Social partners

Our partners help us to understand external perspectives on a variety of community or human rights topics and address specific priorities, such as boosting local employment and improving access to energy.

We work with local and global non-governmental and humanitarian organisations, including BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) and the Clean Cooking Alliance. These groups help us address the needs of the communities where we operate. In 2019, we also joined the Smart Communities Coalition, which seeks to improve the delivery of essential services to refugees and host communities.

Better access to jobs and training

In Tanzania and Kenya, we supported the Employment and Skills for Eastern Africa (or E4D/SOGA) programme in partnership with the German, British and Norwegian governments, the European Union and several companies. E4D/SOGA aims to improve access to jobs and economic opportunities for local people in natural resource-based industries and related sectors.

In 2019, 7,290 people received training and 3,867 people (a third of whom were women and the majority young people) secured employment across eastern Africa.

Since the programme started in 2015, more than 55,000 people have received training and around 15,600 people have secured employment. More than 18,700 people have increased their income, by an average of 235%, and about 31,130 local enterprises have increased revenues and competitiveness.

External voice

“The collaboration with Shell has enabled us to understand industry needs better and to customise our skills programmes to what industry needs.

“By joining forces, we can have a stronger impact on supporting local jobs and broader economic changes in eastern Africa. GIZ, as a development agency, and international companies such as Shell each bring different expertise and perspectives into a partnership through which we learn from each other and thrive to deliver better outcomes.”