Open Space

Welcome Colleagues! One of the crucial elements of our work is to anticipate future needs of the economy/industry. It becomes more and more important as the changes come faster and the industry needs to increase its competitiveness in the globalised world.

I am Franziska. Last year we worked together with UNEVOC to visualize innovation currently going on around TVET - with a focus on 8 piloting organizations. So we gained deeper experience and insights about this.

Our organisation Unity Effect (www.unityeffect.net) is based in Bonn yet we do a lot of our work online so that we can bring together changemakers from around the world. Our work is about capacity building for joung people to develop own projects and step into leadership. The things we are excited about are

1) interactive online sessions, programs and group processes to support individuals and teams in their project development and implementation to also bring together individuals to connect/reflect/collaborate.

2) Social Network Mapping - this is a digital tool we use to visualise who's in a community, what they work on, what skills they can offer to the network and anything else relevant to the network. The result is an interactive social network map which can be used by community members to find others in the community, and can be used by community organisers to have an overview of the community, take strategic action and look at how the community changes over time. An example of a map (in German) is here: https://www.nachhaltigkeitscamp-bonn.de/netzwerk-ncbn19/

3) A new approach to measuring systemic change and impact  Stories oftentimes yield powerful insights; may it be about the impact of an event or program on participants, or the capacities and needs of community members. We are developing a methodology to not only capture, but to make sense and visualise stories in a meaningful way. Furthermore, we develop holistic impact frameworks to track and measure systemic change over time.

So really looking forward to learn and exchange more about this:)
lovely greetings from Bonn, Germany  

Personally I don’t think working in a field different from your study field is necessarily bad - as long as this is a voluntary choice and the person performs well in the job. It may even provide continuous learning and cross-fertilization in today’s ever increasing inter-disciplinary teams. However, there are also all these involuntary moves ending up with less productive work - with many different reasons, one of which is information failures. That’s why we need LMIS for everyone!

I write from the perspective of someone who held a strategy role in a VET awarding body. I got the job initially because the CEO and the Chairperson wanted someone in the post who had no VET experience and would therefore bring experience which other managers might not have and would be likely to challenge accepted ideas and practices. I get nervous when I'm working in a country where the policy is to use narrower qualifications to make VET more focused on specific jobs and specific occupational skills. If I can I challenge this by asking the question: are you working in your field of study. My experience is that only about a third will say yes. Of course, for most of these people, their original field of study will give them the breadth and resilience to change. We need all our citizens to have that kind of foundation.

Thank you Oliver!

Thank you very much, Olivier! Indeed, very interesting examples from South Africa!

Well done to everyone involved in the Process !!!