"Same, same, but different" can be used as a phrase to describe the international commitment of the Kreishandwerkerschaft Steinfurt-Warendorf (KH) in the field of vocational training. Following its commitment in South Africa, the Kreishandwerkerschaft has now also become active in Mozambique.
For four years now, and thus in the second phase of support, the Kreishandwerkerschaft has been active with its subsidiary KH Service- und Wirtschaftsgesellschaft (KH S+W) in a vocational training partnership in Richards Bay, South Africa, which is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). A new vocational training partnership project is now also running in Mozambique.
"Even though it is once again a vocational training partner in Africa, the partners, content and objectives of this three-year project are different from what we are successfully practising in South Africa," explains Frank Tischner, CEO of the Kreishandwerkerschaft, who has just returned from signing the contract in Maputo. The language is also different, because in Mozambique Portuguese is the national language due to the colonial past. Jan-Niclas Gesenhues, who also speaks Portuguese, is responsible for the overall coordination of the international education projects. On site, the long-term expert Pedro Schünemann Cristófaro Silva will be in charge of the vocational training partnership.
The project partners of the Kreishandwerkerschaft in Mozambique are the Instituto Industrial de Maputo (IIM) and the Associação Moçambicana de Energias Renovavais (AMER), an association of local renewable energy companies. "Vocational training in Mozambique has little practical orientation," explains Frank Tischner. "As a result, three-quarters of vocational school leavers cannot find a job in the profession they have learned. This is where we, as the Kreishandwerkerschaft, can use our experience in the area of dual vocational training to provide new aproaches in terms of the quality of the training as well as the involvement of the private sector". Jan-Niclas Gesenhues: "One of the aims of our cooperation is also the implementation of renewable energy technologies in training, and this in consultation with companies in this sector".
