Building Bridges - A project by Goethe-Institute Alexandria

Basma · 19th April 2008

Building Bridges
A project by Goethe-Institute Alexandria

Aim of project:

Increasing the intercultural, political and specialist knowledge and competence of future representatives and key actors within civil society, Egypt and Germany

Approach:
Building Bridges exchange programs are offered to young people from 21-28, who are students or already in employment, as well as those working voluntarily for non-government organizations, or those working in the media. An exchange program provides young people with an opportunity to develop their professional and intercultural competence. And it strengthens the ability and willingness of young people to engage in cultural dialog. The exchange program is intended for participants from Egypt and Germany.

Objective:
Through the exchange program young people gain important experience within the context of their work: they obtain an overview of structures and get to know potential contacts in a partner country. This may prove useful for future corporation, once the participants have returned to their home countries. It will enhance networking opportunities between organizations and institutions in Germany and Egypt.

Participants also develop an awareness of the cultural characteristics and ways of behaving in the host country. Returning to their original organizations or institutions, the participants will be able to share their insights and allow them to filter through their work. In this way the idea of dialog and understanding will have a multiplier effect in the home country.

Target Groups and Focus Areas:
- Knowledge-based community and education
- Human Rights
- The media
- Youth exchange
- Political education
The target groups are young professionals and volunteer workers in different areas of civil society and people able to act as 'multipliers' of information and ideas in relevant institutions and the media.

Structure of the exchange program:

The project is divided into three steps:

-preparation and training

-exchange

-presentation and publication

Thirty participants will be chosen of the applicants.

The preparation phase consists of about 10 working sessions and will last about two months, in which several ideas and topics concerning the abridgment process are developed and discussed. During this phase different workshops with professional trainers and peer learning sessions will be offered. The German and the Egyptian group will be tight connected during the preparation, the results then will be discussed in Symposiums, put on a Website, and summarized in a documentary movie.

The two weeks exchange consist either of internships ('job shadowing') or visits of different institutions , which will take place in July(in Egypt) and August(in Germany). From the thirty candidates ten will be selected and get the opportunity for an exchange in Germany. Besides ten participants will join the German group in Egypt and its discovery-projects. Last ten participants will work together on a self organized project and maintain the final symposium.

All the participants' experiences will be presented and published in two big public events in Egypt and Germany .

Funding for the exchange:

The trip (flight, accommodation, health insurance, visas), daily pocket money (about 20E) and transportation inside Germany will be paid by the Goethe-Institute Alexandria. The candidates should pay for further extra activity.

Application should be sent maximum at the 1st of may on the following address : m.awad2@gmail. com
For further questions please call : 0108191280 / or call : 03-4837446 , 03-4879870