A chatbot in Rwanda answers 14 million inquiries. France prefers to promote the digital ecosystem rather than its own channels. China builds reach thr …

A chatbot in Rwanda answers 14 million inquiries. France prefers to promote the digital ecosystem rather than its own channels. China builds reach through TikTok and WeChat – focusing on perception rather than dialogue. Some donors are barely noticeable in public literature on this topic.

In our new CDG Policy Brief, we compare how Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, China, and South Korea actually use social media in development cooperation – beyond the question of whether the potential exists.

→ Why a toll-free telephone hotline in Somaliland outperformed an SMS solution
→ Why even methodologically leading donors still call their showcase projects ‘pilot programs’ – eight years after launch
→ Why German and European development cooperation channels do not communicate in a vacuum, but in the same information space as a professionally developed Chinese media presence

With six concrete practical recommendations.

Policy Brief No. 04/2026 – fully available in German and English.

Development Cooperation Digitalisation GIZ SocialMedia InternationalDevelopment CDG CarlDuisbergGesellschaft

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