Press Release of 1 September 2010

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), Bruno Wenn, Chairman of the Board of Management of DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, Hans-Joachim Preuß, Managing Director of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and Michael Hofmann, German Executive Director at the World Bank.

On 1 September 2010 the 46^th Training course will start with 19 participants. The 19 young professionals are from different academic disciplines such as economics, political sciences, humanities and geography. 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 46^th course will carry out their field study in Chile, Mozambique, Peru and Uganda. 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 850 young professionals have been trained in the Postgraduate Programme. Of the more than 400 applicants each year around 20 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.