The members of the Board of Trustees of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) are appointed by the Federal Government and by the Government of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The board is composed of staff members of federal and state government departments with a particular interest in the IDOS's activities and of representatives of public life. Its task is to supervise the Institute's work. 

The Board of Trustees is composed of the following members:

• Jochen Flasbarth (Chair)
  State Secretary, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
• Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert (Deputy Chair)
  State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Ambassador Alexander Baum
  Adviser to the Deputy Secretary General for Global and Economic Issues on ACP and Post Cotonou negotiations at European External Action Service, Brussels
• Andreas Botsch
  Head of Department "International and European trade union policy", DGB - German Trade Union Confederation, Federal Board, Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Claudia Derichs
  Professor Transregional Southeast Asian Studies, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin
• Anka Feldhusen
  Director for Crisis Prevention and Stabilisation at the Foreign Office
  Federal Foreign Office, Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Ulrike Grote
  Director, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, University Hannover
• Joachim Heidebrecht
  Head of Department, KfW Development Bank, Frankfurt am Main
• Prof. Dr. Michael Hoch
  Rector, University Bonn, Bonn
• Prof. Dr. Michael Hüther
  Director and Member of the Presidium, German Economic Institute, Cologne
• Prof. Dr. Conrad Schetter
  Director, Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC) gGmbH
• Dr. Claudia Schmucker
  German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Berlin
• Dr. Elke Siehl
  GmbH German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH
• Ludger Siemes
  State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf
• Dr. Brigitte Schwadorf-Ruckdeschel
  Head of Division Development Policy, Agricultural Policy, United Nations, UNCTAD
  Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Bonn