GIZ in Africa: Sustainable Development or Migration Control?
webangah News Agency, International Desk: The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) is one of Germany’s largest development policy implementers, investing over 3 billion euros annually in global projects. In Africa, GIZ operates in more than 40 countries and has been active sence the 1960s. Though, its programs in the Sahel region-such as Niger and Mali-and the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia) are frequently enough tied to initiatives like Compact with Africa (CWA), a G20 framework aimed at attracting private investment, and the european Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), which holds a budget exceeding 5 billion euros through 2025. This raises the question: Are GIZ’s efforts mainly fostering employment and genuine development or primarily serving to reduce migration flows to Europe?
GIZ in Niger: Sustainable Agriculture or Border Management?
Niger faces youth unemployment rates exceeding 20 percent and an annual transit of hundreds of thousands of migrants through the agadez desert, marking it as a migration hotspot within the Sahel. Since opening its office in Niamey in 1968-and until bilateral cooperation was suspended following July 2023’s coup-GIZ focused on two key areas: peaceful inclusive communities and food security.
The “Migration Policy Advisory Project” (2017-2025), funded by EUTF, supports Niger’s government with rights-based policies emphasizing participatory migration management.This initiative aligns with EU strategies aiming to prevent human trafficking by creating local opportunities. Additionally, the Migration Flex program (2025-2027), co-funded by Germany and the EU, concentrates on vocational training for returnees.
On development fronts, GIZ promotes sustainable agriculture through efficient irrigation projects and gender-sensitive land ownership policies that benefit roughly 80 percent of rural populations-helping increase production capacity while building resilience against crises like drought.
Though, Oxfam research reveals that over 40 percent of EUTF funds go toward border management activities while direct job creation accounts for less than 30 percent. Consequently,despite their developmental facade; many projects have become securitized-prioritizing migration control over poverty alleviation.
GIZ in Mali: Peacebuilding or Displacement Control?
Mali has faced ongoing unrest as 2012 alongside more than 400 thousand internally displaced persons confronting similar challenges. Operating since 1960 there,GIZ works across governance improvement,promoting peace,migration,multipronged agriculture,sustainability,and energy sectors.
The Better Migration Management III program(BMM III)-with funding surpassing €46 million from EUTF -has operated since start-of-2021.Focuses include safe/legal migrant movement & assisting governments within Sahel countries craft coordinated frameworks tackling smuggling while supporting host communities.
On development,GIZ invests extensively into climate resilient farming & agricultural value chains.Improvements increasing small scale farmers’ economic resilience emerged,but according-to a2018 SWP Berlin report,the transformationof EUTFfroman emergencyresponse fundtoapermanentmigrationcontrol tool caused security logic overridingdevelopment objectives .
Bilateral cooperation suspension between Germany & Mali early-2023 sidelined some GIZ projects,moving major activitiesinto regional undertakingsthrough ECOWAS mechanisms rather .
GIZ in Ethiopia: Youth Employment or Refugee Integration?
Ethiopia hosts over900 thousand refugees mostly from South Sudan & Somalia.With solid6% economic growth but25% youth unemployment rates,GIZ engagement there dates back to1964 encompassing education,jobs,farming,and peacebuilding sectors .
The Ethiopia Job Compact project (2018-2025)-funded jointly by EUTF & World Bank-targets creationof1million jobs especiallywithin Addis Ababa industrial parks.It also integrates refugees into technical skills training programs.
Despite progress,A Brookings report from 2020 finds no clear evidence yet linking these efforts directlywithreducingmigration flows.Oxfam critiques portrayEUTF astorn between assistanceandcontrol,given it dedicates more than30percent fundingtosecurity measureswhile employment-focused initiatives receive comparably less funding .
A Fragile Balance Between Development And security
Their work acrossAfrica indicates European developmental aid increasingly securitized duringthe pastdecade.Although objectives include jobcreation,sustainable farming,andclimate resilience,the reality places priority oncontrollingmigration.
Originally set uptacklepersistent povertyand instability,EUTFs allocation shows around40percent spentonborder enforcementforcesupremacyby2025.CWA attracts excess10billion euro private capitalyet favorsprojects generating high economicreturnsforEurope commercial actors over reducinginequality directly.
Both SWP BerlinandOxfam caution lackof transparencyand accountability threatensto-turn GIZEurope’smigrantpolicy instrument.Positiveinclusivegrowth privilegethrough aid must takeescapepolicymaking solelysecurity-dominated designs.Brookings echoes these concerns,recommending aid only curbs migration when embeddedinparticipatory,equitableeconomic expansionmodels.
In comparison,French AFDandJapan’s JICA focusmoreondevelopinginstitutionalcapacitythan migrational controlofferingmodelsworth emulatingfromtheGerman agency.Germany needs this shift urgently too …
Conclusion
This analysis confirms GIZEfforts throughoutNiger,Mali,and Ethiopia harbor significant potential forsustainabledevelopment-but current paradigms servemigrationmanagementordeathlyover shadowpoverty reduction gains.Despite reported advances invocational educationandagriculture,this securitizationrisksunderminingthe agency credibilityoverallthedomain.
To restorebalance,Germany must prioritize independent oversight,increasedfinancialtransparency,and tackle rooteconomicfactors drivingmovements.Failure reinforcesGIΖroleaspartEuropeanbordercontrol architecture-a model that diminishes legitimacy behind development policy bothinAfricaandin Europe alike .
