The SAAM partnership gathers in Dakar to present the Work Packages and the final project milestones
The SAAM Steering Committee, the Work Package leaders and the Management Team of the project met in Senegal for five working sessions, from July 10 to 14. The official meeting was held in Dakar and was hosted by ESMP, resulting in a complete success. During the last days, the partners also had the opportunity to travel to Thies, where the other Senegalese partner of SAAM is located, to visit the Don Bosco VET center. Keep reading to know more about this gathering!
Work sessions
The work agenda for the meeting was designed so that each work package that was going to be discussed at the meeting would have an entire session dedicated to it. Each leader of these work groups presented their progress and, of course, in each session a few minutes were left for questions and suggestions from the other members present.
On Monday, the first day of the meeting, after the official welcome by the SAAM team and ESMP as the host entity, the partners began with the presentation of Work Package 4: Study and Diagnose of African VET System. EVBB leads the Work Package 4 and they were in charge of the presentation of the final report along with its structure.
Also on Monday, the Work Package 6 (Capacity Building of African staff) and the Work Package 7 (Student Mobility) were discussed.
The WP6 is led by CNOS-FAP and DBTA. In this session, the partners worked on this as a tool of training and capacity building and as one of the main legacies of SAAM. San Viator, the project promoter, shared with the participants their experience with the partners from Malawi as a good practice.
As for the WP7, the methodology and guidelines for the intercultural preparation of students were presented by Yes Forum. In addition, all the documentation and processes that SAAM has created for student mobilities were also showcased by Mundus.
On Tuesday, the day was dedicated to the Work Package 8: the SAAM Network. The SAAM Network is going to be the community that will ensure the sustainability of the project after its funding period. The Network will have an online presence through a platform that will allow its users to find out about news and join thematic groups on issues that are of interest to them to participate in the possible creation of new projects that follow the path started by SAAM.
Meeting with institutions and discovering Senegal
Dakar is one of the main African capitals and, for this reason, the partnership could not miss the opportunity to spend a couple of days disseminating the project at national level.
Mr Alfredo Garmendia, project promoter at San Viator, and Béatrice Bellet, project coordinator at Mundus, visited the Embassy of Spain in Dakar, accompanied by ESMP, the host of the meeting.
On Wednesday, the partners had the honor of including Ms. Clarisse Liautaud (Program Officer Cooperation Section at EU Delegation) in the conversation.
For the last day of the meeting in the Senegalese capital, a roundtable for reflection was organized in which we had the honor of having Mr Amadou Oury Ba, a representative of the Ministry of Education who is also a professor of German studies at the University of Dakar and Mr Eduardo Cordero García-Galán, AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation) representative.
The role of the European delegations, embassies and other institutions are crucial to the successful completion of many of the SAAM processes. Sharing the project impact with them and listening to their insights is always a very positive and valuable exchange.
Just as the project was shown at the national level, the meeting also allowed the partners to get to know firsthand the wonderful country of Senegal and the work of the SAAM Senegalese partners. ESMP introduced their organization and during the welcome session they also talked about some of the wonders of Senegal. On the last day the partners went to Thies to meet the partner located there and visit the facilities of the Don Bosco VET center.
The SAAM partnership is thrilled with the progress we are making in this project. Every step we take brings us closer to our vision of a more inclusive and equitable world transmitting the relevance of VET education. We will continue working together, joining forces, and sharing knowledge to achieve our goals.
