Report Eindhoven-Rwanda project 2017 no1

We can’t succeed if half of the world is held back! We Grow Together, with no one left behind.

Report Eindhoven – Rwanda Project | No1 February 2017 Dear Reader, In this report we share about the wonderful project we started in January 2017 as a co-production of ONE WORLDcitizens, Africa in Motion, City of Eindhoven and an international project team of young change makers.

We believe in the power of the youngest generations and their important contribution to (e)quality education, social entrepreneurship, a new togetherness, youth employment and a new future perspective!

In this report it’s about the first project steps we made and what we already learned from each other: 1. PROJECT BASICS 2. TEAM NEWS: creation a strong team, tem building & Free Learning Sessions 3. RESEARCH basic needs & action: access to pc/laptops and good internet 4. TIPS of our Project Partners

1. PROJECT BASICS Before we start … we like to remind you of the common (OWC Int.) Mission Statement, Vision and Core value we want to keep in mind during our 4-year plan all-together.  Mission Statement: We promote quality education and empower youngsters in social entrepreneurship and global cooperation on the 17 Global Goals for sustainable development.  Vision: To achieve the Global Goals through quality education, social entrepreneurship and cooperation among youngsters and policy makers.  Core Value: Promote leadership, networking, equality for sustainable development through inclusion.

2. TEAM NEWS: creation of a strong project team, team building & Free Learning Sessions  How we found/met the Rwanda team The Eindhoven-Rwanda project is managed by an international management team, with Pradeep Sapkota from Nepal as one of the team members. By him and his Facebook-network we found Obed Uwihanganye, leader of the Rwanda Team! By Obed we connected to 3 more team members: Monique Muhoza, Remy Octave Mizero, Irarora Mazimpaka! So from this experience & good start we can say: Hurray for Facebook! The social media platform that connects Global Change Makers.  International approach: We Grow Together Because we believe in the importance of Global cooperation we started with 5 teams, existing of members from more Dutch cities and African countries besides the Eindhoven-Rwanda team members. We think this makes the project and outcome stronger in the end. On one hand: in this way we can learn more from each other, We Grow Together. On the other hand: because Eindhoven/Netherlands and Kigali/Rwanda are leading cities/countries on the European and African continent, willing to scale up the outcome of this EindhovenRwanda project for their Global impact and economic development.

So at this moment young people from the Dutch cities Leeuwarden, Utrecht, Geleen, ‘s Hertogenbosch, Nijmegen and the African countries Uganda, Kenya, Mauritania, Sierra Leona are participating in the 5 teams.  Team-cooperation, communication & information Since February the 5 teams are grouped on Facebook. To be informed about the mindset, targets and teams, please open and read the Friendwise Enterprise/Eindhoven-Rwanda Presentation in Prezi, ISSUU or PDF.

ONE WORLDcitizens - by Monique van Dam - February 2017

 Team 2: Free Learning Sessions for Entrepreneurship Piyuesh Modi, is member of team 2 and founder of ‘Learn & Teach anything for Free’. He will contribute to development of the digital platform with Free Learning Sessions about Entrepreneurship. Interesting & inspiring. On February 4 Piyuesh Modi and Tom Bertens made a first try out of such an online Free Learning Session about ‘Free and Important Online Tools for Entrepreneurs’. Below you find the Video and Slides of that try out to get an idea.

Power Point Presentation

Youtube video

Click on the picture or open by this link

Click on the picture or open by this link

3. RESEARCH basic needs & Action: access to pc/laptops During one of the first Fb-chat sessions with Obed we found important news about this research question ‘How much youth in Rwanda is familiar with ICT?’ Obed’s answer: “From day to day, there are steps that youths are making in understanding and using the ICT, in their growth and the growth of their community development. The main problem remains the same: lack of materials. We still have those who complete their secondary studies in the fields of Computer science but they practically know nothing, except having notes in their books, because they don't have access to these needed materials like pc/laptops. The students know theoretically about ICT, but due to lack of resources they are far away from Practical. Thus you see them motivated and attracted by initiatives aiming at improving the ICT.” By this situation we see: one of the priority project ACTIONS: finding a way / partners to provide young people in Rwanda access to pc/laptops. Why priority?  In the Eindhoven-Rwanda project the project team builds a digital platform where young people from Eindhoven-Rwanda can share knowledge and empowerment in social entrepreneurship, to contribute to sustainable development, social startups and (new) youth employment!  This digital platform can only succeed if a lot of young people in Rwanda have good access to it by pc’s/laptops/smartphones.

So let’s see how we can organize the equipment we need in Rwanda to be connected, locally, nationally and internationally! CALL 4 ACTION: If you know how, have suggestions or good ideas to get the necessary equipment, please contact Monique (moniquevandam1@gmail.com)

4. TIPS of our Project Partners The City of Eindhoven supports the project with a grant and expertise on Global Development. The contact person who is connected to our project is Mr Rob van Mierlo. He visited Rwanda in 2016 and February 2017 to strengthen the city bond Eindhoven – Kigali/Rwanda. When he came back he advised the project team to look at this opportunity: “It’s important for the bond Eindhoven – Rwanda that we connect with young people from the secondary cities. For example: The City of Huye, an education city, would like to see the high potential preferably not all leave for Kigali. Huye would like to keep creative, entrepreneurial young people ‘inside’ to provide locally development and jobs. It would be nice if our project has influence in secondary cities such as Huye.”

To be continues in the Next newsletter: End of April 2017

ONE WORLDcitizens - by Monique van Dam - February 2017