Regional Office Germany-North

GIZ’s Regional Office Germany-North in Hamburg works with institutional partners in the German states to implement international cooperation projects, including federal ministries, international organisations such as the European Union (EU), German industry and state governments. It assists the northern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein with the implementation of their international activities and develops new models of partnership between state-level institutions, federal government programmes and international donors. 

This approach, in turn, enables partner countries engaged in international cooperation with Germany to gain access to relevant actors, experts and institutional networks from politics, public administration, business, academia and civil society across the various German states. Drawing on their technical and administrative expertise, they provide advice and support to the German Government’s bilateral or global programmes and to international initiatives, making a major contribution to their successful implementation.

Topics and areas of activity

The Regional Office Germany-North works in the following priority areas:

• Governance: In order to promote an exchange of experience between practitioners and policy-makers from Germany and partner countries in development cooperation, the Regional Office works on aspects of German structural policy and governance, particularly public administration, decentralisation, citizen participation and sustainable economic development.
• Conflict, migration and strengthening the skills base: The Regional Office implements nationwide projects at various stages of the displacement and migration process. This includes attracting skilled workers for the German labour market, such as care assistants from Viet Nam and Moroccan trainees for the hotel and catering industry, and integrating resident migrants into the local workforce. In addition, the Regional Office assists the public authorities and welfare organisations in expanding their advisory services for voluntary returnees in order to facilitate their reintegration in their home countries.

The Regional Office Germany-North also coordinates the German Government and Federal State Pilot Programme, commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in order to harness the specific technical skills of each state for Germany’s international cooperation in fields such as vocational training, energy system transformation and environmental policy.

As a further field of activity, the Regional Office Germany-North is involved in coastal and marine conservation programmes and the maritime economy. It also works on country-specific projects on behalf of the northern German states, such as the development of the Sustainability Partnership between Bremen, Durban and Windhoek.

Commissioning parties and cooperation partners

The Regional Office Germany-North works for various clients and funding providers. In addition to receiving allocations from the German states and the European Social Fund (ESF), it implements projects and measures commissioned by BMZ and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).

At project level, the Regional Office cooperates with state and senate chancelleries and a wide range of ministries and public authorities in the northern German states.  Its cooperation with industry mainly focuses on companies in the logistics, foreign trade, energy and ports sectors and the chambers of commerce and trades. Key academic partners are the University of Bremen and the HafenCity University Hamburg. Civil society partners include the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) in Flensburg and the migration advice centres run by welfare organisations.