Joint sector review
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One of the most important events for the water sector in South Sudan is taking place next week (2-29 February 2024) in Juba. Organized by UNICEF and Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), the conference expect to host 300 national and international participants. Up to date, 250 participants already confirmed their subscription. Participants are: representatives from National Ministries & State Ministries, representatives from national NGOs & international NGOs and private sector. The 3 day conference has an ambitious program that consist of high level presentations, parallel sessions, poster presentations and an exhibition of the private sector.
Traditional methods & (natural) disasters
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February 2024. Today was a special day. Special because I had a meeting with five (5) chiefs from which one (1) was an acting paramount chief. Also special, because they were happy to meet with me. In countries like South Sudan, working with local government employees, you need to have at least an understanding about the relationship between local government, municipality and communities. Does local government provide the required services to the communities? And are communities prepared to follow the rules and regulations of local government? Communities in South Sudan are often dissatisfied with local government because they do not provide the services they should provide. Local government is often in a difficult position because they have insufficient budget and manpower. Same with municipality.
Language Coaches
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It all starts with language. Speaking the language of the country where you live (and work) helps you find your place in that country and it also helps you understand the culture. You can see and hear culture. The Dordrecht City Library has a Language Café where you can practice speaking Dutch. The language coaches play an important role in this practice. Language coaches are good at teaching others the Dutch language and often encounter other cultures in the Language Café.
As soon as you have been selected to become a language coach, you are obliged to follow the Taal Aan Zet Training, which focuses on teaching the Dutch language to others; from pronunciation to grammar and technical reading. The content of this training does touch on cultural differences here and there, but this is actually minimal. Fortunately, this is changing in Dordrecht! Heleen Meinster & Janet Brakel, of the Dordrecht City Library, realized that it is important for language coaches to understand the cultural background of their clients. And in addition, to develop cultural skills to use these as a language coach during personal meetings and during activities in the Language Café.
About Education was happy to train the language coaches of Drechtsteden in 'Culture and Cultural Skills'. During the training, the cultural iceberg proved to be a real 'eye-opener'. Once you discover that there is no 'normal' between people from different cultural backgrounds and that deep down we are not 'the same' either, then it really gets fun. The continuation of this training is in June and a whole day is planned for it!
TVET in South Sudan
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There are some assignments that can only be successfully completed because of expertise and years of experience 'on the ground'. And I have carried out such an assignment in South Sudan: developing a National TVET Apprenticeship Guideline for South Sudan! 
From the beginning of 2012 I have been active in capacity building projects in (secondary) vocational education in South Sudan. At the beginning of 2016, I emigrated to South Sudan to set up the Academy for Professional Development Ltd (AforPD). During a stay of almost 5 years I have been involved in developing & conducting training, specialized in retraining teachers who work in TVET. As a member of the National TVET Adhoc Committee, I had the opportunity to discuss how TVET in South Sudan could be further developed.
The background in which my assignment took place? The complexity of the (security) situation in the country, the fact that 21 different departments of different ministries have vocational education in their policies, the lack of knowledge of ministries employees in general and the lack of TVET teachers in particular. Add to this all international organizations that want to contribute 'something' to TVET and help young people find work and want to realize this in projects with a duration of 4 years. Then for the sake of convenience, I forget the 'competition' battle that exists between ministries to participate in a subsidy projects and the quality of the people who are in a position where decisions are made.
Because of my knowledge and experience in South Sudan, I (along with the AforPD team) managed to develop a National TVET Apprenticeship Guideline for South Sudan that fits the situation and can actually be applied! The 60 representatives (government, educational institutes, private sector, INGOs) approved the content of the document during a 3-day validation meeting. The document now goes to the minister of education, who will submit the document to parliament after approval.
This is one of my best results from my work in South Sudan and I am proud of it!!
First PUM project completed
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I have been a PUM senior expert since the beginning of this year. I can use my experience and expertise as an entrepreneur/coach/trainer in PUM projects. Due to COVID19, PUM had to convert the physical missions to customers into remote activities.
PUM was asked to support the trainers of SAYE Ltd and help them improve the training & training materials. With two online sessions a week, a lot of energy and completing homework assignments on time, we managed to develop an improved content of the training and matching materials. It is special to build such a beautiful relationship in 3 months in which we can work together with great pleasure. And all that remotely!! I hope I will recognize Amina, Sharon, Gisele, Sharon and Noella when I am in Rwanda one day........
PUM has now approved a follow-up application from SAYE Ltd and SAYE Ltd wants to continue with me as an expert. In the follow-up project, we will improve the organizational structure of SAYE Ltd and make SAYE Ltd more visible as a social enterprise in the local market. The start will in any case be remote again, but that does not make the motivation any less.
Interested to read more about PUM? https://www.pum.nl/en/
Working together with Yokoso HR
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About Education and Yokoso HR work together to support people who are unemployed. 
