Inclusion:
one GIZ for all

Inclusion is an integral part of GIZ’s values, both in our work in partner countries and within our company. Here we provide an insight into the strategies and measures we are adopting in Germany and around the world to promote this topic.

One in every six people worldwide lives with a disability – and the number is rising. This is a result of the growing global population and life expectancy, but also the increase in chronic illness.

Approximately 1.3 billion
people live with a disability. This is equivalent to around 16 per cent of the world’s population.

Very few people are born with a disability. Often, a disability will only develop later on in life as a result of accidents, illnesses or other strokes of fate. The majority of them are invisible and remain hidden. One reason for this is that people with disabilities still face discrimination. They have greater difficulty finding work, face inequality with regard to health care and struggle with inaccessible infrastructure on a daily basis.

"Leave no one behind" is the motto of the Sustainable Development Goals, and studies consistently show that this approach makes sense from both a social and an economic perspective. Diverse teams and groups work better and more innovatively than homogeneous ones because the mix of viewpoints and skill sets is more conducive to finding new solutions. Inclusion is therefore an important prerequisite for sustainable development.

Approximately 1.3 billion
people live with a disability. This is equivalent to around 16 per cent of the world’s population.
Inclusion is a journey
Bernd Schramm, Head of GIZ’s Global Programme on Inclusion, explains why ensuring equal participation is important, especially in the context of international cooperation:
More information

3 questions for Lukas Groß

Profile picture of Lukas Groß.

"Inclusion is a core value for GIZ."

Lukas Groß

is GIZ’s Inclusion Officer. In this interview, he explains why inclusion is so important for the company’s credibility.

Photo: © private

Why is inclusion an important topic for GIZ?

Inclusion is a key concern for GIZ, which champions left-behind groups and human rights through its work around the globe. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a powerful human rights tool that we implement in our cooperation with partner countries and one that also brings obligations in Germany. It is essential that, as a company, GIZ itself embraces these obligations and principles too.

Where does GIZ stand on the issue of inclusion?

We have done a lot to improve inclusion in recent years and advocated for greater diversity. In 2024 alone, we adopted four new action plans to improve mainstreaming of the needs of people with disabilities. GIZ also has a well-established diversity team, strong employee initiatives and numerous experts in this field in its operational departments. We therefore have extensive expertise within the company and an open and appreciative corporate culture. This is really quite rare and also sets us apart from other companies.

What are the next big steps for GIZ with regard to inclusion?

We now need to put our action plans into practice. One issue will be to raise awareness of the topic among managers. We want to offer better services here and highlight, for example, what social benefits they can access to support staff with disabilities, and how and where they can do so. We also want to emphasise that disabilities are not a disadvantage, but rather an asset for a team. And we plan to improve accessibility in the recruitment process. These are not minor tasks. We have set ourselves ambitious goals and are very committed to achieving them.

Creating the right conditions

GIZ sees itself as an inclusive company. Our aim is to create the right conditions to enable all of our staff to make the most of their talents and strengths. At the last count, people with disabilities accounted for 4.46 per cent of our workforce, although this varies across locations and offices. Given that inclusion is not just a social obligation for us but also a core value within our corporate culture, we want to steadily increase this figure going forward.

Profile picture of Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel.

"One GIZ for all: that is our goal. We are constantly working on issues like inclusion and diversity, the aim being to make tangible progress towards our goals."

Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel

Chair of the Management Board and Labour Relations Director

Photo: © GIZ / Gaby Gerster

In 2020, we concluded an Inclusion Agreement to ensure that everyone is treated with fairness. It serves as the basis for the long-term mainstreaming of inclusion within the company and is implemented in practice through various action plans.

The measures, time scales and evaluation periods set out in these plans aim to improve the working environment for colleagues with severe disabilities and ensure consistent use of external funding opportunities, for example. Six of these actions plans in total have now been adopted by GIZ. "Two of them are already well underway in terms of implementation and have led to positive changes," says GIZ Inclusion Officer Lukas Groß – including in the area of digital accessibility, where we aim to enable barrier-free access to websites, mobile applications and other digital tools for as many members of staff as possible.

Diversity networks

Inclusion is not the only issue that GIZ staff are committed to improving. They are also active in various networks dedicated to other dimensions of diversity.

  • Cultural Diversity Initiative: an interest group and informal network for employees from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds
  • OstWind Network: offers employees from eastern Germany the opportunity to connect and exchange ideas, with a view to reducing any differences that remain
  • Rainbow Network: LGBTIQ network whose members are committed to promoting a discrimination-free working environment
  • GIZ Postcolonial: Employees in this group organise a platform for exchange on responsible international cooperation.
Profile picture of Martina Vahlhaus.

