What we achieved in 2021
The expectations and demands on our work have grown. The Corporate Strategy we adopted in 2020 is helping us to meet these demands as far as possible. It embraces four areas of action, each with its own objectives. During the second year of the strategy cycle, we were able to attain many of these objectives, as we did in the previous year. Here are some of the highlights achieved in 2021.
Area of actionEffectiveness
Our objective:
We understand political requirements and work together to translate them quickly and visibly into effective solutions.
Results:
GIZ is committed to achieving results with its work and to communicating these results. Last year, our reporting system was put on a new footing and expanded to cover new areas. Standard indicators, introduced on 1 January 2022, have replaced the aggregated reporting on results used in previous years. The main groundwork, particularly the identification of indicators, was performed in 2021 in close consultation with KfW and BMZ. Positive mention should also be made of the fact that GIZ’s own method of recording its carbon footprint was classed as ‘good’ by external consultants. They praised the value of the tool per se as well as GIZ’s overall engagement in the field of sustainability and climate neutrality.
Area of actionBusiness
development
Our objective:
We strengthen our market position with data-driven and technology-based services.
Results:
Data and digital technology play a vital role in GIZ’s success. Our aim is to consistently enhance our performance in this field so that we can offer partners and stakeholders new digital solutions. We took an important step in this direction in 2021, investigating the options for developing new services in the field of digital transformation. So that we can support projects in future in integrating data into planning and implementation, a Data Service Centre was established. It provides internal services, helping projects use and gather quantitative data. GIZ made good progress in this area of action in 2021, moving closer to its goal of operating in a manner that is underpinned to a greater extent by data and evidence.
Area of actionExpertise
and alliances
Our objective:
We mobilise internal and external expertise more rapidly and manage it more effectively.
Results:
GIZ must respond swiftly if it is to hold its own in our rapidly changing world, meaning that we need the right expertise in the right place at the right time. And this will only be possible with forward-looking HR planning, flexible assignment models and intelligent partnerships to deliver services. We continue to work steadily on all three aspects. In 2021 we made progress in a number of areas, for instance in defining career paths and target profiles for key positions, including country directors. We are therefore gearing our HR development more closely to the needs of the company. We have also taken steps to ensure a better gender balance at the executive level. And we have pooled knowledge on the preparation, design and implementation of projects in a digital format so as to be able to provide staff with information more rapidly. We have made progress on many fronts and will be continuing the process in 2022.
Area of actionValue
for money
Our objective:
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 is streamlining and digitalising its core processes in an effort to be able to work more efficiently and effectively. This is done primarily by devising and describing all processes end to end, making them faster, more straightforward and also more audit-proof. Some important interim goals were achieved in 2021. For priority processes, such as procurement and selected HR and finance processes, we have appointed staff to be responsible for the relevant process. At the same time, we produced more than 200 outlines for the most important company-wide processes, as well as developing a method for assessing these. This will allow GIZ to continuously review all of its business processes in future, and improve them where necessary. These outlines have been passed on to the S4GIZ project, where they will be put on a digital footing, making them even more efficient.
S4GIZ: Driving digitalisation forward
S4GIZ is one of the most important strategic projects driving digital change at GIZ. It aims to use SAP S/4HANA, which has become the industry standard, to handle GIZ’s worldwide business processes. They should then follow one agreed pattern, end to end, with data security ensured. This project was first launched in 2020. In 2021, it began to describe and develop standard processes and is now producing an SAP system that is to be used at all GIZ locations.
Digital Transformation: Value-based data handling
The advance of digitalisation is changing development cooperation. The raw material in this new era is data. It offers huge potential for new findings and for presenting results, but equally it entails new challenges in the fields of data privacy, protection and security, for example. In 2021, we therefore adopted the GIZ Strategic Data Management Framework, which provides the company with a compass for future data-related decisions. What sets GIZ apart is the fact that it uses data for the common good as well as prioritising both self-determination with regard to the use of information and the protection of sensitive data.
As a company we base our actions on the values set out in the German Basic Law and on the values of the European Union, and then work for people-centred digital change, where basic individual rights take centre stage. We embrace these principles in our own work, as well as bringing our perspectives to international bodies and forums.
Information on the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be found on this page:
