Sending volunteers to Tanzania

Jakob Kluge: Our flagship projects have to be our work with the state-run fire brigade and a local hospital in Dar es Salaam. Many weltwärts partner organisations are from the social or educational field, like children's homes and schools, so our partnerships with major state institutions are particularly special.

Jakob Kluge: Crucially, our unique feature as a sending organisation is that we mainly send people who have completed or are in vocational training or studies. This makes us distinctive among the weltwärts sending organisations. Largely because although the programme's goal is full inclusion, weltwärts volunteers are typically female, have just finished their Abitur university entrance qualification, and come from an educated background. We want to get away from this homogeneity. That's why many of our volunteers don't have an Abitur, but what they do have is a relevant background and far greater expertise. This approach helps us to tap into new and previously under-represented target groups, and takes the volunteer programme in a new direction.

Jakob Kluge: One of the aims of our programme is to give local partners competent assistance and use this as a way to promote professional and intercultural exchange. The German vocational training system is good, but the methods used in the host countries are often entirely different. This unlocks a great deal of potential for both sides – but can also cause conflict.

The idea is that our volunteers recognise that unfamiliar ways of doing things are not irrational or less methodical than our ways. Rather, a certain way of acting is often the result of different social values and customs. Discovering, understanding and in some cases also adapting these is an important task of our volunteers in their roles as 'cultural explorers', as we like to call them.

Jakob Kluge: Of course. Our midwives, for example, report that they have learnt a great deal from helping with natural births. In Tanzania, midwives don't have the same technical aids as we do in Germany and so they have extensive knowledge about natural births that we have lost over time as a result of technical advancements.
With the fire brigade, our volunteers learn primarily how to manage with fewer resources and how to work efficiently. In parallel, they develop skills in finding alternative solutions, for example if a spare part for a fire appliance is missing.

Jakob Kluge: I often hear that everything was completely different to what they expected. But that is not surprising, because it is simply not possible to imagine this kind of experience.
One thing I notice a lot about volunteers is that they tend to be a bit overzealous: They have a strong drive to 'help'. That is part of what we do, but only a very small part. Primarily, participants are there to learn. We cover this topic in our preparatory seminars to help prevent frustrations from arising.

Jakob Kluge: German culture and – in our case – Tanzanian culture, for example, are very different from one another. Our volunteers often have difficulty at first finding their feet and fitting in. Take social hierarchies for example. They are much more prevalent in Tanzania and are highly respected. Expressing criticism directly – especially in a work environment – is also quite unusual and works differently to in Germany. And last, but not least, Tanzanians often have a different view of time and punctuality, which can be confusing for both sides.

Recognising these cultural differences, understanding the values behind them and, to a certain extent, adapting yourself to them is not always easy for the volunteers, but it does form an important part of their experience.

Jakob Kluge: Right now we are facing a major paradox: On the one hand, globalisation is on the rise and people are becoming increasingly connected, while, at the same time, in many parts of the world resentment is growing. Getting to know other cultures in depth, by experiencing them personally, can go a long way to getting rid of this resentment and raise awareness of the increasingly complex relationships in our globalised world.

I see intercultural encounters, by which I mean spending time, living and working with people from different countries, as enriching experiences in themselves, and ones that are becoming ever more important in today's world.

Jakob Kluge: I think the most important factors are good educational support beforehand and afterwards, and ideally an interim seminar like the ones we offer under the weltwärts programme. We use these seminars to work together with volunteers on topics such as intercultural communication and racism, as well as personal privileges, etc. If this educational support is not provided, the exchange can fail and even lead to bitterness, confirm negative preconceptions or even engender racism on the part of the volunteer.

I also see the duration as an important aspect. For a lot of volunteers in Tanzania, for example, it can take a few months before they really start to enjoy their time there. It takes a while to break down language barriers and for them to start to feel more at home in the culture that was so alien to them at first.

Jakob Kluge: The work of the AGYI can give significantly more young people the opportunity to experience intercultural exchange and broaden their horizons, which is so important in these global times.

Many of the participants develop into extremely conscientious and reflective people thanks to their experiences abroad. In a lot of cases, they stay involved even after their stay abroad has finished, make informed decisions to live more sustainably and thus make an important contribution to our shared future.

Jakob Kluge: Even in intercultural exchange there is no guarantee of success: Encounters can always go wrong and preconceptions get confirmed or even strengthened, instead of being broken down. This must be prevented with good educational guidance. A successful exchange also needs time. In my opinion, a few days or weeks is not really long enough to get to know another culture properly and above all to understand the way things work.

Jakob Kluge: A particularly important measure in my view would be to strengthen civic structures within the partner countries. There should be a stronger political focus on strengthening civil society's ability to act. That can have a major impact and encourage the partners in African countries to express their wishes and take the initiative more often. This is imperative if we are to redress the North-South imbalance over the long term.

Jakob Kluge: Many African-German partner programmes are financed and initiated in Germany. So the ideas and resulting projects are typically 'German', too. But if we are to achieve something together, we need to involve partners in the African countries from the outset. We must define goals together and work shoulder-to-shoulder on finding joint solutions. Both sides need to be equally supportive of the project for it to be a success.

That goes for politicians and anyone who is interested in getting involved in an intercultural partnership. Listen first, then take action! I always have the feeling that ideas and plans are developed from afar – at home in Germany – but do little to address the needs and wishes of partners in the African countries. This energy could be used much more effectively by simply talking to one another from the start.