"The first hurdle for me was to admit to myself that I am a person with special needs after years with chronic migraine. The second hurdle was to admit it to the company. Here, the increasing openness and growing climate of acceptance in GIZ helped me to share my challenges and limits openly with my colleagues, and to find ways to deal with them. Hopefully, this will also encourage others to do so as well and help build resilient teams."

Martina Vahlhaus

Country Director, GIZ Algeria

Photo: © GIZ / Nabil Aouemeur

Profile picture of Deginet Doyiso.

"As a blind employee at GIZ, I had a positive experience from the start. The job portal is mostly screen-reader accessible, and the interview team was very accommodating. I get ongoing support from the Inclusion Team for workplace accommodations. Still, more awareness and digital accessibility are needed."

Deginet Doyiso

Advisor, Global Programme on Inclusion

Photo: © Marina Weigl

Profile picture of Stefanie Latter.

"Inclusion is an asset, not a shortcoming. Inclusive measures open up opportunities that extend far beyond the benefits for those affected. But this costs money. That’s why it’s important to make use of external funding, too. GIZ takes the issue seriously, but with other sources of funding we could do much better."

Stefanie Latter

GIZ Central Disabled Persons’ Representation

Photo: © GIZ

Profile picture of Elke Hüttner.

"Colleagues with special needs enrich a team – and not just through different viewpoints and a change in perspective. We at GIZ have the opportunity and social responsibility to provide an open and respectful atmosphere. In doing so, we embody the values we represent."

Elke Hüttner

Director, Climate Change, Environment, Infrastructure Divison, lives with a disability

Photo: © aschoffotografie

Profile picture of Thomas Olongo.

"With the Management Board in the lead, GIZ has prioritised disability awareness across the company. Similarly, as a staff member with a disability, I have enjoyed an accessible workplace that supports expertise. GIZ is a community where managers go the extra mile to ensure full participation without barriers, be it team excursions or developing work processes."

Thomas Olongo

Advisor, Global Programme on Inclusion

Photo: © private

Profile picture of Kerstin Nagels.

"GIZ has already made significant progress with regard to inclusion. The action plans and work of the Inclusion Team have made a valuable contribution to breaking down barriers, raising awareness and promoting employment. But beyond the numbers, what is important to me is creating an inclusive working environment for everyone."

Kerstin Nagels

Director General, Human Relations Department

Photo: © GIZ

Low-threshold solutions

The idea behind GIZ’s inclusion guides also stems from an action plan. The guides are contact persons in all GIZ departments who take part in regular training on topics related to inclusion and can provide guidance on these issues. Employees with inclusion-related questions or concerns can contact the inclusion guides as a first port of call and are then directed by them to the right person to speak to within the company. "This low-threshold solution has proven effective because the barriers are much lower with inclusion guides, and colleagues are directed straight to the person responsible for the issue they have raised," says Lukas Groß.

Profile picture of Deginet Doyiso
akzente
A lawyer for inclusion
Public prosecutor, doctoral candidate, advisor: Deginet Doyiso works for GIZ in Bonn and has first-hand experience of the importance of accessibility. In this profile, he tells us his story:
Learn more

Contact structure at GIZ

To help us gradually become a more inclusive company, we have created a network of bodies and groups within GIZ that, within their individual areas of responsibility, are responsible for inclusion and advancing the process.

  • Inclusion Officer: They are appointed by the Management Board and ensure that GIZ is aware of and complies with the relevant statutory requirements. They also oversee processes, such as calculating official figures, and are firmly established within the Human Relations Department.
  • Disabled Persons’ Representation: The members of the Disabled Persons’ Representation have an advisory role within the company, but also work with external agencies and institutions. There are three local Disabled Persons’ Representations and one Central Disabled Persons’ Representation.
  • Inclusion Team: This body provides advice on action plans and monitors their implementation status. It is made up of the Inclusion Officer, the Disabled Persons’ Representation, a member of the General Works Council and a representative of the Human Relations Department.
  • Inclusion guides: They are contact persons for information on inclusion at GIZ. They ensure the transfer of knowledge between the Inclusion Team and the individual departments. They provide a low-threshold contact structure for employees and managers and forward questions and feedback from the departments to the relevant person within GIZ.
  • Global Programme on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities:

    This programme

    • highlights the potential of inclusion, promotes awareness-raising and provides knowledge on the practical implementation of inclusion;
    • advises and networks state, private sector and civil society stakeholders, with the aim of increasing the number of inclusive development measures;
    • supported the German Government, co-host Jordan and the International Disability Alliance in hosting the Global Disability Summit in Berlin in April 2025.

