GFA Services

Quality Matters

Project and program management as GFA’s core service encompasses planning, implementation, monitor­ing and evaluation of projects worldwide. This is supple­mented by feasibility and sector studies, and fund management. GFA has developed high-quality products and methods to increase the efficiency and sustained impact of services provided. GFA’s efforts to safeguard and maintain high-level quality standards have been audited by IQM e.V. As of 20 April 2010, the auditors confirmed and certified that GFA’s quality management system meets the DIN EN ISO 9001:2008 standards.


For example,

• IT applications for financial management and procure­ment,
• document and knowledge management based on Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft CRM 4.0,
• the C³ Training manuals for the creation of competence for competition,
• the OPTIMIST microcredit services offered in Germany,
• forest investment opportunities in the timber asset class,
• certification according to FSC, PEFC and other standards,
  
• change management for the rapidly transforming public sector in Germany, or
  
• new methodologies related to the REDD approach and Forest-Climate-Projects

are cases in point.

The company’s range of business areas results from adapting to market developments so that new themes are con­tin­uously integrated into the existing GFA portfolio. This change process is supported by GFA offices, subsidiaries and an ever-growing network of strategic partners worldwide. High quality standards establish consistent performance levels in different sectors, departments and projects in GFA’s decentralized organization.

 

Strategy & Knowledge Management

The focus of GFA’s corporate strategy is founded on three decades of success in official develop­ment assistance (ODA). Gradually, the company has started to offer resulting knowhow to private and public customers beyond ODA. Regular market research helps GFA define its position and focus on critical trends. The company tackles change through systemic and experiential learning processes where knowledge management has a decisive role to play. 

In perennial planning cycles, GFA adapts product and market decisions, and the successive expansion of specialized units, local offices, subsidiaries and independent firms to the corporate strategy. Members of staff feed this iterative process with ideas which the management team translates into action. GFA’s executive board sets priorities and mobilizes the resources necessary for innovations which sustain the company’s outstanding technical expertise, high value services and distinctive customer orientation.