Specialist working groups and consulting days
Cooperation with the consulting sector
For many years, various specialist working groups have been established as a platform for cooperation between GIZ staff members and the consulting sector.
In the specialist working group, participants exchange ideas and knowledge on technical and methodological approaches, assess new conceptual and development policy advancements in international cooperation, and thus facilitate a joint understanding of sectoral standards. The specialist working groups also serve to promote the specific topic area to third parties.
There are currently nine sectoral specialist working groups:
- Education, Vocational Education and Training and the Labour Market
Coordination: Katja Steurer and Linda Klink - Energy, Climate Change Mitigation, Transport
Coordination: Bernhard Kreuzberg, Andreas Nieters, Sebastian Ebert - Health & Social Protection
Coordination: Ute Jugert - Governance
Coordination: Julia Iversen - Private Sector Development
Coordination: Samira Abbu - Rural Development
Coordination: Annika Schönfeld, Andreas Lange - Forestry and Biodiversity
Coordination: Martin Neumann - Water, Wastewater, Waste
Coordination: Manfred Scheu
The appointment of new members (based on the profile of the individual) for the sectoral specialist working groups occurs by way of a formal application process using defined criteria. This process focuses on the technical eligibility of the consulting company (including that the company has been in existence for at least three years and has a certain number of reference projects) as well as the technical eligibility of the seconded expert (CV). The decision on the appointment will be taken by the members of the respective specialist working group. Forming a new specialist working group involves a formal competitive bidding process in which the consulting companies compete for participation.
The understanding of GIZ and the consulting companies is that participation in the specialist working groups does not lead to any advantages in GIZ competitive bidding processes.
Once a year, GIZ – together with the German Association of Consulting Engineers (VBI) – holds a consulting day (previously ‘cross-sectoral specialist working group’) to exchange knowledge and ideas on fundamental issues related to cooperation between GIZ and the consulting sector. All interested consulting firm representatives are welcome to attend the consulting day; the invitation will be published on the GIZ Expertise microsite.
Information for “Procurement and Financing – GIZ as a public contracting authority” here.