When your assignment provides an abundance of experiences
When your assignment provides an abundance of experiences
Team works! is your chance to broaden your professional and personal horizons as well as putting your expertise to good use. A unique learning opportunity that brings people together across continents.
When you find the special in the ordinary
When you find the special in the ordinary
From lunch breaks to project completions, you share your working day with your colleagues on the partner continent, gaining new perspectives in the process.
When your preparation fills you with anticipation
When your preparation fills you with anticipation
To ensure a safe and meaningful exchange, Team works! arranges a virtual introductory tandem meeting, provides global learning courses and organises your travel and accommodation.
Program line Team works!
Team works! Young Expert Exchange for Sustainable Development
Team works! brings together young experts and more experienced ones in a tandem team to help promote sustainable development. Working in cooperation with the Senior Expert Service (SES), the AGYO gives young experts the opportunity to undertake a three to six-week internship in Africa or Germany. Both the experts themselves and the enterprises they are assigned to benefit from this exchange of ideas and knowledge between two generations and two continents.
The advantages for you as a young expert
Your expertise counts - and grows
Representing your generation, you share new perspectives and ideas
You are part of an international team working for a shared cause
You take a bold step in a new direction - with support from others
You gain a better awareness of yourself, the world and your possibilities
You make a contribution to sustainable development
BECOMING PART OF TEAM WORKS!
01
FINDING OUT MORE
Think this might be for you? If you’re a young expert from Germany, you’ll find more details in the Team works! in Africa section. Young experts from African countries can find out more in the Team works! in Germany section. Good to know: An internship usually lasts three to six weeks.
02
FORMING A TANDEM TEAM
The expert exchanges with Team works! are run by our partner, the Senior Expert Service (SES). They find an experienced expert to support you before and during your internship. This person will already be familiar with your place of internship on the other continent.
03
MAKING PREPARATIONS
You will be given thorough preparation for your internship – from language lessons to information about your place of internship through to global learning. In addition, the SES will look after all the organisational aspects, helping you with your travel plans, visa application and finding accommodation.
04
CARRYING OUT YOUR INTERNSHIP
Your internship will last three to six weeks, during which you’ll discover how they work in your host enterprise and be able to share your own experiences. Working as an international team, you are sure to find lots of things in common and you will have the chance to discuss different approaches and develop new ideas.
05
LIVING AND WORKING ABROAD
You’ll find out about life in your country of internship and meet lots of new people - at work or out shopping in your neighbourhood, for example. These encounters will give you a new perspective on global issues and ideas on how to help solve them.
06
EVALUATING YOUR INTERNSHIP
After your internship, we will explore how it has helped you develop and what we could improve. We hope you will have had a chance to forge lots of valuable contacts and friendships, connect you with other alumni and advise you on further engagement opportunities.
In October 2025, 26 committed young people from Germany and various African countries gathered for a week in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, to work together on sustainable solutions to local challenges. The participants, all former members of the AGYO programme lines Teams up! and Team works!, contributed their experiences and perspectives to translate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from theory into practice.
Matthew from Uganda spent six weeks working at STREIF, a prefabricated house manufacturer in Weinsheim. This was made possible by his German friend Filbo – the two had met a year earlier during Filbo's internship with Team works! in Uganda.
Are you committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Did your participation in Teams up! or Team works! inspired you to do more? Then apply for ‘Global Citizens for Local Change: AGYO Alumni Workshop 2025’, a 5-day interactive workshop that will take place in Namibia from 28 September to 3 October 2025.
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.
You are either a trainee in the third year of apprenticeship…
…or a young professional in your first years of work.
You want to get involved in social and development activities.
You are flexible in terms of time – we have to find a suitable internship for you first.
Your employer will have to grant you leave for the duration of your internship.
I'D LIKE TO GET INVOLVED! I'M ...
Getting involved in Team works!
Are you between 18 and 30, nearing the end of your training or already have a few years’ work experience and would like to apply for a three- to six-week internship with Team works!? Then take a look here for detailed information about what we can offer you and what to do next.
Would your business or welfare/healthcare organisation like to host a young expert or send a young expert on an internship? We can help you during the planning and preparatory stage and during the actual internship. Simply contact our partner, SES:
Would you like to volunteer with Team works!, use your expertise to promote international development and support young people during an internship in an African country or Germany? If so, create a profile in the SES database or contact us direct if you have any questions or suggestions.
Introducing our partner: the Senior Expert Service (SES)
The Senior Expert Service (SES) is Germany’s largest volunteering organisation for experts and executives who have either retired or are taking some time off work with Weltdienst 30+. Over 13,000 experts from all sectors share their knowledge on assignments in Germany and abroad. On their international assignments they mainly work with small and medium enterprises, public administration bodies, welfare or healthcare facilities and institutions of basic and vocational education. The SES implements the Team works! programme on AGYO’s behalf. The Team works! tandem assignments, in which a more experienced expert and a young expert join forces, add a new component to the SES offering – intergenerational cooperation. A boost to the AGYO - and the SES!
In 2015, the United Nations agreed on 17 global sustainable development goals, which are set out in a “global contract for the future”- Agenda 2030. The AGYO is among the organisations aiming to help ensure these goals are met. With this in mind, each Team works! project explicitly addresses at least one of the SDGs.
