The AGYI Forum on "Redefining Partnership and Defining their impact on Youth Exchange for Sustainable Development” took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from October 29 to 31, 2017. The conference was organized by the Tanzania Youth Coalition (TYC), a partner organisation of AGYI in Tanzania.
"Partnership means to me that two or more parties are working towards a common goal," said Jamila Mbeju of Jambo Bukoba, a Tanzanian-German weltwärts host organisation focusing on sports and education. The added value of a partnership is that the partners complement each other, said Mbeju.
The first AGYI Forum on the African continent continued the exchange of ideas that had begun at the AGYI conference in 2015 in Berlin and the AGYI launch 2016 in Bonn. Partnership in youth exchange is one of the main topics of AGYI.
Participants of the AGYI Forum 2017 were young volunteers who have already completed a voluntary service such as weltwärts or alumni of the ASA programme, as well as representatives of various organisations, networks and school exchange programmes, such as the ENSA programme.
Contributors also included participants in the two previous events from weltwärts south-north and ASA. The weltwärts workshop as part of the South-North evaluation follow-up process took place from 25 to 29 October to work with the partners on the evaluation recommendations for action. Among other things, ideas for a more systematic involvement of returnees were proposed.
That young people in Tanzania play an important role for the government was made clear in the speech of Beng'i Mazana Issa. The Executive Director of the National Economic Empowerment Council emphasized that youth exchanges are crucial for the development of young people’s professional skills. "Through youth exchanges, young people learn about the culture, skills, behaviour and way of life of other cultures, and most importantly, they change their attitude towards their own country and their own opportunities," said Beng'i Mazana Issa.
Agnes Bweye from Tanzania, who has just completed her weltwärts year in Germany in August 2017, said: "In Germany, I realized how much I love my country and what potential and opportunities are here for me". This was also confirmed by Glory Shio, another participant of the weltwärts program: "Only from a distance I was able to see my country from a different perspective: the community spirit, multiple opportunities, peace and other things that I have not seen before. That motivated me to share my ideas, experiences and knowledge with my environment."
An exchange of experiences and challenges in youth exchanges and voluntary service was discussed eagerly at the conference as well as the question "What makes a good partnership?" Erick Crispin has already had many exchange experiences for example with ENSA, weltwärts and the ASA programme. Today he works as a volunteer at TYC. According to Erick Crispin it is vital for a successful cooperation among the partners that: "Responsibilities are clarified ahead. All partners must do their part to achieve a common goal. But not all partners have to make the same kind of contribution. It is more important that all partners contribute according to their capacities, in terms of finances, concepts, skills, knowledge or structure."
