Stories on peace and security

An interview with the Chair of the GIZ Management Board on the mid-term review of the 2030 Agenda. Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel speaks about the responsibility of the Global North, the interlinkages between environmental, economic and social factors, and points out that solidarity is an intrinsic part of GIZ staff’s make-up.

Omar Alkadamani fled to Germany from Syria as a child. He knows exactly how important the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 ‘Quality education’ is – for him personally and for every country that strives for a better future.

The human right to water has existed since 2010. For a considerable proportion of the global population, however, this right is yet to be fulfilled. We explain why.

Lviv, revisited: In 2020, akzente spoke with its mayor Andriy Sadovyi for the first time. Since the Russian invasion, his world is a different one.

Five years ago, akzente interviewed women elected to Jordan’s regional councils. Now we’re back in Jordan to visit them again.

David Miliband is President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an NGO devoted to providing lifesaving aid in serious crises. In this interview with akzente, the former British Foreign Secretary talks about humanitarian hotspots, the global refugee situation and why internally displaced people tend to be overlooked.

Suzan Aref has dedicated her life to protecting and supporting women in Iraq. We turn the spotlight on her life and work.

The German Federal Foreign Office has introduced a new feminist foreign policy. Brazilian Renata Giannini from the Unidas Women’s Network is an expert on the topic; in akzente, she gives insights into her work and explains what this means and how it could or should influence German-Latin American relations. 

All over the world, women face disadvantages. Feminist development policy aims to address the causes of this inequality.

Pakistani households have been living next to Afghan refugee families in the north of Pakistan for decades, without either side mixing with the other. By providing safe spaces to meet, for women in particular, GIZ is bringing both sets of neighbours together.

When Russia launched its war of aggression on Ukraine, GIZ was able to provide rapid and effective assistance because of our presence throughout the country. Since then, we have been combining rapid assistance with reconstruction and advice on reforms. By Daniel Busche, GIZ Country Director in Ukraine

Since fleeing to Germany, the Ukrainian psychiatrist and psychotherapist Valentyna Mazhbits has been working at the Berlin Charité for the Solomiya Hospital Partnership project to support psychiatric hospitals in her homeland (Solomiya means ‘peace’ in Ukrainian).