GIZ: How a development appointment became political

BERLIN — A controversy that erupted at the end of last year over the nomination of a politician with no development background to the management board of the German Corporation for International Development, or GIZ, underscores that as Germany becomes a more significant player on the international aid scene, greater domestic scrutiny will follow. “[Development cooperation] is in the public debate where it never was before.” --— Raimund Zühr, project manager, SEEK Development Though technically a consulting corporation with a range of clients, GIZ counts the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, or BMZ, as its largest patron and the corporation is often the face of Germany's development activities to the rest of the world. Determining exactly what those priorities are has become increasingly political as Germany’s aid budget has grown — it is now the second-biggest bilateral donor worldwide, although almost a quarter of that budget is spent domestically on hosting refugees. Some parties are looking to use that to maximize opportunities for German businesses, and others as a tool to stem refugee flows to Europe. As a result, all aspects of German development are suddenly gathering greater attention. "Development cooperation is becoming more important," Raimund Zühr, a project manager at SEEK Development, a Berlin-based consulting group focused on global development and social impact, told Devex. "Since the refugee crisis, it's an object of interest. It's in the public debate where it never was before. [For] GIZ, as the biggest implementing organization in the system, this automatically creates more interest." This helps explain how the job opening for GIZ's Arbeitsdirektor — or labor director — became an unexpected flashpoint. In October 2018, representatives of Germany's coalition government nominated Matthias Machnig for the position, which is part of the management board of GIZ. That board has more day-to-day oversight of GIZ than the two other statutory bodies that govern the company — the shareholders and a supervisory board that is a mix of representatives drawn from employees and shareholders, including the federal government. The labor director's post has particular responsibility for managing major staff decisions. Machnig's nomination came from representatives of the ruling parties — a grand coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, or CDU, and the Social Democrats, or SPD. But it was met with immediate concerns from a majority of the 10 workers’ representatives on the supervisory board. According to the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, seven of the representatives sent a letter to SPD leader Andrea Nahles objecting to Machnig's lack of development experience and demanding a different candidate. Machnig is a long-time SPD political operator. He made his reputation as a political adviser to former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Merkel's predecessor, and later served as secretary of state at the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology, among a range of other political positions. None of those jobs, though, had a development focus. With CDU already holding a leadership position on the management board, Machnig's nomination was seen as a political spoil for SPD as the junior partner in the ruling coalition, and a sop to a party veteran. The parliamentary spokesperson for development from political party The Left, Helin Evrim Sommer, issued a tweet shortly after Machnig's nomination calling for the position to be filled on professional and personal criteria, not political standing. The demand for candidates with development experience represents something of a break with the past. Christoph Beier, the current vice chair, has an extensive background in development, but Tanja Gönner, its chairperson, had none before her appointment in 2012. The concern about Machnig's lack of development experience might point to the evolution of GIZ and its need for greater specialization, but it also may have camouflaged more traditional motives. Zühr said there were concerns that Machnig might prove oppositional to high-ranking GIZ officials who were allied with other political parties. "It's important to keep in mind what triggered this," he said. "There was this letter written by the employees and many of them are leading GIZ people who have been in the bureaucracy, in the organization, for a long time. Thus, there's a personal fear, 'What might happen if he just decides to move me because he doesn't like me any longer?'" Machnig withdrew his name from consideration before the end of 2018 and the search for a new labor director is still underway. A GIZ spokesperson declined to comment on when a new candidate would be named to the position, which has now been open since July, or any aspect of the hiring process. SPD officials also declined repeated requests to comment on Machnig's failed nomination or who they might support for the position. Zühr said he did not expect the delay to affect GIZ's performance but that they now “want to avoid any controversies." That means identifying a candidate who is both politically palatable and also has some development experience. "That is probably the main goal of everyone involved here. I think everyone was a little bit surprised about how big the thing got," he said.