October saw members of the African-German Youth Office (AGYO) staff head to the Tanzanian city of Moshi for the organisation’s third international event. The first, held in Ghana, brought together advisory board members and representatives of other associations to discuss the AGYO’s future strategic direction. The second event was aimed at alumni from the Teams up! and Team works! programmes – as was this year’s event, “SHAPING THE FUTURE Lab”.
Every year, as summer draws to an end, Germany’s Federal President hosts a Citizens’ Festival at Schlosspark Bellevue. The event is designed with two aims in mind: to honour people from across Germany who engage in voluntary work and to give members of the public an opportunity to visit the President’s official residence. This year, the African-German Youth Organisation (AGYO) was among the participants and had the pleasure of welcoming Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze.
Are you committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Has your participation in the Teams up! youth exchange project or Team works! internship inspired you and made you want to dive deeper? Then be part of the SHAPING THE FUTURE Lab, a 5-day interactive workshop which will take place in Tanzania from 29th September until 4th October 2024.
The AGYO was established in January 2021 which means that 2024 marks the start of our fourth year. As in the years before, awareness of our Teams up! and Team works! programmes increased in 2023 and we were able to help young people join forces to promote socially, economically and environmentally sustainable development.
In Germany, there is a great deal of voluntary civic action in the field of development cooperation. It is carried out by numerous individuals, each with their own story, and the transition to a world with more sustainability and more justice will only be possible with their action. Recognising this, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has launched a new strategy to attract more people to volunteering and increase support for those already engaged in voluntary work.
Germany’s development minister, Svenja Schulze, presented the core components of her ministry's (BMZ) new Feminist Development Policy Strategy at a press conference in March.
Have you been part of a Teams up! exchange or Team works! assignment? Or do you know anyone who has participated? Do you think you have great ideas? Would you like to start a project/campaign in an African-German team and contribute to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals?
24 January saw Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), headed by Federal Minister Svenja Schulze, present its new Africa Strategy. It focuses on respectful cooperation with African countries and the sustainable development of the African continent. The AGYO will contribute to this aim in the area of “Promoting civil society engagement and youth”.
Just in time for the first door of the Advent calendar on December, 1st, the German-African Youth Office (AGYO) also opened its own doors into the social media world with its new Instagram channel, africangermanexchange_dajw. The main focus of the channel is to promote opportunities for young experts to volunteer in an African country with Team works!
From 30th October to 3rd November, the African-German Youth Office held its first event in Africa - a networking workshop in Ghana’s capital city, Accra. The four-day event provided a forum for 22 participants from civil society and organisations to meet up with representatives from Engagement Global and share knowledge and ideas, network with each other and ask questions. The results will now be incorporated into an evaluation process for the AGYO’s pilot phase.
With the African-German Youth Office (AGYO) about to celebrate its first anniversary, so far it has supported 31 exchange projects with youth groups from Germany and 13 African countries as well as 13 international assignments by young people. One of those young people is Rebeca Biira, a head chef from Uganda. She’s currently on assignment at the Konditorei Wippler cake shop in Dresden, in the German state of Saxony, where she met State Minister Barbara Klepsch.
International youth work is one of the many segments facing major challenges two years into the pandemic, as we all know. So the fact that the German Federation for Arts Education and Cultural Learning (BKJ) and its Tanzanian partner held a joint conference to reinvigorate dialogue was all the more important.
Last November, volunteer fireman Julian Schwab became the first Team works! participant from Germany to travel to Kenya on an SES assignment. He spent three weeks working alongside his tandem partner, SES expert Oliver Elsner, to deliver breathing apparatus courses to four different fire stations in Kilifi County and came to realise how valuable a change of perspective is.
For the past four weeks, Oloshuku Mbukure Lerug, known as Ole in short, from Usa River in Tanzania has been interning at the Hegau-Jugendwerk rehabilitation centre, where he has been able to expand his expertise in the field of treatment strategies and device-based therapy approaches. In addition to working in therapy sessions, the 27-year-old Team works! participant and qualified physiotherapist will also gain an insight into working with and manufacturing prostheses.
With the launch of the AGYO in summer 2021, Team works! has opened up new opportunities for the exchange of young experts in the field of development policy. Team works! wants to promote the exchange of young professionals from Germany and African countries. Erica Kusi Amponsah from Ghana is the first young African expert to come to Germany with the AGYO.
