Development cooperation made with Germany: the Governance Fund

Context

Many countries are interested in how Germany and other nations tackle societal challenges. How can a government design a taxation system that will collect sufficient revenue? How can administrative activities be made transparent and understandable? How can an independent administration of justice be ensured?

To leverage expertise, people with experience and knowledge from the areas of politics and administration, the research and academic community, and civil society need to be incorporated into Germany’s development cooperation work.

Objective

Selected countries implement key reforms with the help of the Governance Fund’s network of experts.

Approach

This project maintains a network of German decision-makers in the fields of politics, science and research, and administration in order to integrate their experience in structural and regulatory policy into reform initiatives in the project’s partner countries. Its members include former federal ministers, state ministers, state secretaries, judges, senior administrative officials and leading academics.

The network supports partner governments through a series of complementary measures that are coordinated with each individual country. These measures include:

• Policy advice: German experts offer on-site guidance. In addition, the network generates analyses of situations and requirements in order to provide tailored support.
• Expert dialogue: Workshops on specific topics are held in the participating countries. The Governance Fund also moderates expert discussions, webinars and study trips.
• Knowledge processing: When requested by the partners, members of the network produce studies and short papers.

The Governance Fund focuses on anti-corruption, public finance, mobilising countries’ own revenues, the rule of law, digital governance and gender equality.

Last update: January 2023