The Seminar was organized within the framework of the SAAM (Supporting Alliance for African Mobility) project.

This is a pilot project funded by the European Union and supported also by the African Union, with the aim of testing the feasibility of mobilities between these two continents for staff and students of vocational education and training centers. In spite of the challenges referred to the visa procedures and the pandemic restrictions for travels from extra-EU countries, the Seminar’s organizers managed to gather together in Brussels 52 people from more than 20 different countries of Africa and Europe. More precisely, the training seminar was offered to VET directors and coordinators from 13 African countries and 7 European ones.

Most of the African partners of the project belong to the network of Don Bosco Tech Africa, whose Director, Fr George Tharanyil SDB, was present in the Seminar.

Also representatives from Tech Don Bosco (Spain) attended the meeting.

Renato Cursi, Executive Secretary of Don Bosco International, joined the initial session of the Seminar and delivered a welcome speech to the participants.

Officers from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education, Audiovisual and Culture (EAC), Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (EMPL) and International Partnerships (IntPa) delivered presentations to the Seminar’s participants too. All the participants were also able to visit the Don Bosco Vocational Education and Training (VET) Center of Sint-Denijs-Westrem (Ghent).

During many workshops, conferences and debates, the Seminar’s participants dealt with the challenges of education and mobilities across these two continents, devising strategies and capacity building to try to overcome them.

Now staff and teachers from African VET centers are experiencing job shadowing and peer learning activities in different European countries, creating the conditions for the first flows of students from African VET centers to European ones, that are planned to take place over 2022 and 2023.

SAAM means encounter of cultures, joining forces and cooperation, creativity and mutual learning, overcoming obstacles and prejudices.

The Seminar has been a very enriching experience that will further strengthen the ties between the two continents and will hopefully open the door to further cooperation projects in this field.

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