Student program Dakar 2014

Student program Dakar 2014

Just mail for dates and other information  

For students M.A. IR and M.A. international NGO’s

Two-weeks Course in Dakar, Senegal - leaving Friday back at Sunday

The Course:

Cross Cultural Management and Communication – the pitfalls between theory and practice.

Course Definition

The course offers a multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural program for students IR, International ONG Management and Media Communication. Students learn to make a comparative analysis between academic theory and field practice in Cross Cultural Management. This course offers students an opportunity to explore and understand the pitfalls between cultural values and styles of communication, reasoning, and leadership unique to their home culture and those common to the working environment of NGO’s in Senegal.

Course Content

The primary objective of this course is to raise awareness and

to increase understanding of how to grasp the local realities in the working environment of NGO’s in Senegal or other countries in Africa. Students learn about and experience the different concepts and cultural codes of behaviour, which can be useful for problem solving.

Course themes and discussions:

Similarities & cultural differences between Western and non-Western

Countries:

- Democracy & politics in Africa/ non-western countries

- Individualized western egos versus group egos in Africa/ non-western

  countries;

- Religion and superstition as inhibitory factors;

- Processes of social change and global citizenship;

- Culture shock and how to understand and deal with it;

- Printed media from the North and oral traditions in Africa;

- Processes of social change and global citizenship;

- Psychology and psychologizing the target group;

- Goals, patterns of expectation and disappointment;

- Co-operation with women or men? What works / what doesn’t;

- Social entrepreneurship and development work;

- Micro credit, small-scale projects & effectiveness;

- Transparency, responsibility, time limits and durability;

- Hidden conflicts between donator opposed (Northern) rules and

  Regulations and the interpretation of those rules and regulations by the

  Receiving (Southern) partners;

- A contract or a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU);

- How to make feasible partnering contracts and / or MoU’s between

  different cultures (learn how to analyze the expectations and risks from

  both sides);

- Distance communication through telephone/ skype and e-mail with project

  partners (how to ask questions and how to get answers).

Video diaries with the leading theme ‘Who are we and who are they?’

The above themes and discussions will be studied from the perspective of

Aesthetic Journalism, as described by Alfredo Cramerotti. Curator and artist

Alfredo Cramerotti sees the “blurring of margins between artistic and information practices” as a main feature of research in contemporary culture.

The student will develop his/her ability to read local cultural and social patterns. Students will develop an individual or group creative video diary in which this ability is reflected. They will present at the end of the course in Dakar. These diaries will consist of texts, interviews, photos and drawings. With their smart phones they will place it on the site of 7Scenes – a mobile storytelling platform based in Amsterdam.

Learning outcomes

* Upon the completion of this course students will be able to:

1.    Understand and apply theory at the individual and practical organizational;

    level of analysis.

2.    Demonstrate knowledge of how policies are developed, approved,

    implemented, and evaluated.

3. Integrate the concepts of public policy development and analysis with implementation practices of NGO’s in the field.

4. Describe and assess the applicability of cross-cultural management to the cultures, management styles of NGO’s.

General Skills

- Writing skills

- Presentation skills

- Analytical skills

- Team working skills

- Communication skills