Most of informations can be found on their homepage:
The SES is a foundation of the German economy for international cooperation and is active worldwide. The voluntary assignments and activities of the experts take place primarily in developing and emerging countries as well as in Germany.
The motto is: help for self-help.
I didn’t know about the foundation until last year. A friend, two friends to be precise, turned me on to it. That made me curious.
I was convinced to register by the foundation’s guidelines and its values.
The foundation was founded in 1983 and in 2019 had over 2,200 missions in countries outside Germany and 55,000 days of service abroad, all on a voluntary basis, mind you. I think that’s pretty remarkable.
Registration as an “expert” was quite quick. Just like the confirmation of inclusion in the SES expert register.
Like everywhere else, the Corona pandemic has put everything on hold, because the health of the experts has top priority, so that last year all experts abroad were recalled and there were only very isolated missions at the end of 2020.
This year, activities at home and abroad will be slowly and carefully ramped up again country by country.
With the high number of 12,342 registered experts, I did not have too many expectations or hopes that they would request me. I am neither a medical doctor nor a teacher, and thought the foundation was primarily looking for doctors or medical professionals for hospitals or teachers for the schools.
Or maybe well diggers to build wells for drinking water.
That was my naïve picture of a possible assignment.
Now I have become a bit smarter and have already learned more about the foundation and its work.
And actually there was a request for an expert for Africa, and they pulled me. I’m not kidding myself, I’m nothing special, just one of 2,200, and it was a good fit right now.
After the first phone calls with the colleagues from SES here in Germany, I found out a bit more about the job and got the contact details of the client.
Then I had a first phone call to introduce myself, get to know the people I work with a bit, and ask some questions about the project/task.
#StayTuned
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