Peace and security

One of our strengths is our ability to combine swift relief with long-term prospects. This is how we build peace and security. In addressing conflicts we support the demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants, and deliver advice on establishing and reforming effective, democratically legitimated institutions with a system of checks and balances.

GIZ/Iris Felicia Haidau

‘Investment in our common future’

Heidy Rombouts, Director General of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid at the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, in an interview on Belgium’s EU Council Presidency

Pierre-Ives Babelon/stock.adobe.com

Voices of and for women

Women journalists in Iraq speak candidly about what life is like for women in the country.

Interamerikanischer Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte

A driving force behind ‘green’ case law

We visit the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Human Rights Institute in San José, where human rights, nature and the environment are viewed in a new light.

Learning progress

Omar Alkadamani fled to Germany from Syria as a child. He knows exactly how important the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 ‘Quality education’ is – for him personally and for every country that strives for a better future.

Revisiting strong women in Jordan

Five years ago, akzente interviewed women elected to Jordan’s regional councils. Now we’re back in Jordan to visit them again.

David Miliband in conversation with Congolese wom © Olivia Acland/IRC

‘Internally displaced people are less visible but also in need’

David Miliband talks about humanitarian hotspots, the global refugee situation and why internally displaced people tend to be overlooked.

Prioritising peace

Suzan Aref has dedicated her life to protecting and supporting women in Iraq. We turn the spotlight on her life and work.

‘Promoting gender rights across continents’

The German Federal Foreign Office has introduced a new feminist foreign policy. Renata Giannini from the Unidas Women’s Network explains how it could influence German-Latin American relations.

Fair, smart and current

All over the world, women face disadvantages. Feminist development policy aims to address the causes of this inequality.

province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the north of Pakistan

Building a sense of community

Pakistani households have been living next to Afghan refugee families in the north of Pakistan for decades, without either side mixing with the other. By providing safe spaces to meet, for women in particular, GIZ is bringing both sets of neighbours together.

Ukraine’s will to forge its own path is unbroken

When Russia launched its war of aggression on Ukraine, GIZ was able to provide rapid and effective assistance because of our presence throughout the country. Since then, we have been combining rapid assistance with reconstruction and advice on reforms. By Daniel Busche, GIZ Country Director in Ukraine

‘The nation as a whole will need support’

Valentyna Mazhbits works at the Berlin Charité for the Solomiya Hospital Partnership project to support psychiatric hospitals in Ukraine.