Local/Regional Economic Development in South ... - Value Chains

ence in South-Eastern Europe, mainly in rural Romania (development
of regional development strategies) and South-East Asia in the GTZimplemented
“Provincial Development Project, Ha Tinh” in Vietnam.
He joined GTZ in 2003 and is currently involved in the program on
decentralized rural development in Zambia, implemented on behalf of
BMZ.
eike.vater@gtz.de
Velislava Vatova, philology graduate (German and Bulgarian). Since
February 2000, she has worked on the GTZ-implemented project
on behalf of BMZ on the development of Lovetch mountain region
and promotion of Bulgarian fruit and wine cultivation (FAMAD). In
the regional component of the project, she is responsible for public
relations coordination and for questions about associations and producer
associations. She was a member of the Advisory Committee to
the National Human Development Report of Bulgaria in 2003. Since
January 2005, she has coordinated the component of Lovetch development,
helping design a universally applicable development concept for
mountain regions.
famad_lov@infotel.bg
Thomas Waldraff, engineer for urban and environmental planning
(M. Sc.); worked from 1994 to 2001 in the private sector and as an appraiser
in Development Cooperation for UN Habitat, GTZ and other
organizations, spending extended periods in various South-East Asian
countries. He joined GTZ in 2001 and supervised a municipal development
and infrastructure management project in Ghana, West Africa;
he also worked closely with East and South Africa. Since 2004, he has
been director of the project on municipal land management, spatial
planning and integrated coastal zone management in Montenegro. The
key areas of his work are creating legal stability (construction) and efficient
administrative procedures.
thomas.waldraff@gtz.de
Frank Wältring, social science graduate (M. A.), specialized in economic
policy. Since September 2004, he has been a partner in the
consulting company mesopartner (www.mesopartner.com). mesopartner
offers expertise on local/regional economic development, develops
new methods, training products and offers to help initiate and develop
integrative and company-oriented economic development approaches.
Earlier, he worked as a planning officer at GTZ (private sector promotion)
where he was responsible for South-Eastern Europe and Central
Asia; from 2001 to 2003 he was with GTZ in Honduras (program for
economic development and employment promotion). His priority
areas are local economic development, SME promotion and business
development services. He has co-authored a brochure on “Promotion
of Associations in South-Eastern Europe” (GTZ 2004).
fw@mesopartner.com
Peter Welling, lawyer (Master’s degree in Law), has worked in private
companies and banks as well as in different associations of the
production, agriculture and service sectors; acquired experience in
economic development in former East Germany, the CIS and Eastern
Europe. Since 2004, he has headed the GTZ-implemented project on
economic development and employment promotion in Kosovo and,
since early 2005, the project on support for the food industry. His focus
is regional advisory services, establishment of associations, promotion
of regional approaches, training for business start-ups and advisory
services for individual companies with export potential.
peter.welling@gtz.de
Dr. Annegret Westphal, PhD in agriculture, worked as an integrated
expert at CIM in the field of economic development in Russia.
She was later a consultant in the German Government’s TRANS-
FORM program for regional and local economic development and
involved in the GTZ-financed measure, “Learning Regions”, also in
Russia. Since 2005, she has been the team leader of a project in Kazakhstan
implemented by GTZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry
of the Interior (BMI).
annegret.westphal@gtz.de
Margret Will, MBA in foreign trade, agricultural engineering (horticultural
economy) graduate; has worked in Technical Cooperation
since 1988, initially with GTZ and a consulting company and independently
since 2000. She is an appraiser/consultant for WiRAM (private
sector promotion, sector strategies, trade and cluster promotion,
professional organizations) and the agriculture/food industry (value
chains, marketing, food security). As a consultant on the project for
private sector promotion in Macedonia – focused on promoting competitiveness
of strategic branches of industry, associations and regional
cooperation – she assisted the country’s national project management.
margret.will@gmx.net
Karlheinz Zahn, economics graduate (M. A.); was director of the
department for regional policy in a federal state ministry in Germany.
This was followed by 25 years on the board of the state’s development
and investment bank and as head of the state’s Regional Investment
and Development Agency (Hessische Wirtschaftsförderung), including
an R & D society involved in the preparation and implementation of
regional development tasks. Since the mid-1990s, he has worked as an
independent consultant to KfW and GTZ in several Eastern European
countries. His priority areas are promotion strategies for SMEs, establishment
of local and regional employment promotion centers and
location development and marketing.
karlheinz.zahn@pro-regio.net
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