In the Netherlands, employers are legally responsible for the reintegration of unemployed ex-employees. Yokoso HR is a partner for responsible employers and provides services within this reintegration process. Yokoso HR's approach is very successful; 80% of the people who receive guidance find a job again before or when their unemployment period ends.
Unemployed ex-employees who are supervised by Yokoso HR generally have Dutch nationality, but may have a different cultural background. A 'Dutch approach' works well when you know the Dutch culture through-and-through. Since guiding people who are unemployed is tailor-made it sometimes requires outside expertise. In this case: knowledge and experience in coaching people with a non-Dutch background. What makes the coaching different for this target group? It means that you: have an eye for cultural frameworks, see cultural differences, observe & listen so that you can get the real message from a story and have respect for positions. This works well when the coach can use intercultural skills.
About Education relieves Yokoso HR by making sure that coaching of unemployed people with a non-Dutch background is carried out correctly and successfully.
Website online
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Welcome to the About Education website. Nice that you found us!
After living and working in South Sudan for almost 5 years, I am back: back in the Netherlands.
With About Education I keep doing what I'm good at: education! And by education I mean: training, coaching, professional development, personal development and internationalization. I prefer to do my work in a multicultural environment, which can be complex. The way I work is inspiring, never boring and makes you think.
This helps to achieve results at organizational level, personal level or project level.
Want to know more about the services of About Education? Then click on Training, Coaching, Advice & Development, Internationalization.
Do you want to know more about me? Take a look at: About us and on my LinkedIn page.
Get in touch and let me know what I can do for you.
- Marina Versluis, Trainer & Coach -
Subcategories
Home_eng
Co-Creation
Water for South Sudan Foundation (WfSSF) already plays a significant humanitarian role in the water sector of South Sudan.
Since the beginning of this year, WfSSF took the bold decision to establish the Water Institute of South Sudan, a training institute under supervision of Water for South Sudan.
The Water Institute is the one and only official training institute in South Sudan implementing a training program to improve and expand capacity for the water sector in South Sudan.
I’ve been working with Water for South Sudan since 2016, providing them consultancy services, training and coaching.
My latest inspiring assignment was called: to develop a Strategic Plan for the Water Institute, through a process of co-creation.
The process itself was amazing and the result is what you get if ‘great minds think alike’:-); a future proof Water Institute Strategic Plan 2023-2027.
Thank you Water for South Sudan Foundation, for another magnificent assignment!
Finding traditional methods for coping with (natural) disasters
Today was a special day. Special because I had a meeting with five (5) chiefs from which one (1) was an acting paramount chief. Also special, because they were happy to meet with me.Some years ago, when I was working in Kapoeta North, I already had the pleasure to meet chiefs and community leaders, but today was different. Because I wanted to learn something from them.
In countries like South Sudan, working with local government employees, you need to have at least an understanding about the relationship between local government, municipality and communities. Does local government provide the required services to the communities? And are communities prepared to follow the rules and regulations of local government? Communities in South Sudan are often dissatisfied with local government because they do not provide the services they should provide. Local government is often in a difficult position because they have insufficient budget and manpower. Same with municipality.
I’m currently assigned to find more in depth information about how local government and municipality can shape more sustainable futures for their communities through improved resilience to floods, climate change and naturals disasters. This environment (Bor county) is mainly rural area and for the past few years, annual floods have been plaguing people's lives. And that’s the reason to talk to the chiefs, to learn from them about their traditional mechanism to cope with (natural) disasters. Also to find out how we can take their approach into account during the implementation of the project. Being prepared for natural disasters, the chiefs closely observe what is going on in nature; from which side the wind is coming, signs from the trees (leaves that fall down or leaves that become suddenly very green), 6 time rain per year is fine, but 8 times rain means flooding. When there is a serious flood, the community (mainly women and children) temporarily moves to a dry part while a few powerful men stay behind to protect their space and resources.
In addition, they strictly stick to ‘law & order’. Not to prevent natural disaster but to prevent or quickly deal with conflicts and crises in their communities. The fines given out always involve payment with cows. In case you kill a person without intention, you pay 51 cows to the family of the victim. If you ‘spoil’ a woman but she is not pregnant, you pay 2 cows to her family. In case of a complicated issue, chiefs consult each other. In case a person does not agree with the chief’s statement, he can go to traditional court. This is, of course, a very brief summary of the conversation.
What have I actually learned? That life in the community of Bor county is simple and follows strict rules. Improvements that projects expect to deliver must be simple and explainable, but efficient. No ‘gadget/box/container-oriented-solution’ but something that fits into the natural and local environment of the community.
The community blindly believes the chief and listens to what he says. Never skip the chief in a project visit, but involve him in the plans that are made. Does this make the project easier to implement? Certainly not!! But this does increase the chance of long term results & impact.