BACK TO TOP Partners in Africa Share Lessons Learned Taking advantage of a brief pause in the meeting schedule, Richard Phoya of the University of Malawi, Audree Maretzki of Penn State, and Ikbal Chowdhury of Lincoln University check the wares of a local entrepreneur in Elmina, Ghana. Eastern Washington University hosted the conference with its partners at the University of Cape Coast. The lessons shared ranged from simple benefits of hindsight, such as keeping track of intangible benefits as they happened, to designing partnerships for the future, including shifting the responsibility for linkages from individuals to the institutions. Participants agreed that projects work best if they have a linkage representative in each relevant department and in the administration of the U.S. and host country institutions. These appointees should be people in authority.
Former students are often the most enthusiastic and effective appointees.
Many of training program alumni later take on important positions in the institutions and in government. Thus, there needs to be a mechanism to select the best students for training programs and to cultivate long-standing relationships. There also needs to be a balance in the age of people involved in partnerships - older professors to bring experienced insight, younger staff to ensure sustainability. Participants also pointed out that the goals set for a partnership must correspond with human resources. For example, plan realistically for 10 workshops, not 20, if there are only two trainers available.