The first weeks of Leonoor
Geplaatst
op 16 juli 2019 om 08:54 uur
Welcome in the
working world of Africa
With a warm welcome of the project manager, a hug and less
personal space than you are used to, you will be welcomed in the office. For
Dutch standards, I’m already quite touchy, but the Tanzanians are next level.
It’s fun to experience that everyone is taking your hand, man.
There are a few roles in the Lake Zone Youth Empowerment
program, meet the team:
Haidari Mfinanga is the Project Manager and Bonitho Benedicto the Project Officer,
who is supporting Haidari. Then we have the Field Officer, her name is Patricia
Chilwa. Patricia is responsible for two different kinds of trainings. The IGA –
Income Generating Activity program, where they write a constitution for their
activity group. The other training is the YSLA – Youth saving and loan Associations,
where the youth learn how to save money and loan money from each other to set
up or establish their businesses.
There are two Communication Specialists, one national and
one international volunteer. Their names are Hiske Bolt and Ally Nguba. Hiske
just finished her last week, but George Balan from Malaysia will replace her.
They are responsible for all the content off the project. Providing online
content and imagery for the project partners.
Besides these specialist, there are also two private sector
advisors, Jacqueline Kakala from Tanzania and Marco Magris from Italy. They
cooperate with VETA to create internship positions, visit companies and
establish relations.
For the Skills Advisors, there are also two positions. Asha
Hamis is responsible for the Business Skills trainings and I am responsible for
the Life Skills trainings. The youth will be taught to learn about the
financial part for setting up a business and doing their own administration, but
also how to market themselves.
Haidari, the project manager can tell you lots about the
project, including the challenges. Which we will probably encounter a lot. After
you talk with the project manager, there is an opportunity to meet the team and
your partner you will work with.
When you start a new job, the first few days everything is
new and the challenge is to accept that you can’t join everything. So first
things first, contact with Lidya (IT lady) from headquarter. Headquarter can
give you access to the system, so you’re able to use mail and SharePoint. The
TIA saying is there for a reason “This is Africa”, because there are some
difficulties to overcome.
In the Lake Zone Youth Empowerment program, there are
stakeholders and partners. VETA - the Vocational Educational and Training
Authority is a governmental organization and they’re the biggest partner in
this project. They are responsible for the training locations in the four
districts, contact with the youth and the classes in the courses the youth is
following. Besides this partnership, the project is working with local
governments, for example welfare officers.
Getting invitations and establishing meetings is different
than we are used to. For example: the project manager makes an appointment with
the coordinator of VETA in the project. The cause of this meeting is to
introduce the new colleagues, like Marco and myself. The coordinator explains
what the aim is of his role and there is a bit of small talk. You need to make
an appointment for another day, to actually have the talk you’d like to have,
and this all takes 5 minutes.
In the following meeting there was a lot of speaking,
building relationships and small talk. For us the goal was to understand the
project, the partnership and sharing expectations from each other. Our
expectation had to be adjusted, since building and having relationships are the
most important things here in Tanzania. In Randstad we are used to work more
goal orientated and here in Tanzania it is more informal and based on building
a strong working relationship. Let go of everything and go with the flow.
We asked our counterpart to introduce us to another contact
in VETA and gladly everyone is really willing to do this. We experienced that
the Tanzanian culture is really hierarchical and with a submissive attitude and
extensive introductions before we get introduced to the person we’d liked to
speak. During the introduction, the man we met acted quite stiff, but when the
VETA coordinator left, we were surprised how relaxed and amicable this man was.
He told us he only had 5 minutes to spend with us, but when we left together, we
passed the big boss of VETA and suddenly time was no problem for him. Now he took
the role of the submissive employee. Everybody in an organization takes a
humble approach every now and then and it is funny to experience how the
behavior of employees changes.
After 1,5 weeks it was not clear enough for me to understand
what the aim of my role is. I spoke with several people in the project, asked
my questions in different ways, but the only clear answer I received was that
they had high expectations since I’m the professional. It frustrated me that I
didn’t understand my role, because I’d love to collaborate, but I didn’t know
how I could join the project. On Monday morning during a weekly meeting, I
explained to the team that my tasks weren’t clear for me and I was pleased they
wanted to help me. Since that moment they shared more with me, about their
experiences, what they have achieved so far, what they are aiming to achieve,
and they invited me to meetings with partners. In two days I was up and
running, understood my tasks and felt part of the team.
Reacties
Leonoor
Geplaatst op 22 juli 2019 om 09:16 uur
Karibu sana Jeroen.
Hoe gaat de fundraising? Ik vond het een flinke kluif toen met de Himalaya Challenge!
Hartstikke leuk dat jullie hier in november naartoe komen, we zijn al druk bezig met het programma. Als het goed is, zullen jullie ook een training bijwonen die wij aan de studenten geven in Mwanza.
Tot dan en succes nog even!
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Jeroen
Geplaatst op 17 juli 2019 om 23:10 uur
Hi Leonoor, wat mooi om te lezen! Top dat je hier aan bijdraagt.
Ik ben 1 van de 27 deelnemers van het Randstad-VSO Kilimanjaro challenge en ik ben bezig met de voorbereidingen voor onze fundraising voor het LZYE project. Waarschijnlijk zie ik je in november! Heel veel succes daar!
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