When we can look backwards and forwards in equal measure, then the place we’re standing in must be the middle. And that’s precisely where the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) wants to be. With its campaign motto, ‘50 Years of BMZ. Building the future. Let's join forces.’, the Ministry aims to anchor development cooperation as a key theme right at the heart of German society. GIZ AgenZ has been in on the campaign from the very start, helping to shape and design it and organise many different events, films, exhibitions and web tools.

Development policy is a cross-societal task that is driven by the interaction of many different actors. For this to happen, development-policy topics have to become more strongly embedded in the political and media agendas in Germany. The communication instruments used by AgenZ thus essentially have one thing in common – they portray development policy as an exciting and attractive area of activity that offers a great deal of opportunities for individuals to proactively shape the future. It is not just the future of developing and emerging nations that is at stake here, but the future of Germany, too. Social engagement is essential, since political actors alone will not be able to resolve the challenges that lie ahead in the years to come.

The entire campaign centres on the ‘future’. And so, what could be more natural than to put the future at the heart of the campaign’s visual and media agenda and so reach mainstream society – itself personified as a symbol, a giant ‘Z’ that is now set to go on tour as part of a travelling exhibition on development cooperation that started on 21 August at BMZ’s Open Day in Berlin.

On behalf of BMZ, AgenZ makes sure that events and other communication tools, and the themes they deal with, are geared to a broad range of different target groups – from tighter circles of development-policy professionals to the public at large. Thus, as part of the BMZ’s 50 year campaign, the Berlinale special award ‘Cinema fairbindet’ was presented this year in February to a film applauded for its outstanding relevance to development policy. Meanwhile, cooperation with the singer Shakira’s Barefoot Foundation is symbolic of the push for more interaction with civil society in BMZ partner countries, as well as for greater public attention to development-policy challenges.

‘50 Years of BMZ. Building the future. Let's join forces’ was co-designed by AgenZ which also gave it a uniform communication strategy. Within this framework, AgenZ is assisting BMZ to reorient its communications, making the most of this chance to apply its expertise in campaign development.