Peer-to-peer sessions for the working teams to get to know each other have been completed

The first peer-to peer meetings in SAAM have been completed. These are an initial approach for the partners who are going to work together to get to know each other, their environments, their context and, of course, their very faces! SAAM management team has put together the matches of VET professionals who will be hands-on developing materials and bringing their local educational contexts closer to their counterparts.

From 30th June to 21st July, 15 peer-to-peer online sessions have been carried out, so the partners of the project can get to know their fellow VET professionals who they are going to work with.

The sessions were facilitated by the SAAM management team and they were assessed by Morgane Merret, a linguist professional who is elaborating a report on how to manage a multicultural communication approach within a project with such language complexity. In total, fifteen meetings have occurred, unfortunately all of them through video calls. All the sessions were recorded and minuted, so all the partnership can further access the content.

Thanks to SAAM umbrella partner Don Bosco Tech Africa, based in Kenya, the peer work was smoother, since this organisation acts as a powerful link between the management team and all the participant Don Bosco schools in Africa.

As the many screenshots taken show, several happy faces were as close as they could be through video calls. What time is it there? Is is true that in your country you have six months of darkness? How do you handle 45 degrees in the Summer?! Intercultural awareness was a terrific result of the meetings when different countries of the two continents involved were brought together.

The importance of peer work

SAAM main objective is to build a strong international community to perform the activities and obtain optimum results. In order to achieve this goal, small working groups are created around the African hosting partners. This first encounter represents the starting of a common path in which European and African partners are going to hold hands towards a full assessment of VET systems, institutions and schools on each other’s local context.

The teams created through these meetings are just a starting point to foresee the next phase of SAAM, in which (if COVID-19 subsides) European teachers and staff will perform a job shadowing stay at the African VET centers. The African hosts will design the visits to make the experience as much profitable as possible in order to develop common paths and materials specifically for SAAM, but also to follow suit for future VET schemes in cooperation.

Get to know the peers

The teams created around the African hosting partners are as follows:

• NIGERIA: John Bosco Institute of Technology – CPIFP Profesor Jose Luis Graiño and CPIFP Corona de Aragón (Spain), Insignare (Portugal)
• MALAWI: Don Bosco Youth Technical Institute – Centro San Viator (Spain), Scuola Centrale Formazione (Italy)
• SENEGAL: Centre de Formation Professionnelle de Don Bosco Medina Fall – SEPR (France), CNOS-FAP (Italy), CPIFP Corona de Aragón (Spain)
• CAMEROON PROCEFFA: PROCEFFA – IES Escola Pia and Ikaslan (Spain), Insignare (Portugal)
• CAMEROON EBOLOWA: Institute Technique Don Bosco Ebolowa – CPIFP Profesor Jose Luis Graiño (Spain), Insignare (Portugal), SEPR (France) – With the support of Don Bosco Tech Africa (Kenya)
• TUNISIA: Association WeYouth (Tunisia) – SCF (Italy), KPEDU (Finland), AKMI (Greece)
• BURKINA FASO: Centre Privé de la Formation Professionnelle Don Bosco Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) – CPIFP Profesor Jose Luis Graíño (Spain), SEPR (France), CNOS-FAP (Italy) – With the support of Don Bosco Tech Africa (Kenya)
• CHAD: École Professionnelle Don Bosco N’Djamena (Chad) – IKASLAN and Escola Pia (Spain), KPEDU (Finland) – With the support of Don Bosco Tech Africa (Kenya)
• IVORY COAST: Centre de Formation Professionnelle Artisanal Rural – SCF and CNOS-FAP (Italy), AKMI (Greece)
• MALI: Centre Pere Michel de Bamako – Escola Pia (Spain), ANESPO (Portugal), KPEDU (Finland) – With the support of Don Bosco Tech Africa (Kenya)
• CABO VERDE: Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo de Cabo Verde – ANESPO and Insignare (Portugal), Escola Pia (Spain).
• ANGOLA: Dom Bosco Training Centre Mabubas – ANESPO and Insignare (Portugal), SCF (Italy)
• BENIN: École Professionnelle Salesienne Saint Jean Bosco – Tech Don Bosco and CPIFP Corona de Aragon (Spain), ANESPO (Portugal).
• LIBERIA: Don Bosco Boys’ Town Technical Institute Africa (Kenya) – CPIFP Corona de Aragón and Tech Don Bosco (Spain), AKMI (Greece)
• KENYA: Don Bosco Boys’ Town Technical Institute (Kenya) – Tech Don Bosco and IKASLAN (Spain), AKMI (Greece)
• SUDAN: St. Joseph Vocational Training Centre – SCF (Italy), IKASLAN and Tech Don Bosco (Spain)