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EDITORIAL 3akzente 2/15 Dear reader, the best house is one that is open to everyone – so goes the saying from the famous story collection ‘One Thousand and One Nights’. And it’s true that life is brighter, more diverse and more interesting if we open ourselves up to the world. We expect our friends, partners and managers to adopt this attitude too, and the same goes for the politicians, business leaders and civ- il-society representatives responsible for making decisions. This is what we mean by transparency – systems that do not cut themselves off, but that let us in and take us with them; that do not build walls, but fos- ter awareness and understanding. But trans- parency must also have its limits. If it paves the way for greater surveillance and becomes a means to restrict rights of the individual rather than strengthen them, then it has gone too far. After all, how many of us would want to be a ‘transparent citizen’? Even the best house has doors that need to be closed now and then. OUR AUTHOR Christian Hiller von Gaertrin- gen takes a closer look at when more trans- parency is desirable and when it does more harm than good. Ultimately, it is a judge- ment call and one that we need to keep reas- sessing. In this issue’s interview, Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, member of the Insight, perspective, outlook Dorothee Hutter, Director of Corporate Communications Board of Management of Daimler AG, also discusses the fine line between the benefits and disadvantages of transparency in large enterprises. OUR REPORTS from abroad take you to Nor- way, the Middle East and Asia. We follow a Mongolian delegation visiting Oslo and Ber- lin, and meet a young pastry chef in the Pal- estinian territories. We also talk to two peo- ple who are making a fresh start after surviv- ing the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh and travel to Viet Nam, where mangrove forests are helping to mitigate the impact of climate change. Returning to the topic of transparency, GIZ itself has taken another important step in this direction, recently launching a project data portal on the GIZ website to provide facts and figures about our activities. You can find out how it works on page 42. I hope you enjoy reading this issue and find the articles interesting and inspiring. Why transparency pays off and what GIZ is doing to promote it. Photos:GIZ/ThomasWagner(PAGE2),GIZ/KARSTENTHORMAEHLEN(PAGE3)