Member organisations
We are the umbrella association for the seven organisations recognised as development service providers under the Development Workers Act (EhfG). Below is a brief introduction to each of the development services:
AGIAMONDO e.V. - Personnel Agency of the German Catholics for International Cooperation
AGIAMONDO e. V. is the state-recognised Catholic personnel service in Germany. We place qualified and professionally experienced experts for international personnel cooperation programmes. AGIAMONDO development and peace worker support local partner organisations on a temporary basis in their commitment to sustainable poverty reduction, the development of more just and peaceful living conditions and socio-ecological change. Our services also include personnel counselling, personnel recruitment and personnel development programmes.
As a provider of the Civil Peace Service (CPS), AGIAMONDO promotes peace and reconciliation processes in currently fifteen country and regional programmes. For organisations that place volunteers worldwide in projects run by Southern Partners, the FID office for international voluntary services based at AGIAMONDO offers educational services, counselling on all issues relating to voluntary service, quality management and networking, as well as political advocacy. Since 2022, the Exposure and Dialogue Programme (EDP) has been part of AGIAMONDO. The programme enables decision-makers in society to experience other living and working contexts in order to better understand concrete realities and impact contexts.
Dienste in Übersee gemeinnützige GmbH (Dienste in Übersee)
Bread for the World – Protestant Development Service is the development and relief agency of the Protestant Churches in Germany. In more than 90 countries all across the globe we empower the poor and marginalised to improve their living conditions.
The work of Bread for the World primarily focuses on the support of projects in the countries of the Global South. An essential feature of our projects is our close and continuous cooperation with local, often church-related partner organisations. Bread for the World– Protestant Development Service supports capacity and competence building in partner organisations by seconding European professionals for an employment based on the German ‘Development Aid Workers Act’. This is based on three principles:
Autonomy: Bread for the World gets active upon request – the partner organisation is responsible for the project.
Independency: The professional is an employee of the partner organisation. His/her contract is limited –for three to a maximum of six years. He/she does not receive any executive functions.
Competence: The chosen professionals possess skills and experience- as well as intercultural competence.
Coworkers – Christliche Fachkräfte International (CFI)
Coworkers – Christliche Fachkräfte International e.V. (CFI) sends out professionals to countries across the globe to support the work of local Christian organisations and churches. CFI works under the umbrella brand Coworkers. The focus is on assisting and training local staff in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. CFI has been a state-approved development organisation since 1985. Its staff is involved in development cooperation projects in areas, such as agriculture, health, technical and vocational education and training, renewable energy, advisory services and education.
Right from the beginning, the desire of Coworkers Professionals is not to launch projects of its own, but communicate closely with the local partner organisation and find out the needs of the people. The aim is to encourage and empower locals to make the most of existing skills and resources in impacting their communities, regions and nations. This could mean training young people in skilled trades, helping introduce new agricultural methods, developing educational materials, and much more.
International Christian Service for Peace (EIRENE)
The International Christian Service for Peace is an ecumenical peace and development service. Since 1957, EIRENE professionals and volunteers have been working with partner organisations in Latin America, Africa, North America and Europe to foster a culture of non-violence, ensure social justice and preserve the integrity of creation.
forumZFD – Committed to Peace
forumZFD supports people in violent conflicts on the path to peace. Established in 1996 by peace and human rights groups in reaction to the Balkan crisis, forumZFD strives to help overcome war and violence.
forumZFD is currently working with peace consultants in Germany as well as ten other countries in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Its Academy for Conflict Transformation offers a learning space for professional, international peace work. Through dialogue events, educational work and campaigns, forumZFD actively advocates civil peace policy.
forumZFD is recognised by the German federal government as a member of the Civil Peace Service (CPS) consortium. It is a signatory of Transparency International’s Transparent Civil Society initiative and finances its work through public and private grants, donations and membership fees.
The organisation was awarded the Gustav Heinemann Citizens’ Prize in 1997, the Göttingen Peace Prize in 2005 and the “Sievershäuser Ermutigung” peace prize in 2014.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
As a provider of international cooperation services for sustainable development and international education work, we are dedicated to building a future worth living around the world. GIZ has over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas, including economic development and employment, energy and the environment, and peace and security. The diverse expertise of our federal enterprise is in demand around the globe, with the German Government, European Union institutions, the United Nations, the private sector and governments of other countries all benefiting from our services. We work with businesses, civil society actors and research institutions, fostering successful interaction between development policy and other policy fields and areas of activity. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is our main commissioning party.
All these commissioning parties and cooperation partners place their trust in GIZ by working together with us to generate ideas for political, social and economic change, develop these into concrete plans and implement the envisaged change processes. Since we are a public-benefit federal enterprise, German and European values are central to our work. Together with our partners in national governments worldwide and cooperation partners from the private sector, academia and civil society we work to deliver flexible and effective solutions that offer people better prospects and sustainably improve their living conditions.
The registered offices of GIZ are in Bonn and Eschborn. In 2016 our business volume was around EUR 2.4 billion. Of our 18,260 employees in some 120 countries, almost 70 per cent are national personnel working in the field. In our capacity as a recognized sending organisation, we currently have 643 development workers in action in partner countries. In addition, the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM), a joint operation of GIZ and the Federal Employment Agency, placed 847 integrated and returning experts with local employers abroad in 2016 while providing them with financial support and advisory services. (Figures as at 31 December 2016)
Civil Peace Service (CPS) of GIZ - explanatory film
Weltfriedensdienst e.V.
The Weltfriedensdienst (World Peace Service) is committed to a world in which all people live a self-determined life in dignity, free from poverty and violence.
The Weltfriedensdienst is a politically and denominationally independent non-profit organisation for development cooperation. It has been working in crises and conflict regions since 1959. As a registered development service and provider of the Civil Peace Service, it supports grassroots, critical development cooperation.
Together with local partner organisations, it supports people in Africa, Latin America and Asia in improving their living conditions. More than 30 international experts are working for peace and justice within the partner organisations. With its educational work in Germany, it encourages people to think and act differently.
The Weltfriedensdienst is guided by the principle of "helping people to help themselves". It strengthens initiatives and organisations to resolve conflicts without violence, to secure resources and food and to protect human rights.
Private donations are an important contribution to peace work worldwide. On the one hand, they enable us to support our project partners, and on the other hand, they enable us to apply for further funds from public donors such as the German government.