Between May 20th and 24th, was conducted in the Netherlands, the Coordination Meeting of the Change the Game Academy Program. Representatives of Asian, African and South American (CESE) organizations were invited to attend to the meeting by the Dutch agency Wilde Ganzen to exchange experiences and building joint commitments for the next five years.
A diversity of entities has been part of the Change the Game Academy over the past two years from countries such as Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Nepal. A fair of tastes and knowledges was organized so that all organizations could get in touch with the diverse cultures present, as well as understand how the Program is developed in the territories. Theater performance and group dynamics also fulfilled this alignment role, showing how the initiative was created, its trajectory and challenges until the present time.
The schedule of the meeting was designed from participative methodologies, with dialogue wheels, meetings and dynamics. During the week’s agenda, the following topics were addressed: the political context of the countries that challenges the implementation of the program; how to improve the monitoring and follow-up of the groups that receive online and classroom training; communication strategies of the Program; and, finally, joint elaboration of the vision for the Program until 2025 and plan of action – in relation to institutional development, governance, communication and fundraising.
The morning of the last day, May 24, had as its main activity the evaluation of the Meeting. In the afternoon, the organizations were invited to participate in two events: in Driebergen, with private Dutch initiatives, which dealt with possibilities of support for Change the Game; and in The Hague, where the seminar “Shifting the Power in Development Cooperation” was held with Dutch development sectors on power relations between Southern and Northern organizations.
At the end of the meeting, CESE took part in the North-South cooperation evaluation meeting between May 27th and 28th, together with the Smile Foundation (India), KCDF (Kenya) and WACSI (Ghana).