Interview with Clara Hörmann on the “SHAPING THE FUTURE Lab” workshop in Tanzania
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”. Clara Hörmann, a project manager at the AGYO, gave us her thoughts on the Tanzanian event.
Clara, you and your team have just returned from running the AGYO’s “SHAPING THE FUTURE Lab” event. What did that entail and what was it like for you?
Our “SHAPING THE FUTURE Lab” workshop brought together 36 alumni from the AGYO’s two programmes from 11 African countries and Germany. Our aim was to promote knowledge transfer by facilitating networking between the participants.
The “Future Lab” was designed as an interactive, collaborative workshop at which participants could incorporate their skills, share ideas and learn from others’ best practices. In the run-up to the event, there were virtual preparatory sessions, giving participants an opportunity to get to know each other and create small groups for different topics. The participants played a huge part in the workshop's success by presenting relevant issues and interesting methods and sharing new ideas based on their experiences.
The 36 participants represented eleven nationalities. How did their different cultures and perspectives contribute to the atmosphere of the event?
We had a rigorous application process to ensure we found highly motivated and competent participants from both programmes for the “SHAPING THE FUTURE Lab” workshop. The different perspectives and backgrounds and the interdisciplinary work groups greatly enriched the discussions and networking opportunities.
The participants helped create a great atmosphere by sharing their experiences. These positive contributions were visible at the market of opportunities, where work groups presented their skills and interests, and during the evening entertainment, which was mainly organised by the participants themselves. On one evening, for instance, there was a yoga class, led by a German participant. On another, someone from Benin told us all about professional storytelling.
This is the third event of its kind. What was the participant feedback like?
The feedback from the participants was excellent. We also used the opportunity to gather ideas for a potential future event and inspiration on how young people could help shape the AGYO. The participants were grateful for the opportunity to take part in the workshop and would have liked it to be longer. We had an ambitious schedule and they would have liked to have more spare time to explore Moshi apart from during the SDG quest. So, obviously, we’ll try to bear that in mind when we plan future events.
What was your personal highlight? What did you enjoy most about the event? Were there any particularly memorable moments?
Besides the stimulating discussions, our visit to CNCC (Children Nature Conservation Club) was my personal highlight. They’ve carried out several exchange projects as a Tanzanian partner on the Teams up! programme. The head of the organisation is the incredibly inspiring Happyness Mwenda. She gave us a presentation on her organisation’s work and its projects.
We then travelled to one of CNCC’s partner schools, where we discussed climate change issues in student-moderated focus groups. Afterwards, I got chatting to a student who turned out to be a past participant on a Teams up! exchange visit to Germany. For him, it was truly a “life-changing experience” and he was full of enthusiasm about his time on the exchange. For me, it was a lovely moment and one that really showed how relevant our projects are.
How would you like to see these events and the AGYO’s international activities develop in the future?
My main wish, of course, is for the AGYO to be made a permanent programme beyond 2026. It wouldn’t have been possible to hold an event like this without the AGYO. I’d also like to incorporate what we’ve learned from the “SHAPING THE FUTURE Lab” workshop into another peer-to-peer learning format to give even more alumni the chance to take part in an international event and network with each other.
