If you don't have to keep reinventing the wheel, you are obviously at an advantage. You save time and money, and you can steer clear of the usual pitfalls obstructing your path. This principle also applies to international cooperation and highlights the importance of knowledge as a development-policy resource. Knowledge promotes economic growth. By the same token, lack of access to education and (global) knowledge can impede the development of a region or even entire countries. Knowledge is thus becoming an ever more significant factor of production alongside labour, capital and land, making the global exchange of knowledge a key challenge for international cooperation towards sustainable development.

Sharing experience, shaping the future

This is just one of the reasons why GTZ is spotlighting "Knowledge" in 2006. It is encouraging both experts and the public at large to think about and discuss the relevance of knowledge to development policy. Addtionally, GTZ is highlighting the importance of effective and efficient knowledge transfer for the success of its daily work. As an international knowledge broker, one of GTZ's primary tasks is to make any required (specialist) knowledge available to its partners on the ground while improving the dissemination of (general) knowledge in the target regions. The sustainability of measures is always of paramount importance. This is why we advise and train the people and institutions themselves, thereby building their capacity over the long term and ensuring that the transferred knowledge remains available locally, even after a project has come to an end.

This is no small task. Given GTZ's 2,700 projects in 131 countries around the world, its knowledge management has to meet the most exacting standards. 10,000 GTZ employees thus form part of and maintain a network culture to facilitate the smooth flow of information in all directions. The aim is to give clients and partners access to the requisite know-how at the right time and in the right form.

Despite the corporate and technological complexity of this task, the social, cultural and ethical aspects of international knowledge transfer must not be neglected. After all, shared knowledge multiplies, and in some circumstances may even change traditional knowledge that generations of a cultural group hand down to subsequent generations.