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About Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke

Dr Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke is a global expert in the field of international economic development cooperation. With more than 25 years of consulting experience, he is active in all phases of a project and program development (preparation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation) and collaborates with various implementing organizations and development banks (German Development Cooperation - GIZ and PTB -, Inter-American Development Bank, European Union and United Nations). He has consulting experience in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr.Harmes-Liedtke is an experienced trainer and process consultant. He works with groups and teams to reflect on their situation and to then formulate change projects to improve their reality. He enables dialogue, facilitates and designs workshops, processes, and sense-making processes. He is certified in facilitation, mediation, and communication techniques which allow him to deal with sensitive, diverse, and even conflict situations. He supports systemic economic development in various roles: • As an expert and trainer in international trade, national quality policies, industrial policy, clusters, and global value chains • As a process consultant in designing and leading diagnostic processes that result in change, adaptation, and improvement • As a facilitator of dialogue, workshops, training, and sense-making processes • As a transdisciplinary researcher in the field of systemic economic development Born 1965, Ph.D. in political science and economics (Bremen 1999), MA in economics (Diplom-Volkswirt) (Hamburg 1991). German nationality.

Gender Perspective in Quality Infrastructure: A Pathway to Equality and Innovation (PART 2)

In a previous post, we discussed the importance and implications of incorporating a gender perspective into QI. We recommended using a framework tailored to the QI context to evaluate contribution levels and progress toward gender equality. This time, we will explore various entry points through which QI can integrate a gender perspective, including:

  1. Fostering women’s talent and empowerment within QI organisations

In 2023, the Global Gender Gap Report published that women represent 49.3% of total employment in occupations outside science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), but only 29.2% of all STEM workers. This shows that women continue to be under-represented in this field of work, which is usually highly paid and has excellent growth potential.

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Gender Perspective in Quality Infrastructure – A Pathway to Equality and Innovation (PART 1)

An analysis of crash and injury data collected by the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System between 1998 and 2015 in the United States, conducted by the University of Virginia, revealed a disturbing disparity: belted women are 73% more likely to be seriously injured in frontal crashes than men.

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Accreditation of private schemes: differentiator and source of credibility in various markets

In recent years, accreditation has grown, particularly for privately owned standards schemes.

The German company FoodPLUS GmbH pioneered a group of European retailers responding to various food industry scandals in the 1990s. In 1997, the newly founded Euro-Retailer Produce Work Group Good Agricultural Practice (EurepGAP) commissioned experts to develop new standards for good agriculture practices. This gave rise to the certification system known today as GLOBALG.A.P.(1)

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Global dialogue and benchmarking of quality infrastructure systems

Quality infrastructure (QI) systems differ between countries.

Germany can look back on a particularly long history of QI development. The predecessor of the PTB was the first National Metrology Institute (NMI) globally, and the German DIN is one of the pioneering National Standards Bodies (NSB). Accreditation was later introduced and, during European integration, merged into one National Accreditation Body (NAB) carrying the acronym DAkkS in Germany. However, the term “quality infrastructure” is a relatively new terminology in Germany.

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Free online learning courses on introducing Quality Infrastructure

Quality infrastructure is a complex field with specialized terminology and technical details from various areas of expertise. Different institutions offer online learning courses for individuals to become familiar with quality infrastructure. In this blogpost, we will present and compare the QI introductory courses of PTB and UNIDO.

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