Press Release of 27 April 2009

The German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) has been training Germany’s young professionals in the field of development policy since 1965. With the appointment of Hans-Joachim Preuß as the new Managing Director of gtz - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit yet another member of the 21st course of the 1985/86 Postgraduate Training Programme has reached a high-ranking position. Other alumni of the 21st course are, Achim Steiner, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director UN Environment Programme, and one of the department heads of the German Development Ministry (BMZ).

The Institute’s Postgraduate 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 cornerstone of the Training Programme – field research carried out by small interdisciplinary groups in a developing country – 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.