Programme Origin
Established in 2019, the “Philippines-Germany Nursing Global Skill Partnership” is the first Global Skill Partnership (GSP) in the nursing sector. It was created to address Germany’s acute nursing shortage and to leverage the Philippines’ position as the world’s largest deployer of international nurses. In 2023, Germany had 35,000 nursing vacancies, while in 2021, an estimated 316,000 of the Philippines’ 620,000 licensed nurses worked abroad.
The partnership builds upon the “Triple Win” programme, a Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (the German Agency for International Cooperation) and Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Federal Employment Agency) initiative active since 2013. However, it incorporates the GSP model’s core principle of strengthening the origin country’s health workforce to mitigate “brain drain.” By investing in training within the Philippines for both nurses who will migrate (the “abroad” track) and those who will remain (the “home” track), the GSP aims to expand the global supply of nurses in a sustainable, “triple-win” solution.
Funding and Participating Organisations
The partnership involves a multi-stakeholder coalition from both the public and private sectors. Destination-side financing for skills and language training, training in non-hospital elderly care facilities, equipment and flights has been provided by the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Federal Employment Agency), the German Ministry of Health (BMG), the Bertelsmann Stiftung and German hospital partners.
The initiative is led by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Agency for International Cooperation), often in cooperation with the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (the German Federal Employment Agency). On the Philippine side, three nursing schools play a key role in training: Baliuag University, Northwestern University, and the University of Baguio.
In Germany, the partnership includes several actors. Hospital employers such as University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and Klinikum Frankfurt Oder (FFO) are directly engaged, alongside long-term care facilities including Milagros Elderly Home Care Services and Rippling River. Additionally, language training is provided by Berlitz and Tandem.
Progress to Date
As of April 2025, the partnership had trained or was in the process of training over 300 nurses across four cohorts. This includes nearly 200 nurses on the “home” track who are working or plan to work in the Philippines, and a combined total of nearly 100 nurses on the “abroad” track, of whom 44 were already working in Germany.
Key project activities have included:
- Dual-track training: The GSP curriculum is added to the standard Philippine nursing education. The “abroad” track includes four weeks of theoretical and skills training, 400 hours of practical exposure to a non-hospital elderly care facility and intensive German language training up to the B2 level to ensure direct skill recognition in Germany. The “home” track incorporates demand-driven modules from this curriculum, such as geriatrics.
- Capacity building in the Philippines: The partnership has invested directly in the Philippine training system by installing two modern skills laboratories at partner universities and facilitating knowledge transfer through lecturer exchanges, where 10 clinical instructors were trained in Germany.
Role of the Center for Global Development (CGD)
This GSP is a real-world implementation of the model championed by the Center for Global Development (CGD). The CGD blog post about this project, co-authored by CGD experts, analyses the partnership’s implementation, lessons and future, demonstrating the CGD’s active role in researching and promoting this approach to ethical labour migration.
Major Takeaways and Lessons Learned
- Skill recognition reduces “brain waste”: By providing comprehensive language and technical training before migration, the GSP enables nurses to achieve full skill recognition upon arrival in Germany. This allows them to avoid underemployment as nursing assistants and access higher salaries and better career pathways.
- “Home” track mitigates “brain drain”: The partnership explicitly expands the stock of healthcare workers in the Philippines. This provides a clear “mutual benefit” for the origin country, helping destination countries meet their international obligations while securing a flow of qualified workers.
- Timing of language training is crucial: The first cohort, trained online during the COVID-19 pandemic, struggled to pass the B2 language exam after migrating. In response, the partnership pivoted to ensure subsequent cohorts achieve B2 qualification before leaving the Philippines, which significantly improved success rates.
- Employer co-financing is key to sustainability: The partnership successfully secured financial support from German employers. Trust was built by giving employers a say in the selection process, including academic performance as a key criterion and tailoring training to ensure a smoother work integration for the arriving nurses.
What’s Next
The partnership has laid a foundation for expansion. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Agency for International Cooperation) is planning to explore GSPs for other healthcare professions and in other countries, such as India and Uzbekistan. To scale the nursing partnership in the Philippines specifically, the following steps are needed:
- Stronger political commitment: A consensus between the Filipino and German governments is needed on the volume of nurses to be trained and the number of partner institutions on both sides.
- Improved Inter-agency cooperation: Filipino government agencies, including among others the Department of Migrant Workers, the Department of Health, and the Commission on Higher Education need to work together to manage labour migration agreements.
- Greater financial commitments: Additional investment is required to expand training capacity in Philippine nursing schools, particularly in rural areas, and to provide technical assistance to Filipino migration authorities for labour market forecasting and digitalisation.
Resources and Further Reading
Global Skills Partnership Nursing Website
CGD Blog Post: Hundreds of Nurses Trained Through Philippines-Germany Global Skill Partnership
Embassy of the Philippines Berlin. 2020. “Global skill partnership for nurses launched.” October 2.
Project Contact
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (the German Agency for International Cooperation): Philippines-Germany Global Skill Partnership Team, email: [email protected]
Limon Rodriguez, World Bank, email: [email protected]