SAAM
SAAM is a pilot project directly founded by European Commission. It is the only one of the two proposals that was approved as a test for the develop of a future mobility program in the field of Vet, between Africa and Europe.
Asociación Mundus is the coordinating organization of this innovative project, designed and implemented by entity for cooperation between continents with the aim of improving and professionalizing VET Studies and enabling the exchange of good practices in this field.
The project
SAAM project (Supporting Alliance for African Mobility) is a pilot project in the field of VET (Vocational Educational and Training) which aims to promote the establishment of mechanisms for the exchange of knowledge, training methodologies and skills between Europe and Africa. At the end, the project also aims to promote the development of Vocational Training Center in the African continent.
This un-precedented project will be based on a powerful strategic alliance between African and European countries in order to have relevant impact on teachers and vocational training students, that represent the main target of the project.
SAAM (African word meaning together) is an association composed by 32 organisations from eight countries of the European Union (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain) and seventeen african countries (Angola, Benin, Cape Verde, Eritrea, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Gabon).
This broad partnership brings together a network of both VET centres and various European NGOs and umbrella organisations in the field of VET and youth.
Goals
SAAM aims to contribute to the improvement and modernisation of vocational training in 17 African countries and to strengthen the relationship between VET and the labour market. To achieve this goal, SAAM will generate mobility of education professionals and VET students from various technical areas.
This partnership aims to foster the exchange of ideas and good practices between regions, improve teachers and students’ skills, improve standards of management and training quality, and finally improve the school project of the VET centres.
Moreover, this project seeks to improve the capacities of the centres and entities providing vocational training in Africa through mobility activities.
These workshops aim to broadening teachers’ skills, staff and students in vocational training centres, with the ultimate aim of improving the employability of future generations in Africa.
Some of the specific goals of the project and the tools through which be achieved are:
- Making an initial diagnosis of the general state of the sector in the participating countries, thanks to a peer to peer training through professional observation activities or job shadowing
- Promoting the acquisition of methodologies, technologies, resources, pedagogical innovation and relationships between interested partners and the labour market through the mobility of professionals and apprentices for learning purposes.
- Sharing the experience gained by European partners in international mobility for learning, recognition of skills, making equal the valuations and administrative management, etc. to improve the future intercontinental cooperation through a training seminar designed by Efvet.
- Learning how to make international mobilities to carry out VET internships, by advising mobility managers and learning materials to enhance internationalisation and the VET centres' approach to employability in developing countries.
- Allowing to 350 VET students to increase their employability and entrepreneurship opportunities in their local environments, through training and internship in VET schools and international companies, living in an international environment.
- Establishing a network of contacts between centres and other vocational training providers in Europe and Africa that will continue over time and contribute to a better perception of vocational training (VET) studies.
First meeting of partners of SAAM project. Bruxelles, from 10th to 12th of February 2020
Project’s actions
During 40 months, more than 300 young Africans will carry out internships in European companies. These students, that come from three major vocational training sectors, will spend periods, of between one and three months, in different cities in Europe.
The training’s pathway for the new entrants consists of a part-time apprenticeship in the VET centres involved in the project and a part-time traineeship in companies in the sector concerned.
In the same way, 70 European teachers and 135 African teachers will visit the centres of their counterparts on the other continent to do a job shadowing that will allow them, among other things, to understand philosophy, culture and customs as well as the VET system of the host country.
At the end of the project, both - european and african professionals - will have improved their knowledge about internationalization, transparency and educational pathways.
Moreover, there will be a lots of activities in the project, including coordination meetings, training on intercultural issues, development of a joint video, development of sectoral learning modules, mobility of training experts for the internationalisation of schools, or creation of a content exchange platform, among others. All the project activities and their results will be collected on the official website of the project: https://saam.global/
The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
_3071.JPG "“Meeting zero”: SAAM project starts in Brussels")
_3151.PNG "KickOff Meeting: the SAAM journey has just begun")
