Global education voluntary work in Africa

Young people from Malta and other EU member states are being offered the opportunity by the Global Education Network of Young Europeans (Glen) to undertake voluntary work experience within NGOs in English-speaking African countries including Kenya, South Africa and Zambia for three months between July and September 2009.

Malta's Third World Group has sent four Glen volunteers to these countries since 2007.

Glen is a joint non-profit, politically independent initiative of eleven organisations from Malta, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

There are four projects to choose from including social work with underprivileged children in Kenya, early childhood education and community work in township pre-schools in South Africa, supporting fair trade at grassroots level in South Africa, and youth development through sports in Zambia.

Detailed descriptions of the projects and application forms are downloadable from www.thirdworldgroup.org or www.gleneurope.org.

Glen's uniqueness lies in the combination of training and practical experience with European and intercontinental exchange.

The so-called Glen 'cycle' of training has been validated over many years. The first phase involves rigorous selection and pairing of participants followed by two training seminars where budding 'Glennies' meet with similar people from around Europe and train in region-specific seminars. These preparation seminars are led by highly qualified facilitators and make for a very enriching environment encouraging init-iative and new ideas.

The second phase of the cycle is the practical aspect of global education where the participant gets to feel and live the actual problems and issues faced by people in developing countries.

Participants are paired according to competence and choice of project. Upon their return from the internship, a follow-up seminar is held to provide further training in global education in the home country.

People who have been through the Glen cycle have been very motivated and involved themselves locally and abroad in the field of development education.

The deadline for applications is January 10. Completed app-lications and CVs may be e-mailed to leli.fenech@gmail.com. Written applications may be delivered to the Fair Trade shop L-Arka in St Paul Street, Valletta.

Prospective participants should be aged between 21 and 30, have some experience in voluntary work, a good sense of initiative, a good grasp of English and a willingness to teach. Attendance of preparation seminars is essential for success of the Glen internship and is compulsory.

For further information e-mail leli.fenech@gmail.com or call 7990 5505.