Security

The state must protect its citizens and respect democracy and human rights. GIZ strengthens the state’s legitimate monopoly on the use of force.
  

The security environment has changed significantly since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, but also due to the advancing climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the increase in geopolitical tensions and the progressive escalation of internal and regional conflicts, the relevance of security matters is also increasing in parts due to new, hybrid threats such as cyberattacks, election manipulation or the effects of climate change. German development cooperation can make an important contribution, amid this constant change in threats, alliances and actor constellations.

In 2023, the Federal Government presented its National Security Strategy, the first set of guidelines on integrated security, thus establishing a cultural change for the Federal Government's security policy and also for the security policy discourse in the public sphere. By thinking about internal and external security together, an approach that Germany has long supported at European level is being enshrined at national level. Development and international cooperation is thus becoming relevant to security policy - both with regard to the external and internal security of Germany and Europe.

For GIZ, the field of action on security comprises all measures that are specifically targeted at actors in the security sector in order to increase their effectiveness, legitimacy and accountability. These measures contribute to improving human security in various geographical and social spaces (e.g. border areas, state peripheries and metropolitan areas). GIZ’s understanding of security is thereby based on the concept of human security, which focuses on the security of individuals rather than territorial entities.