But this has remained the same: The strong network behind the partnership projects. Up to 130 participants met online on the 26 November 2020 to be informed on the latest developments concerning the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as well as sequa and to exchange project experiences. The digital meeting was professionally facilitated by two experts of the Como Consult GmbH.
In the first part of the event Gebhard Weiss, Managing Director of sequa, presented the latest developments concerning the company. The focus was set on the economic development as well as on the new sequa strategy 2020-2024. Following this, the two BMZ heads of division, Lucia de Carlo (Division 110 – Cooperation with the Private Sector) and Jacqueline Groth (Division 113 – Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation) presented current policies of the BMZ and the expectations of the ministry towards the partnership projects.
In the second part, Susanne Sattlegger, Head of Department BMZ Programmes, and Matthias Hertin, Client Manager KVP + BBP, informed the participants about the developments in the partnership programmes KVP, BBP and PartnerAfrica and answered respective questions. Also, Susanne Sattlegger presented the results and recommendations of a study carried out between October 2018 and August 2019 on the impact of VET partnership projects in Africa and underlined the mainly positive evaluation of the programme. Finally, Matthias Hertin showed the results of a survey on the use of digital media in partnership projects and discussed challenges and solutions for project management in times of COVID-19.
During the break sessions the participants met in so-called “campfire rooms”, virtual rooms in which different subject (e. g. project controlling, Africa, VET partnership programme) could be discussed in an informal atmosphere.
The sequa-team would like to thank everybody for making the online meeting a success. The next network meeting will definitely take place, but it is yet to decide when and in which format.