Development work opportunities in Africa

Glen cycles present opportunities for young people every year to have an enriching experience in a developing country backed by a strong foundation in global issues. A cycle was offered in Malta for the first time last year and two Maltese participants travelled to South Africa and Kenya where they worked in projects with children and young people.

The 2008 Glen cycle has just been launched in Malta. The two projects on offer this year are a continuation of last year's project in Cape Town, where the participant needs to have a background in pedagogy to work with children as well as maintain schools run by the local organisation.

The second project is in Zambia where the participant will work with a local organisation in sport and education, especially football.

Glen is a global education network made up of 13 European organisations aimed at empowering and training young European people in global education so that they can in turn act as multipliers in their home countries. The Third World Group is the new local Glen partner.

Glen cycles start out when partner organisations working in development issues in African, Asian and Eastern European countries propose projects that are accepted by Glen and assigned to each of the partners according to their capacity and interest.

The projects are then promoted locally and participants are chosen from the numerous applicants. The participants attend intensive training seminars held over several months during which they meet many participants from the other Glen partner organisations. The seminars are led by experienced Glen tutors, and the participants are given a strong background in global education and prepared for the working experience.

The three-month working experience that follows is the heart of the Glen cycle, as participants work in pairs or threesomes with a local host organisation, seeing at first hand the joys and sorrows of the people they work with, as well as the local political and cultural situation.

On their return to their own country, the participant completes the cycle by carrying out global education work within or outside the framework of the local Glen organisation.

For further information or to apply for the projects, visit wwwthirdworldgroup.org and www.gleneurope.org.

Queries or scanned, completed applications may be e-mailed to info@thirdworldgroup.org. Handwritten applications may also be handed in at the local fair trade shop, L-Arka, 306, St Paul Street, Valletta by January 20.

Another Glen activity is Eurizons, in which a group of young Europeans are hitchhiking through several European countries to promote the Millennium Development Goals. For further information visit www.eurizons.net.