An inclusion support pilot scheme was also launched in Bonn in 2024. The objective: to identify barriers in day-to-day work and eliminate them quickly and easily, making working life easier for people with disabilities. Further key elements include the promotion of respect and general recognition of the topic. "As a member of the inclusion support team, I help ensure that all colleagues feel welcomed and supported at GIZ," says Peter Naberfeld. His remit includes guiding people around GIZ premises, accompanying people to and from public transport and assisting job applicants during the on-site application process.

Officially, GIZ’s Inclusion Agreement and action plans only apply to workforce members in Germany or to staff seconded abroad from Germany. But the question of how to systematically remove barriers is also playing an increasingly important role in our country and project offices. There, too, our colleagues have made good progress in recent months.

Close-up of a walkway with tactile guiding strips for people with visual impairments, with a wheelchair and a person walking above it.
The inclusion support team in Bonn facilitates day-to-day work for colleagues with disabilities.
Three young women sitting at a table outdoors run their fingers over a wooden board with Braille.
Awareness training using all the senses: participants learn about Braille in more detail.

Egypt: fewer barriers, more team spirit

The Egypt country office, for example, signed a voluntary commitment in which all members of staff pledged to become more inclusive. "We have set ourselves specific milestones," says lead cluster coordinator Kay Andraschko, outlining the process. These include increasing the percentage of people with disabilities in the Egypt country programme, only organising inclusive events from now on and removing physical barriers wherever possible. "In internal meetings, for example, we no longer use visual presentations because one of our colleagues is visually impaired," says Andraschko.

If a colleague with a disability needs help, everyone pitches in without hesitation. "As a team, we have benefited enormously from the process. It’s really brought us together," says Andraschko. But even in the Egypt office, wide-scale inclusion is still a work in progress; there is still a great deal to do. Removing physical barriers, for example, costs money and therefore has financial implications. When leasing new office space, accessibility will therefore be a key criterion in future. With the voluntary commitment and the measures it contains, the Egypt country office is setting a good example for other colleagues abroad to follow.

Three young women sitting at a table outdoors run their fingers over a wooden board with Braille.
Awareness training using all the senses: participants learn about Braille in more detail.

Nigeria: award winners for inclusion

GIZ employees in Nigeria are also committed to creating a more inclusive working environment. Having developed measures for barrier-free working under the motto Access for All, the GIZ office there participated in the company-wide Sustainability Challenge in 2024 – and won in the Diversity/Inclusion category. The aim is to break down physical, social and mindset-related barriers that make life difficult for people with disabilities in the workplace and in project work.

"To do this, we developed an accessibility checklist with support from Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs). The checklist is designed to ensure that all GIZ Nigeria facilities and offices are accessible and meet international standards on accessibility. It will also be used to conduct regular audits of existing and future facilities, including training hubs," explain the focal persons for disability and inclusion at the Diversity Secretariat at GIZ Nigeria.

The aim now is to gradually eliminate existing barriers. For example, various parking spaces have already been provided for people with disabilities, inclusion training has been conducted for management staff, and information material has been created in Braille. In addition, the proportion of people with disabilities employed at GIZ Nigeria is set to increase to at least five per cent in line with Nigerian disability law. To achieve this, colleagues in the country office are working with the gender and inclusion focal points to coordinate tailored initiatives that address the specific needs of people with disabilities in Nigeria. Several employees have already been recruited since the start of the initiative in Nigeria, meaning the quota is likely to be met soon. "We are making great progress in terms of inclusion," say our colleagues from the Diversity Secretariat. "And we still have a lot in the pipeline."

Five people standing in front of a roll-up banner on ‘Gender and Diversity Strategy – Nigeria & ECOWAS’; they are smiling at the camera.
The Diversity Secretariat at GIZ Nigeria is committed to continuous improvement in the field of inclusion.
A man and a woman discussing a diagram on accessible infrastructure at a screen while two other participants join the meeting virtually.
The aim: to maximise accessibility at GIZ premises in Nigeria. Various measures are being considered to achieve this.
A designated parking space for people with disabilities in front of a building, indicated by markings on the ground and an information sign.
Several parking spaces have already been created for people with disabilities, for example.

The journey is its own reward

Inclusion is a journey – towards a company, groups and society in which everyone can participate equally. GIZ has started this journey, but has yet to reach its destination. Through continuous dialogue, various initiatives launched by dedicated employees and the right measures, we are making steady progress and advancing one step at a time. In doing so, we are guided by the conviction that inclusion benefits everyone.

Other parts of the report

Staff in figures
As of 31 December 2024, GIZ employed over 24,500 staff. Learn more about the members of our workforce here.
Learn more
Initiatives with added value
Sustainability shapes our actions at all levels. With ideas competitions and global initiatives, we take responsibility for sustainable development.
Learn more
Digital transformation: harnessing opportunities, mitigating risks
To ensure that digitalisation advances the Sustainable Development Goals, GIZ passes on the skills needed to use digital tools effectively and protect against risks.
Learn more