The news that Jens Martens passed away prematurely in May 2026 following a short, serious illness has caused great sadness at the Development and Peace Foundation (sef:).

For many years, Jens Martens, born in 1962, was a close companion and supporter of our foundation. As early as the 1990s, he contributed his expert advice to the foundation’s work as a freelance consultant, before becoming a member of our Advisory Board in 2005. For two decades, he served in this role with passion and was involved in numerous events and publications organised by sef:. Throughout these turbulent times, we could always rely on his analytical acumen, his profound expertise and his clear stance.

As Executive Director of the Global Policy Forum Europe e. V. (GPF Europe), whose work he led from 2004 to 2025, and as a long-standing board member of the Global Policy Forum in New York, Jens Martens set standards in civil society engagement. His tireless commitment to multilateral cooperation, to the reform of international organisations, and to fair international environmental and development policies made him a defining figure in the development policy community in Germany and beyond. 

Martens helped shape the discourse on global issues of the future at an early stage: as far back as 2013, he wrote an article for the sef: on the Post-2015 Agenda, in which he outlined the contours of shared goals for development and sustainability. His aim was not merely to extend the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but to create a universal agenda that integrates poverty reduction, human rights, ecological limits and financing issues. Shortly afterwards, this process gave rise to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Today, of all times, as the future of the 2030 Agenda and multilateral sustainability policy is being renegotiated, his wise and forward-looking insights will be sorely missed.

Oliver Krauß MdL, Chairman of the Board of sef:, pays tribute to Jens Martens on behalf of the Board and the Secretariat, describing him as a visionary, a committed champion of global justice and a long-standing partner of the foundation: “We will remember his professional achievements as well as his winning, people-oriented and unpretentious manner. His legacy remains visible – in his pioneering writings, in the civil society structures he helped shape, and in the mission he pursued throughout his life: to work tirelessly for a more just world,” said Krauß.

The Development and Peace Foundation owes Jens Martens a debt of immense gratitude. His passing leaves a huge void. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, who meant everything to him, and to all those who mourn Jens Martens.

In a special edition of their newsletter, the team at Global Policy Forum Europe has compiled their obituaries, Jens Martens’ final publication and his collected works.