Vita
Matthias Rompel is Honorary Professor at Justus Liebig University. At the same time, he is Head of the Division East Africa & Horn of Africa at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the German government’s international cooperation agency. He is therefore responsible for GIZ's work in the countries of East Africa and at the Horn of Africa. Before he was in charge of Southern Africa.
Previously he lived and worked in various African countries as Country Director of GIZ, including in Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Malawi. He has extensive practical experience in policy advice in developing countries and emerging economies, and has advised various German federal ministries on their internationalization strategies.
He works at the intersection of sociology with the interdisciplinary perspective of development studies and the practical implementation of international cooperation for sustainable development.
At the Institute of Sociology, he researches and teaches on the following topics:
- Development studies, development sociology, development economics, post-colonial studies
- Cultural and social comparison of non-European societies
- Theories, concepts, and challenges of international cooperation
- Country and regional studies, especially on the regions of Southern Africa, East Africa, and the Horn of Africa
Current research project: NISANSA - Nisansa
Matthias Rompel is a member of the board of Pallium – Research and Aid for Social Projects