Togo Great challenges and ambitious goals

After almost 40 years of dictatorial rule, Togo is now in a phase of democratisation and liberalisation. The country faces huge challenges in terms of development: Togo is one of the poorest countries in the world and part of the group of fragile states. On the current United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) it is ranked 167th out of 189 countries.

In its "Vision Togo 2030", the government has laid down the ambitious goal of becoming a middle-income country by 2030. In 2018, Togo was accepted into the G20 Compact with Africa initiative. The initiative was launched in 2017 under Germany's G20 Presidency. It seeks to foster private investment in Africa.

German development cooperation with Togo

Togo is one of the development partners with which Germany cooperates closely on the basis of intergovernmental agreements. Like most Western donors, Germany suspended its official development cooperation with the Togolese government in 1993. In the years that followed, support was only provided to projects run by civil society and faith-based organisations that did not involve government authorities and directly benefited the population. In 2012, Germany resumed official cooperation in response to the reform process launched by the Togolese government. Germany is the largest bilateral donor.

The priority areas of cooperation are good governance/decentralisation, agriculture/rural development and sustainable economic development with a focus on vocational training/youth employment.