Drama for Life Programme in Windhoek for DED regional Weltwaerts conference
March 8, 2010 – The Drama for Life programme manager, Munyaradzi Chatikobo, attended a German development service (DED) regional Weltwaerts(volunteer) Conference, which ran from March 1 to March 5, 2010. His attendance was courtesy of the DED South Africa office in Pretoria.
The DED is one of Drama for Life’s partner organisations, which has significantly contributed to the programme’s human resources capacity through the placement of two volunteers – Insa Kuschnerus and Eliana Schueler – who are supporting the programme as programme assistant and resource centre co-ordinator respectively.
The Drama for Life programme, in its fourth year, has just received its third group of scholars, and has grown beyond expectations; this has stretched the existing human resource capacity.
The main objective of the regional conference was to review the three-year-old Weltwaerts programme with a view to improving its quality. This is in light of the change in government in Germany and the subsequent change in government policy on development work.
The conference brought together participants from DED offices and partner organisations from Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Uganda and Botswana.
The conference addressed, among others, the review and the clarification of the roles of DED programme managers, the roles of partner organisations, the roles of mentors and supervisors, as well as those of the volunteers themselves.
It also touched on the Weltwaerts’ programme processes to identify volunteers in Germany, to identify partner organisations in Africa, and the subsequent receiving, hosting, and monitoring and evaluating of volunteers and then returning them to Germany.
Speaking on his return from Windhoek, Chatikobo said that the conference had been an eye-opener as it gave him a deeper insight into where Drama for Life and DED could take their collaboration.
The conference will obviously help to ensure that Weltwaerts impacts positively on the Drama for Life programme and will also ensures that the two volunteers’ welfare is guaranteed.