GIZ provides effective support in the Corona crisis

International cooperation is pivotal to managing the current crisis and its impacts in less developed countries. ‘The coronavirus pandemic shows that we are intrinsically linked at a global level,’ stressed Tanja Gönner, Chair of the Management Board of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

The crisis is hitting developing countries the hardest, she added:

“The aim, therefore, is to stabilise these countries and thus make them more resilient to future crises. This involves not only supporting health systems, but also, and above all, providing long-term effective, structural support to the economic and social systems in our partner countries,” said Gönner.

GIZ is continuing to operate in around 120 countries worldwide – and has therefore been able to provide direct and targeted support during the acute phase of measures aimed at containing the pandemic. In consultation with its commissioning parties and partners on the ground, the company has earmarked total funding of EUR 110 million for emergency COVID-19 support measures so far this year, some of which it has already been redirected.

GIZ also sees the potential to allocate a further sum of around EUR 130 million by the end of the year. A priority area of GIZ’s work is sub-Saharan Africa. Here, it has currently reallocated around EUR 23 million to the health sector and to fighting the pandemic. One way in which these funds are being used is to train medical personnel, nursing staff and laboratory workers, and to use digital systems to help track the spread of the virus. GIZ is also helping on the ground to supply locally-produced protective clothing and other materials such as thermometers, soap and handwashing stations for hospitals, laboratories, and treatment centres, and to launch information and awareness-raising campaigns for the population.

These measures are part of the Emergency COVID-19 Support Programme drawn up by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Martin Jäger, Chair of the GIZ Supervisory Board and State Secretary at BMZ: ‘We will either beat COVID-19 worldwide or not at all. Supporting the poorest countries in their fight against the pandemic is therefore in our own interest as well. In GIZ, we have a strong implementing organisation with extensive experience in crisis situations.

Against the backdrop of growing global fragility, international cooperation has become more and more important in recent years. GIZ’s business volume increased by 43 percent between 2015 and 2019, with EUR 3.1 billion recorded last year. GIZ’s commissioning parties are the German Government, the European Union (EU), governments of other countries worldwide, international institutions, foundations, and companies.

Original source: GIZ
Published on 02 July 2020