Stories on economy and employment

In the fertile valley of the Senegal River farmers grow rice on vast swathes of land. The foodstuff is part of every meal in the West African country of Senegal. While farmers use traditional methods and tools, they also rely on digital tools to compete in the market.

Ethiopia, a large landlocked country in the Horn of Africa, is a key partner country in German development cooperation. The GIZ country office in the capital, Addis Ababa, is headed by Peter Palesch. akzente spent a day with the experienced country director, who manages to keep calm even when the going gets tough.

‘Together we can achieve more’ is a principle that is especially relevant in international cooperation. The global challenges and complexity of the issues at stake are too vast to be tackled by one organisation alone. Donors are therefore bundling their approaches more and more. Cofinancing arrangements involving GIZ are on the rise, and cooperation is becoming increasingly important in implementation.

GIZ has undergone massive changes and evolved beyond recognition since the merger of GTZ, InWEnt and DED in 2011. It has grown in size and become more diverse.

Svenja Schulze is new to the German Development Ministry but not to Government. Her priorities are climate, poverty, gender, health and crisis prevention. In an interview, she discusses German development policy in flux.

In India, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is empowering women founders and allowing them to act independently as entrepreneurs. As a result, they are becoming role models. Two women describe this inspiring journey.

Vaccines need to be kept cold for them to be effective. A pilot project in Malawi is demonstrating how that can work using digital tools and solar power even in remote african villages.

Water is a precious resource in Central Asia. akzente visits Uzbekistan to see how it can be distributed sustainably and fairly – and how this enhances stability in the region in times of climate change.

Why drones are joining chickens and bees in boosting biodiversity. A visit to the Núñez family farm in the Dominican Republic.

In northern Mali, women smallholders are providing good and healthy food. Thanks to new vegetable varieties, goat farming and improved methods of growing rice, they are enhancing not only their income, but also their standing in the community.

To find out more about conserving historical sites and developing craft skills, we visited a building site in the World Heritage town of Berat in Albania.

Ethiopia’s textile industry is booming. Growing numbers of people are set to benefit from the new jobs it is creating.