Regional Office Germany-South

GIZ’s Regional Office Germany-South in Munich/Feldafing works with institutional partners in the German states and implements programmes and projects for a wide range of commissioning parties and funding providers, including federal ministries, international organisations such as the European Union (EU) and state governments. It assists Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria with the implementation of their projects and programmes in the field of international cooperation and develops new models of partnership between state-level institutions, federal government programmes and the donor community’s international initiatives.

This approach, in turn, enables partner countries engaged in international cooperation with Germany to gain access to relevant organisations, experts and institutional stakeholders from politics, public administration, business, academia and civil society across the various German states. Drawing on their technical and administrative expertise, they provide advice and support to the German Government’s bilateral or global programmes and to international initiatives, making a major contribution to their successful implementation.

Topics and areas of activity

The Regional Office Germany-South works in the following priority areas:

  • Climate: Addressing Climate change issues through mitigation and adaptation are important focal topics of German development cooperation and international cooperation. To achieve sustainable goals in the partner countries, the Regional Office Germany-South utilizes its climate-specific networks in Germany and Europe, among others, in the following thematic fields:
    • Climate policy for climate protection and adaptation
    • Development, implementation and updating of Nationally Determined Contributions  (NDC) and National Allocation Plans (NAP)
    • Environmental protection, biodiversity and ecosystem services
    • Climate-friendly development (land use, digitalization, energy supply and use, mobility, urban development, municipal services, etc.)
  • Rural development: In order to promote an exchange of experience between practitioners and policy makers from Germany and the Federal Government’s development partner countries, the Regional Office Germany-South identifies German and European institutions with rural development expertise and draws on their experience for the benefit of local projects. Topics range from digitalization in rural areas and the promotion of cooperatives and associations up to the establishment and fostering of international technology and business partnerships, e.g. in the biomass sector.
  • Agriculture: The Regional Office Germany-South has broad networks in the agricultural sector. By working together with practitioners, scientists, business partners and decision-makers from politics and the private sector, it offers stakeholders from partner countries specific access to German and European expertise.
    The topical areas here include: 
    • Agricultural education and training 
    • Digitalization in the agricultural sector 
    • Targeted analysis and promotion of supply chains 
    • Organic agriculture 
    • Processing and marketing as well as export promotion of agricultural products
    • Matchmaking in the context of trade fair visits or sales missions.

In all thematic fields a variety of exchange formats are offered, among others:

  • Delegation trips, trade fair visits, exposure seminars 
  • Training on site, in a virtual form or at the Feldafing conference and training venue 
  • Specific qualification measures  

In addition, the Regional Office works on specific country projects on behalf of the Southern German states, including an energy initiative in Senegal which aims to tackle the causes of migration (State Chancellery of Bavaria) and an income generation and waste management project for refugees in Iraq (State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg).

Commissioning parties and partners

The Regional Office Germany-South works for various commissioning parties and funding providers. In addition to receiving grants from the German states, it mainly implements programmes and projects commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

At project level, the Regional Office cooperates with the State Chancellery of Bavaria, the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg and various ministries and public authorities in the Southern German states, including the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Baden-Württemberg’s Ministry for Science, state-level institutions, municipalities, universities and specialised agencies. Key partner institutions include Baden-Württemberg’s Climate Protection and Energy Agency (KEA), the Energy and Environmental Centre (EZA) in the Allgäu, the University of Hohenheim’s Gardening School, the Technical University of Munich, the Bavarian Farmers’ Association’s Training Centre and small and medium-sized enterprises in Southern Germany.

Additional information