Press Release of 31 August 2009

Since 1965 the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) trains German young professionals in its Postgraduate Training Programme for Development Cooperation. Alumni of the Training Programme are, among others, Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Dr. Michael Hofmann, German Executive Director at the World Bank, and two of the three department heads at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

On 1 September 2009 the 45^th Training course will start with 20 participants. The 20 young professionals are from different academic disciplines like development studies, ethnology, history, global studies, international economics, political sciences, law, economics and administrative sciences. The cornerstone of the training programme is the 11-weeks field research in a developing or transformations country. The four country working groups of the 45^th course will carry out their field study in Ruanda, Zambia and South Africa. On site the groups work in close cooperation with the local partner organisations. The research results will afterwards be published in a report.

Since the first Course more than 800 young professionals have been trained in the Postgraduate Programme. Of the more than 400 applicants each year around 20 to 22 highly qualified academics are selected. The Institute’s Training Programme is concentrated on courses dedicated to development-related themes and issues bound up with shaping the process of globalisation as well as with improving trainee communicative and social skills. The Programme serves to provide trainees with an opportunity to gain practical experience with what they have learned by participating in concrete consulting-oriented research projects. Once they have completed the Training Programme, the graduates find career opportunities with development organisations at home and abroad.