The Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED) (German Development Service) was a German development organization active between 1963 and 2010. It was one of the leading European development services for personnel cooperation. It was focused on sending professional Germans to work in developing countries on small development projects. It was a non-profit company with a 95% controlling stake by the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 government and 5% by the NGO "Learning and Helping Overseas". It is now part of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Society for International Cooperation) (GIZ).

History

The DED was founded 1963 in the presence of Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...

 and John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

. The first headquarter was Wächtersbach

Wächtersbach

-Location:Wächtersbach lies between the Spessart and the Vogelsberg Mountains in the middle Kinzig valley at the edge of the Büdingen Forest, not far from the towns of Gelnhausen, Birstein, Bad Orb and Bad Soden-Salmünster.-Neighbouring communities:...

 in Hessen. In 1977 the moved to Berlin-Kladow. In 1999 the DED move his headquarter from Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 to Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

 (Tulpenfeld quarter) due to the Berlin/Bonn law.On January 1st 2011 the DED was together with Inwent absorbed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Society for Technical Cooperation/GTZ), which then was renamed to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Society for International Cooperation/GIZ).

From 1963 to 2007, more than 15 000 development workers have committed themselves to improve the living conditions of people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The first 14 supporters for the so called Third World

Third World

The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...

went 20. August 1964 by plane to Daressalam (Tansania).

Working Areas

Dr. Jürgen Wilhelm was the last Director General. They worked primarily in the following areas: Promotion of Economic and employment promotion, Promotion of democracy, Rural development and conservation of resources, Water, Civil conflict management and promotion of peace, and Health.