The Goethe-Institut in sub-Saharan Africa

Germany’s globally active cultural institute encourages international cultural cooperation, promotes knowledge of the German language abroad and conveys a comprehensive image of Germany.

The work of the Goethe-Institut aims at a deeper understanding between cultures. We engage in a collaborative dialogue with local cultural institutions and stakeholders, and we build on our active network across Africa.

The Goethe-Institut is organised in 12 different regions worldwide. One of them is Sub-Saharan Africa - with 47 countries, 650 million people and more than 1000 different languages, it is a very diverse part of the world. The Goethe-Institut has fourteen institutes in this region and supports five Goethe-Centres, three liaison offices and numerous language learning centres and language examination partners. Some of these have a long history: The first Goethe-Institutes opened their doors in 1961 in Togo (Lomé), Cameroon (Yaoundé) and Ghana (Accra).