The members of the Board of Trustees of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) are appointed by the Federal Government and by the Government of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The board is composed of staff members of federal and state government departments with a particular interest in the DIE's activities and of representatives of public life. Its task is to supervise the Institute's work. 

The DIE's Board of Trustees is composed of the following members:

• Helga Barth
  Representative of the Federal Foreign Office "Menschenrechte, Internationale Entwicklung und Soziales" and Department Coordinator for "Nachhaltige Entwicklung",
  Federal Foreign Office, Berlin
• Ambassador Alexander Baum
  Adviser to the Deputy Secretary General for Global and Economic Issues on ACP and Post Cotonou negotiations at  European External Action Service, Brussels
• Andreas Botsch
  Head of Department Internationale und europäische Gewerkschaftspolitik, DGB - German Trade Union Confederation, Bundesvorstand, Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Claudia Derichs
  Professoring Transregional Southeast Asian Studies, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Ulrike Grote
  Director, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, University Hannover
• Joachim Heidebrecht
  Head of Department, KfW Development Bank, Frankfurt am Main
• Prof. Dr. Michael Hoch
  Rector, University Bonn, Bonn
• Prof. Dr. Michael Hüther
  Director and Member of the Presidium, German Economic Institute, Cologne
• Martin Jäger (Chair)
  State Secretary, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
• Prof. Dr. Conrad Schetter
  Director, Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC)
• Dr. Claudia Schmucker
  German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Berlin
• Dr. Elke Siehl
  Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
• Ludger Siemes
  Staatskanzlei des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
• Annette Storsberg
  State Secretary, Ministry for Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Margitta Wülker-Mirbach
  Head of Department VD1 "Entwicklungspolitik, Agrarpolitik", Vereinte Nationen, UNCTAD
  Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Bonn