming a development worker gives me the opportunity to work directly with the partner organisations at grassroots level,’ she says.

The first development workers were seconded to partner countries by the German Development Service (now GIZ) in 1964, and ever since they have provided their expertise at local level to associations, vocational schools and health centres, to name just a few examples. Development worker assignments are intended for people who have completed their training and education, have several years of professional experience and would like to put their skills to good use in a foreign country for at least two years. ‘After their stint as a development worker, they return to their country of origin. Many of them remain actively involved in development-policy or social issues after they return,’ says Klaus-Dieter Seidel, Director of GIZ’s Development Service. All EU citizens and Swiss nationals are eligible for development worker assignments.

GIZ is a federal enterprise with operations around the globe. It supports the German Government in the fields of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education. GIZ supports people and societies in shaping their own futures and improving their living conditions.