Stories on social development

I’m Natalie Naeser. I work for GIZ in Niger, where I manage the Sahel Resilience Strengthening project.

In the run-up to the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), Benjamin Ilabaca from Easter Island explains why it is crucial that everyone cooperates on protecting the oceans. Ilabaca is a legal advisor on indigenous rights and sustainable development to the Municipality of Rapa Nui.

Kaleab Getaneh Zewelde is the co-founder and CEO of Mela for Her. The Ethiopian company for reusable menstrual products not only stands for sustainable goods with a social impact, it also offers attractive employment opportunities for women.

Laura Díaz is one of 105 women park rangers in Costa Rica’s conservation areas. Women are still outnumbered as rangers. Yet Costa Rica is employing more and more women rangers in biodiversity protection and climate action.

GIZ is working on developing and using fair artificial intelligence with partner countries. Petra Zimmermann-Steinhart and Bernd Lakemeier explain what that looks like and how it is helping hundreds of millions of people in Africa and Asia.

Hildegard Bentele, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Development, talks about learning from crises, the EU’s place in the current geopolitical rivalry and what GIZ offers in international cooperation.

How a blind lawyer from Ethiopia ended up at GIZ in Bonn and why he feels very much at home there.

Germany will be hosting the third Global Disability Summit on the inclusion of persons with disabilities. akzente answers the most important questions on the summit.

Sara Nuru rose to fame as a winner of Germany’s Next Top Model. She is now a successful entrepreneur, supporting women in Ethiopia. In 2018, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) appointed Sara Nuru as an ambassador for fair trade. In this interview for akzente, she reports on how her own association, nuruWomen, is supporting economic independence for women.

Albania will take centre stage as the official host country at the ITB 2025 travel trade show in Berlin. Located in the Western Balkans, Albania has so much to offer visitors. GIZ is supporting a number of local partners to ensure that the upsurge in tourism also benefits rural areas. A visit to the cultural and architectural heart of northern Albania.

How a barracks in Kosovo became an attractive centre for business and training: we visit the Innovation and Training Park (ITP) Prizren. With GIZ support, it has become one of the most important hubs for innovation in the Western Balkans.

Kosovo’s Government is focusing on innovation and digitalisation in government and the economy. In the interview, Lulëzon Jagxhiu, advisor to Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti, discusses the role played by the Innovation and Training Park in Prizren. The transformation of the former Bundeswehr military camp into a civilian economic and educational centre is a German-Kosovar initiative.