German Development Service (DED)

The German Development Service (DED) is one of Europe’s leading development services for personnel cooperation. It was founded in 1963. Since then more than 13’000 development workers have committed themselves to improving the living conditions of people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Almost 1’000 development workers are currently based in approximately 40 countries.

The DED dispatches professionally experienced and socially committed specialists to carefully selected partner countries to train and advise local people and undertake projectplanning. The DED has no projects of its own but responds to requests for support submitted by organisations in its partner countries. The DED is active in the following areas:

• Agricultur and Resource Management
• Economic and Employment Promotion
• Democratisation
• Civil Conflict Transformation and Peace-Building
• Health Projects

The DED supports local organizations and self-help initiatives by offering professional advice, by funding smaller-scale programmes

and by promoting local specialists. Within its talent promotion programme, it also provides young qualified professionals under the age of 28 with the opportunity to gather development-political, professional, personal and intercultural experience during a one-year stay in one of the partner countries of the DED. Further, it recruits German development workers for the United Nations Volunteer Programme (UNV). Crucially, the DED promotes an understanding in Germany for the key role educational development plays in generating a cosmopolitan and tolerant society. Through its public relations work, the DED seeks to draw attention to the interests and issues that all human beings have in common.

The DED is a non-profit organization with limited liability. Its associates are the Federal Republic of Germany, as represented by the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the working group "Learning and Helping Overseas", an incorporated society. The DED is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany.

For further details, see www.ded.de