Staff Mobility: Africa – Europe
Fr Sony Joseph Pottenplackal, Principal of the Don Bosco Technical High School in Monrovia (Liberia), visited the SAAM Greek partner, AKMI, to understand the social context, the VET system in Greece and discover the AKMI facilities.
How did you prepare your mobility?
We did have several online meetings in order to fix the dates and to benefit from the mobility. Besides I did study a little about Greece, history, current situation and other aspects of the country.
What was your main objective? What did you want to learn at the center you visited? Did you achieve it?
I had several objectives. In the first place it was a country that raised a lot of curiosity in my mind since I have studied a lot in my earlier days about Greek philosophy, literature and polity. But my principal intent was to understand the social context and how VET is carried out in Greece as I have learnt that Greece had made a lot of progress in developing the VET system.
Secondly, I wanted to see how advanced VET institutions were and the impact they have on young people. also wanted to see first hand the VET institutions and their various facilities and operations.
I also wanted to establish contact with people who could eventually help us in Liberia and look at possible future collaborations. I was able to visit most of the Training centres of AKMI in Athens and one in Thessaloniki. I was able to interact with many people and hear from them, see the facilities and what they do. I only had limited interaction with students because the mobility happened in June, towards the end of the academic year, and they were in the examination period. I was also able to visit some of the historical places and a couple of museums. Had some opportunities to see places and taste local cuisine. I am happy that I was able to meet most of my objectives and expectations. The only regret was that I was not able to meet other African partners as they couldn’t come at that time to join the mobility.
Define briefly the experience and the activities you carried out.
I experienced warm hospitality and friendliness all around. I felt comfortable and accepted. My previous studies of Greek philosophy, literature, culture and polity enhanced to my experience. The activities consisted of visiting the VET institutions of AKMI – Four in Athens and one in Thessaloniki and hear from their staff. We also visited a government VET centre and interacted with the management staff who gave me a good picture of how VET education is organized in Greece. I made a presentation of Don Bosco Technical High School and our intervention to the staff and students of AKMI in the VET centre in Thessaloniki. I also spent some time at the international project management office and interacted with the project managers. I got a good understanding of how AKMI operates and what it focuses on.
We had within the mobility some possibility for exploring the city and its historical centres. I also visited two museums which gave a good visual representation of the historical and cultural past of Greece.
Did you find any obstacles (such as the language barrier)?
I didn’t face any serious obstacles other than the difficulties in obtaining the VISA. It was difficult to get VISA in Africa and my VISA was issued in India, since I happened to go to India for a break a couple of months prior to the mobility.
The travels and the mobility itself were well organized and I did not encounter any difficulties. In Greece everyone speaks English well, so I didn’t have any difficulty in moving around and interacting with people.
How will your learnings help you in your work in the project?
I have learnt numerous things during the mobility, and it would be difficult to express them in a few words. I have been able to see how AKMI is organized and that will help better coordinate with the peer. In this project and beyond, we have an understanding of the possibilities and people to contact which can improve future mobilities. There are a lot of skills and expertise available with our peer institution that can be of immense help for us here in Liberia. In particular, something that I have seen is how the international projects are managed. That will be something that we will need to copy for ourselves too in the days ahead. The need for upgrading our capacity is another thing that has struck me.
In a more personal way, what has the experience of discovering your partner center meant for you?
In a personal way, it was something elevating. Some of my ideas about capacity building, quality and efficiency were confirmed and enhanced. My belief that VET education is the most powerful tool for elevating the dignity of our people and for the development of Africa was amply made clear by what I experienced. Another striking aspect is the need to build a strong organization with sufficient devolution of authority for its parts is absolutely essential for the success of VET education. Thirdly, my experience has taught me that a strong network can bring more opportunities and greater success as was seen in the AKMI institutions.
What would you highlight about the mobility?
I would say the warmth and friendship that I experienced is the best part from an experiential point of view. But there are others that are noteworthy that I want to mention, the visit to the Maritime School and getting on the ship simulator and the visit to Parthenon, the centre of Greek civilization and culture.
