Corporate Strategy 2020: what we have achieved

Our objective:

We understand political requirements and work together to translate them quickly and visibly into effective solutions.

Results:

GIZ is able to respond and to implement measures. We were able to demonstrate both of these abilities not least within the scope of BMZ’s Emergency COVID-19 Support Programme for poorer countries. With the help of a company-wide COVID-19 Task Force, we have been able to quickly identify the changed needs of our commissioning parties and act accordingly. We have also stepped up and deepened cooperation with new strategic partners and actors. One example was the Team Europe response to the pandemic, encompassing all EU institutions, the member states, their implementing organisations – including GIZ – and various development banks. To allow us to respond with maximum efficiency to the demands of our partners, structures and processes for cooperation and partnership management were also reinforced.

Our objective:

We strengthen our market position with data-driven and technology-based services.

Results:

Digital transformation brings GIZ opportunities as a service provider in the field of international cooperation. So that GIZ can put its business development on a sound footing for the future, we intend to strengthen our capacities in the field of data and technology, and to mainstream these to a greater extent in the range of services we offer. One of our four focus projects concentrates on this area of action. In 2020, the spotlight was on networking relevant actors. Strategic partnerships involving various departments within GIZ began work on a Data Strategy. Prototypes for data-based solutions were also analysed to identify demand and explore their suitability for scaling up. At the same time, communication structures were put in place within the company, reinforcing our shared understanding of this issue across the board.

Our objective:

We mobilise internal and external expertise more rapidly and manage it more effectively.

Results:

GIZ works in a large number of very diverse countries. In future, we will need even more flexible assignment management that will allow us to build expertise rapidly and transfer it to where it is needed. The first step in 2020 was to produce a vision for reforming practical assignment, human resources and secondment within the scope of a focus project. Other flexible assignment types going beyond a long-term expert contract were examined, systematically recorded and honed. A toolbox now brings together the various contractual models, while a Digital Literacy & Digital Pioneers action plan was also implemented in 2020. It ensures that staff can continuously enhance their digital skills, which are indispensable for today’s working world.

Our objectives:

We digitalise our internal business processes, thereby making them more efficient. We create demand-based implementation structures that enable services to be delivered quickly and efficiently across all organisational units.

Results:

GIZ would like to redesign its business processes to make them not only more user-friendly, but also transparent and sustainable. One focus project is working specifically on this. In 2020, we put in place the foundations for a digitalised process management system. Specifically, we have begun work on an adaptable map of all GIZ business processes and paved the way for the introduction of appropriate software. The aim is to describe processes from end to end so that they can be streamlined and digitalised wherever possible. We have also developed prototypes for new management models and innovative implementation structures across organisational units.