From Kasese to Dresden with the AGYO
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.
Dresden/Bonn, 22 June 2022
Saxony’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Barbara Klepsch, visited the Konditorei Wippler cake shop in Dresden today. While at the shop, established over a hundred years ago, she met Rebecca Birra, a Ugandan currently on placement there. The young head chef’s assignment in Germany was made possible by the African-German Youth Office (AGYO), with the support of the Senior Experten Service (SES).
Minister Klepsch’s visit on 24 June was almost exactly the first anniversary of the AGYO and was planned to mark the first AGYO assignment in Saxony - that of Rebecca Biira. A trained chef, Rebecca is looking to find out how cake shops here do things and learn all the skills required to decorate cakes and pastries. She’ll pass her knowledge on back home in Kasese, where her responsibilities as a head chef include training.
Helmut Liu, a retired master chef from Dresden, will be on hand to help the 29-year-old throughout her stay in Germany. The volunteer SES expert will be supporting Rebecca during her assignment as well as being responsible for organising social activities during her four-week stay. This cross-generational approach is what makes Team works! - the AGYO programme that Rebecca Biira is participating in - so special.
But Team works! isn’t only aimed at young experts from Africa. It’s also open to 18 to 30-year-olds from Germany who are interested in volunteering in an African country. Since the programme started one year ago, a good 20 young people have signed up with the SES, which is the organisation that allocates the placements and chooses the accompanying experts - including those that go to Africa.
Team works! is one of two programmes run by the AGYO, which is implemented by Engagement Global. The second, which is called Teams up!, is an exchange programme for youth groups. It provides an opportunity for young people from Germany and African countries to work together on a joint project, exploring one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since the launch of the African-German Youth Office, Engagement Global has provided funding for 31 exchange projects involving youth groups from Germany and 13 different African countries.
Senior Experten Service (SES)
With well in excess of 12,000 experts from 50 sectors, the Senior Experten Service is Germany’s leading volunteering organisation for experts and managers who have either retired or are taking a career break.
Since it was founded in 1983, the SES has conducted more than 60,000 volunteer assignments in 160 countries, always with the aim of strengthening knowledge-sharing in development cooperation.
It has been responsible for the AGYO’s Team works! programme - in Africa and Germany - since the AGYO was established on 24 June 2021. Engagement Global - Service for Development Initiatives is responsible for implementing the AGYO on behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Contact
Engagement Global - German-African Youth Office (AGYO) - Teams up!
Petra Gohr-Guder
Tel.: 0228 20 717-1720
presse@engagement-global.de
Senior Experten Service (SES) – Team works!
Dr. Heike Nasdala
Tel.: 0228 26090-51
presse@ses-bonn.de