The Kingdom of Lesotho is one of the world's poorest countries, with 58 per cent of its population living below the poverty line. The economic divide between cities and rural regions is huge. Only around 10 per cent of the land is arable. Outside the capital Maseru there are few alternatives to agricultural production, which is why unemployment and poverty levels are high in rural regions. Because of the country's topography, many areas have no roads and villages can only be reached by walking long distances. Few basic public services are available in rural regions because of the country's strong centralisation. At 23%, Lesotho has the world's third-highest rate of HIV infection. This leads to growing social burden and to a significant lack of skilled labour. The number of AIDS orphans is rising daily.

The country’s development strategies have been designed to address this situation. Their core elements include the improvement of basic public services for the population by means of decentralisation and the fight against HIV/AIDS.
 
GTZ started supporting poverty reduction in Lesotho on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) at a very early stage. Development cooperation with Lesotho began with rural development projects, employment promotion and infrastructure projects immediately following the country's independence in 1966. Since 2002, the priority area for cooperation has been decentralisation, a field in which Germany plays a leading role among the donors. On behalf of BMZ, GTZ is responsible for coordinating German development cooperation in Lesotho.

With the focus on managing for development results, GTZ employs appropriate concepts and instruments to prepare, implement and evaluate Technical Cooperation in Lesotho. Cooperation takes place at national as well as district and community level. It comprises, amongst other things, policy advice, personnel and organisational development and the financing of concrete development measures.