Engaging in dialogue,
learning from one another

We work to shape a future worth living around the world – that is our vision. It is a vision we can only come closer to achieving in concert with a variety of actors. As a sustainable company, it is hugely important for us to involve different interest groups and to maintain a regular dialogue with them. We value their opinion – because of our size and global orientation, but also because of our responsibility as a federal enterprise; we consider it crucial to learn from each other and with each other. That helps to identify risks, prevent mistakes and build trust, and strengthens each in turn. This is why we are in contact with numerous stakeholders who influence our objectives, work methods and business operations. We have established individual forms of dialogue for the various stakeholder groups.

Pooling our strengths

Nobody can solve the complex challenges facing our world alone. We can only achieve maximum impact if different stakeholders come together and pool their strengths. These kinds of partnerships are a relevant way to keep pace with developments, look at issues from different perspectives, capitalise on opportunities and ultimately, more than anything, deliver better and sustainable development results.

Ensuring continuous dialogue

Since 2016, we have held a Stakeholder Dialogue to identify what policy-makers, the private sector, the academic and scientific community, and civil society need and expect from us as regards sustainability management and to take on board any criticism of our work. The findings of this Stakeholder Dialogue are essential to continually developing our Sustainability Programme and Environmental Programme. Our third GIZ Stakeholder Day on Sustainability will take place in mid-2020.

We also use various formats to exchange ideas with different stakeholder groups, for instance:

• With commissioning parties: GIZ conducts surveys among representatives of German federal ministries, the EU and selected international donors every three years to help us continuously improve our work and meet with the approval of our commissioning parties.
   
• With partners: We cultivate cooperation arrangements with non-governmental organisations, companies, associations, foundations, other bilateral implementing organisations, multilateral institutions and stakeholders from the world of academia and research. Our work is only successful because we cooperate with diverse partners in the countries in which we operate. Developing and cultivating partnerships is an issue that affects all areas at GIZ and is consolidated by central partnership managers. We use a range of dialogue formats, such as participation in GIZ’s official bodies, joint events, internal workshops and high-level meetings.
   
• With staff: We carry out a survey among our staff and development workers every three years to find out what is important to them, whether they are satisfied with their day-to-day work and where change might be needed. Around 60 per cent of GIZ’s workforce participated in the last survey, which was conducted in 2019.

We incorporate the insights that we gain from these different formats and encounters with our stakeholders into our strategy and our day-to-day work – ensuring that we remain a company that learns, a company that is not content to stand still.

Stakeholder Dialogue
Learn about our HR strategy here.