Sustainable development is a global challenge. For almost 35 years, and currently in around 50 countries worldwide, the German Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation (DSIK) has been combining economic development with social participation and environmental responsibility in its work. In 2025, too, the focus remained on practical solutions that empower local people to improve their economic opportunities, create entrepreneurial prospects and, at the same time, build sustainable structures.
International cooperation
Working worldwide for participation and transformation
Digital solutions for sustainable transformation
In Latin America, climate change is hitting smallholder farmers particularly hard. There is often a lack of reliable financing options for necessary investments. The DSIK is relying on digital innovations in this area. Programmes such as agro.connect bring together financial institutions, fintech and agrotech start-ups, and agricultural organisations to improve access to financial services and promote resource-efficient agricultural practices. With success: in Mexico, the processing time for agricultural loans – for example, for seeds or investments in climate-resilient farming – has been reduced from 30 days to 1.5 days.
Promoting women in business
Participation in economic life poses major structural challenges, particularly for women, in many of the DSIK’s partner countries. In Zambia, the MENTORpreneur Zambia™ mentorship programme makes an important contribution to facilitating access to finance, entrepreneurial knowledge and professional networks. Developed in collaboration with the Bank of Zambia, the programme teaches basic business skills. In addition, mentors support the participants over a six-month period in defining and implementing their entrepreneurial goals.
Financial education and climate literacy
Alongside the structural strengthening of financial systems and entrepreneurship, building knowledge and skills plays a central role in sustainable development. The DSIK relies on innovative learning formats in this regard. In its business games, complex economic relationships are conveyed in a practical manner through hands-on or digital simulations and applied in a playful way. A globally successful concept: in 2025 alone, over 7,000 different training sessions were held, involving just under 39,000 participants.
Through its international work, the German Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation (DSIK) not only makes an important contribution to sustainable development in its partner countries. For German companies and institutions too, cooperation – particularly in future-oriented fields such as transformation, digitalisation and skills development – creates long-term economic prospects and thereby strengthens Germany’s competitiveness as a business location.