Five Day Project at Ozondati Primary School
MS Amlin wanted a flagship programme for their Talent Management Scheme. They were looking for a creative and thought provoking programme which would build upon previous development courses and allow participants to put skills into practice on a real project. Working with our Namibian ground agent and after an extensive site visit, we located a five day project at Ozondati Primary School, located in the Damaraland region.
The Event
The school provides basic food for both the day learners and the boarders. Prior to the project, the food was cooked outside the main dining room, under a tree. This was challenging for the school staff team and a potential hygiene issue for preparing food. The team were challenged to build a ‘fit for purpose’ cook house that the staff team would be able to use to prepare meals. In rural Namibia, it is traditional to cook over an open fire and use cast-iron pots. The design of the cook house ensured that staff were able to continue their traditional way of cooking and the project made a significant difference for the school and the children.
Participants had complete control over the delivery of the project supported by Across the Divide, this fulfilled many of the ‘developmental’ objectives set by Amlin for their staff, particularly, planning, scheduling, resourcing and delivery of team based projects.
The Outcome
Both the developmental outcomes for the participants and the feedback from the project have been outstanding. The iCAL programme has now evolved from a bi-annual to a yearly event and is designed as the gateway programme onto the wider Talent Management scheme.
We are proud to have worked with MS Amlin since 2009 to deliver both the Community Action Learning (CAL) in the UK and the International Community Action Learning (iCAL) programme, located in Namibia.
