Press Release of 14 February 2011

Since 1965 the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) has trained young German professionals in the Institute’s Postgraduate Training Programme to pursue career opportunities with development organisations in Germany and abroad. Alumni of the Programme include Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, Bruno Wenn, Managing Director of DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH,  Hans-Joachim Preuß and Adolf Kloke-Lesch, Members of the Board of GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbei GmbHt as well as Ingrid Hoven, Executive Director for Germany at the World Bank.

The participants of the 46^th Course have now started their 11-week research trips to Chile, Mozambique, Peru and Uganda. The four country working groups will focus on (1) the evaluation of the German-Chilean Fund for Strategic Reforms, (2) accountability in Mozambique, (3) deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon, and on (4) transformation of microfinance institutions in Uganda. The field research carried out by small interdisciplinary groups in a developing country is the cornerstone of the Postgraduate Training Programme.

The working group Peru deals with growing deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon, a topic on the interface between ecology and development. As the country with the second largest percentage of Amazon territory after Brazil, Peru is particularly relevant for this field research. The working group will analyse projects supported by the German development cooperation that aim at avoiding deforestation, asking how socially inclusive they are.

Against the background of the controversial debate on microfinance in developing countries, the working group Uganda deals with the transformation of the microfinance sector in Africa. Small microfinance institutions are increasingly competing with commercial banks, which manage to target new customers among the poor population thanks to new technologies such as mobile phone.

Since the first course in 1965, around 900 young professionals have completed the Postgraduate Training Programme of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE). Every year, DIE chooses 20 German and European university graduates from over 300 applicants to prepare them for their future tasks and responsibilities in the German and international development cooperation systems. During the training phase at DIE, the participants deal with the practical challenges of sustainable development in a globalised world. Working within small and interdisciplinary groups in developing countries gives them the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge and gain practical experience in the framework of research projects designed to provide policy advice.