Interviews to mark International Nurses Day on 12 May 2018: Nursing staff for Germany: GIZ and German Federal Employment Agency recruit 1,300 specialists from abroad

While Germany is short of nursing staff, qualified specialists in other countries often cannot find work. So companies in Germany, nurses themselves, and their home countries can benefit in equal measure from working together. This is where the Triple Win Programme comes in. The joint project organised by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the International Placement Services (ZAV) of the German Federal Employment Agency brings well trained nurses from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Philippines and Tunisia to Germany.

In total, more than 2,000 nurses have been placed in hospitals and nursing facilities in Germany since the programme was launched in 2013. Around 1,300 of them have already started working here. Everyone benefits from the scheme, as GIZ Project Manager Maja Bernhardt explains: ‘The nurses can live and work in Germany under fair conditions. At the same time, unemployment falls in the countries of origin, which also benefit from the remittances the nurses send home. And in Germany, hospitals and nursing facilities can find trained personnel to fill their vacancies.’

The programme works solely with countries that have an excess of well trained nursing staff. Furthermore, the public employment offices in the partner countries are involved in the placement process. They inform potential participants about the programme, put the parties in touch, and publish job advertisements for the project. The project supports the employers interested from Germany when it comes to staff selection. The nurses recruited attend language courses up to advanced level and a specialist nursing course in order to prepare for living and working in Germany. The programme also helps the participants obtain recognition for the qualifications they acquired in their home countries – and it continues to support them after their arrival in Germany.

After five years, the Triple Win programme is well established and developing something of a reputation in nursing circles. It is also regarded internationally as a showcase project and has been recognised as a ‘best practice’ by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the international trade union federation Public Services International (PSI).

GIZ Project Manager Maja Bernhardt will be available for telephone interviews about the Triple Win Programme on Thursday, 3 May, and Tuesday, 8 May. If you are interested, please contact the GIZ Press Office.

Contact:
GIZ Press Office
presse@giz.de
06196 79-4466