Wir bieten fundierte Beratung, Vernetzung und Förderung für Kommunen – Ihr Rundum-Paket für kommunale Nachhaltigkeit und globale Verantwortung.
Experts Fund for Municipal Partnerships Worldwide
Do you represent a municipality in the global South? Does your municipality have a partnership with a municipality in Germany? Are you looking to breathe new life into this municipal partnership, but your municipality has only limited financial or human resources to achieve this? Many municipalities are facing exactly this situation and need to find solutions. That's why the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has set up the Experts Fund for Municipal Partnerships Worldwide (Experts for Partners) programme.
Experts for partners are supporting your municipality through knowledge exchange and networking. Graphic: Afonso Pessanha
This fund opens up attractive opportunities for your municipality. Through us – and in collaboration with your German partner municipality – you can request the assignment of experts with a wide range of profiles, generally for a period of two years. Experts are able to design and implement specific projects in your municipality, covering pressing issues such as climate change, inclusive urban development, sustainable economic development and waste management. They will provide you with strategic advice and strengthen structures within your local government to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda. During their assignment, the experts and the two municipalities will receive technical support from us.
The benefits of using experts
Experts implement specific projects in your municipality and establish the structures required to bring about sustainable results. They ensure that women and other disadvantaged groups are given special consideration.
They involve new participants in the partnership – from local government, civil society or the private sector, for example – and promote interdepartmental cooperation.
Assigning an expert not only strengthens the municipal partnership; it also provides German municipalities with fresh inspiration for development.
Let us advise you!
Applying for an expert is simple. We take care of many formalities on your behalf.
Your declaration of interest can be submitted until January 31, 2024.
Does our offer meet the needs of your municipality?
What conditions must the interested municipalities meet?
There must be an existing partnership between the interested municipalities or they must be in the process of establishing one. The municipalities must formulate a joint idea on which the expert can work in the partner municipality. Experts for Partners focuses its work on partnerships with social, environmental or economic projects that are geared to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda.
When and how can municipal partnerships apply?
There is no established application period. We continuously accept declarations of interest at any time of the year. As a first step, both municipalities fill in a declaration of interest together, briefly describing their partnership and explaining why and for what subject area they would like an expert. Both municipalities must sign the declaration of interest.
Which expert models are funded?
There are three different models:
integrated experts
development workers
national experts
Depending on the country and context, different conditions apply as to which model can be used and is expedient. Experts for Partners advises the respective municipal partnership during the process of examining which models are possible and appropriate.
Can representatives of German municipalities apply as experts?
Yes, representatives of German municipalities can also apply as experts. They then undergo GIZ’s standard application process. The position is always publicly advertised. Experts for Partners handles the recruitment process for the municipal partnership in the case of integrated experts and development workers. When it comes to national experts, the programme is involved in the recruitment process carried out by the partner municipality abroad.
If someone from the German municipality is thinking of applying, this individual should not take part in the process as far as possible. He or she may under no circumstances be the main contact for the joint workshops at which an agreement is reached on the joint goals and activities as well as the required qualification profile and type of expert to be assigned.
Does the German municipality incur any costs?
No. The German municipality does not have to bear any costs for the application or the expert’s salary.
Does the partner municipality incur any costs?
Both development workers and national experts are fully financed by Experts for Partners. This also includes their equipment and training costs.
Only in the case of the ‘integrated expert’ model does the partner municipality undertake to pay the expert a salary at the local going rate. GIZ then tops up this salary to the European level.
What contribution does the German municipality have to make in connection with the expert assignment?
We assume that the two municipalities wish to use the expert assignment proactively to build a substantive partnership, make it future-ready and promote its further development. That is why we consider a high degree of participation important on both sides. This may be expressed by the fact that the contacts on both sides have sufficient work capacity to coordinate cooperation, involve specialist staff from the administration, initiate joint projects and promote reciprocal exchanges.
Is a declaration of interest legally binding?
No. A declaration of interest can be withdrawn at any time without negative consequences for the partnership.
How long does it take from submitting the declaration of interest to the start of the expert’s assignment?
That depends on a number of individual factors, but it is realistic to envisage a one-year period for the entire planning stage.
Examples of supported projects
Lukanga WSC - Gelsenwasser AG, Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband
In this interview, specialist Michaela Karolina Braun introduces the utility partnership.
Nakopa or FKPW? When it makes sense to combine two or more support instruments, municipalities don't have to choose just one. What does that look like in practice?
