By GAO ZHUAN

There is a Chinese saying: If you present someone with a fish, he has food for a day; if you teach him how to fish, he can feed himself for the rest of his life. This Chinese maxim characterizes the work of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH in China.

GTZ is a worldwide service enterprise dealing in international cooperation towards sustainable development. To date, GTZ has implemented 2,700 development projects and programs in over 130 southern and eastern countries on behalf of the German Federal Government.

GTZ’s presence in China started at the beginning of the 1980s, when China’s policy of reform had begun leading it into the modern age. In the 20 years since, GTZ has been China’s companion and helpmate throughout the process of economical and social change. GTZ works on the principle of adapting its strategies to suit its Chinese partners and the particular phase of China’s economic development. GTZ has helped China make the difficult transition from a planned to a market economy and to face the challenges emanating from economic reforms. In close cooperation with its Chinese partners, GTZ develops concepts and concrete measures that increase economic efficiency, competitive capacity, and innovation in different areas of the Chinese economy.

Dr. A. Dörken, GTZ’s China operations director says: “In the meantime a shift of focus in our work is apparent. During the initial 1980s phase our work mainly dealt in the micro-economics essential at that time of nascent economic reforms, such as supplying basic equipment and vocational and technical training of skilled labor for German invested factories. Today we are at the macro-economics stage; our focus is on consultation services for the current Chinese lawmaking process that will help create a new legal framework for economic development.” GTZ attaches high priority to its medium-term consultation plan for public institutions whereby they are geared to answering strategic and conceptual questions on all fields of operations. At the same time it is involved in a range of local projects that are intended to serve as models.

After years of experience born of its various worldwide operations, in 2003 GTZ redefined its working parameters within China. Since then, activities here have been mainly concentrated in four fields of operation: economic reform and development of the market economy, natural resource protection and poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and energy management.

German experts explaining new technology to their Chinese partners.

In each key field a wide range of multi-leveled programs regarding implementation of guidelines and measures for development aid is formulated, most particularly that of Energy Management. GTZ’s work comprises consulting governmental bodies, founding sustainable energy systems and introducing advanced know-how to hundreds of coal power stations nationwide in order to modernize the energy industry and introduce renewable energy in Tibet and Inner Mongolia.

The wide scope of GTZ’s work in this field is demonstrated by a comparatively small project conducted in Samye County in Tibet, well known for its monastery of the same name. The Samye Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism and attracts numerous visitors every year. Nevertheless, this region needs modernization as its energy supply has been attached for a long time by a technical defect in the small local hydropower plant. To repair the plant would, in terms of “Energy Management,” have been a merely superficial measure. The GTZ project team, comprising not only engineers but also economists dealing in business administration, signed a contract with the local water authority that covered refurbishment work and also ensured profitable operation of the plant. The GTZ advisor and the project team discussed a lease agreement with the leadership of the local authority, and it was decided that a private leaseholder be nominated to develop an individual market economic initiative, a project requiring great courage. Out of various interested candidates, Dawa Badu, an employee of the local authority and driver of its only all-terrain vehicle, was considered the right man for the job. He and local authority agreed on a five-year lease agreement, whereby Dawa Badu operates and maintains the machines, and also manages the supply of household electricity. GTZ experts gave him training in hydro-technology and worked out procedures for costing, levying electricity tariffs and book-keeping. The hydropower plant began operation in 1997 and Dawa Badu engaged two co-workers. The system of electricity supply has since operated efficiently in Samye, encouraging the community to establish various workshops and introduce all kinds of machines to local industry. Dawa Badu’s income enables him to support his 11-member family with ease; they and the other families in the region are satisfied and happy.

Local authorities immediately recognized the importance of the Samye model in relation to Shannan County, which is teeming with waterpower resources. Chong Jiang, deputy head of the water management authority of Tibet, was particularly impressed by the diligence and sense of responsibility of these German advisors, and wants to see the Samye model widely applied in Tibet. All the urban areas in Tibet are scheduled for a stable electricity supply by 2015.

The great success of GTZ’s work in China is based on extensive transmission of sustainability-promoting know-how.