Dialogue, collaboration and knowledge-sharing are key success factors of international development projects. The recently kicked-off, EU-funded Ocean Governance project is all about promoting collaboration and knowledge-sharing for the good of marine and coastal ecosystems. As lead partner of the consortium with B&S Europe and the WWF, GOPA was awarded this EUR 7 million project. The Ocean Governance project (full title: “Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems, catalysts for building peace and security and fostering sustainable economies, South Asia and Atlantic Ocean basin”) aims to strengthen the EU's position as global actor in international Ocean Governance. It connects the managers of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) within, and between, the two regions in focus by the project: the Atlantic Basin and South-East Asia. Managers of marine and/or coastal protected areas are given support in improving the effectiveness of their work – to protec…

Since 2018, GOPA mbH and EPOS Health Management have been conducting a complex evaluation of the GIZ Hospital Partnership Initiative, financed by BMZ and the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation. Many health organisations in Germany, especially hospitals, already maintain peer-to-peer links and working relationships with health institutions in countries worldwide. The Initiative aims to recognise and foster this engagement. By building up partner capacity, and facilitating projects, the Initiative enables the parties involved to put their ideas into practice. During the evaluation, the GIZ commissioned GOPA and EPOS not only to take care of the evaluation, but also of the annual monitoring. This year, the GOPA Group consortium is monitoring around 150 different Hospital Partnership projects which range from preventive measures for rheumatic heart disease in Ethiopia, to dentistry in the Caribbean, to improving treatment for snakebites in Laos. Most projects are monitored by GOPA’s in-ho…

On Wednesday, 17 June 2020, GOPA was presented with the Ökoprofit (ECOPROFIT) certificate by Alexander Hetjes, Mayor of Bad Homburg, for the company’s environmental management efforts in 2019. Since 2014, GOPA’s environmental management team has participated regularly in Ökoprofit workshops, which deal with various topics related to environmental management and CSR. In last week’s workshop, Ökoprofit members discussed the new Environmental Law and its new regulations on CO2 pricing for heating and transport. Furthermore, Martin Haustermann from the Global Nature Fund reported on latest developments in the cultivation of sustainable natural rubber. GOPA has been Ökoprofit-certified since 2015. Ökoprofit is a programme for sustainable economic development, based on both economic and ecological success. We work together with the town council, other businesses and our own employees to reduce the use of energy and raw materials. For further information on GOPA's environmental effor…

At the end of January 2020, we started the GIZ-funded “Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation Project” in Tunis. This two-year project is being carried out within the framework of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, a public-private partnership giving support to countries in implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. In line with the overall approach of the Global Alliance, the two long-term experts on the ground will bring together German, European and Tunisian companies, as well as the Tunisian Government, as equal partners. They will identify opportunities to address delays and unnecessary “red tape” in cross-border trade – and design and deploy targeted reforms in the area of customs and logistics that deliver commercially quantifiable results. The project is part of the GIZ module on job partnerships and promotion of medium-sized enterprises in Tunisia, a programme under BMZ’s Special Initiative for Training and Job Creation. The Global Alliance includes: …