The Education to become a Development Instructor

At the school we put a lot of emphasis on qualities such as independence, taking initiative, working hard, being physically fit, practical skills and teamwork. It is one of our fundamental beliefs, that every single person has a great potential and much to offer. Your teacher will arrange your six or twelve month program, and together with the team plan the weekly structure. The teachers at the school are former volunteers, and can give you first hand information about how it is to work on one of the projects in Africa.

TO DO GOOD

This subject includes studies connected to the world situation, especially to the poor parts of the world. You will learn about fighting poverty, diseases, the world economy, and development aid. Furthermore, as a part of the subject you study the history of Africa, the idea and the objectives of Humana People To People and gain an insight in how this expresses itself in the projects in Africa. The practical part of the subject means that you participate in a number of activities where you yourself do good; for example to collect clothes, to distribute leaflets that encourage people to be volunteers, or to perform street theatre about good development aid.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STRENGTH AND FITNESS

You will learn about physical and mental strength and fitness as a means to a healthy, productive and long life. You can study about health, nutrition and stress management. The subject is first and foremost practical. It is very important that you are in good physical shape before you go to Africa. A fit and healthy person is able to work more effectively and also is less likely to become ill. Sports are also a good opportunity to develop teamwork and bond with other students. It can also be a welcome break from studies and can help you to relax.

LANGUAGE

The language at the school is English. Here you will learn about the language that people speak in the country where you will work - either Portuguese (Mozambique), Creole (Guinea Bissau) or the local language needed. This is a very important part of the program - difficulties with the language can limit what you can actually achieve in Africa.

SPECIALIZATION

This subject is extensive because here you prepare yourself specifically for your work in Africa. You also acquire a broad knowledge in planning and organizing. Furthermore you will produce useful materials to take with you to Africa, eg. posters about hygiene, malaria, and the prevention of AIDS, song books for children, books for teaching English, and posters about your home country. Specialization also means that you study the current situation and history of the country where you are going to work.
You also prepare in other ways, for example if you are going to work in a project with children, you could arrange a summer camp at the school for children. Afterwards, you can evaluate the camp -What was good and what was not so good? Were there elements that could have been prepared better? How can you use your newly gained experiences in Africa?

Organize Action Week

Action Weeks are not only a training to be able to create development at the project in Africa, it is at the same time taking action here and now: organizing summer camps in the country side for inner city kids, volunteering in a homeless shelter, giving a hand in ongoing community work or mobilizing support in the form of money and materials to bring to the projects in Africa. A recurrent element in the program is therefore “Action Weeks”, which can be carried out as a smaller group together – or as an individual.
The objective of as a Development Instructor it is essential constantly to have eyes and ears open to the need and opportunity of taking action to change, develop and improve things around you for the better. This applies to the life at the Institute – but it also applies to life in the societies we are a part of – whether in Europe or Africa. r the actions is to do good in our own society or for the projects in Africa, and at the same time train essential skills needed for a successful period in Africa as well as throughout life.

Most of the actions demand:

· Planning.
· Economy -how to fund the action, how to keep track and account for the money spend.
· Mobilizing people -and how to organize them well.
· Setting a goal -and reaching it.
· Leadership skills.
· Evaluation - reporting and conclusion.

Each Development Instructor choose his/her actions from the school’s database about one month before the action takes place so there is time to make necessary arrangements or agreements with the people. Each month has a headline and the action for the month is related to the headline.

The actions are within 6 different major headlines:

· Become a good agitator for a world without poverty.
· Outreach and culture.
· What is globalization? Take a stand to global injustice.
· Make a difference. We make actions against dehumanization in our own societies.
· Creat development. We take action against HIV & AIDS.
· Economy in bigger and smaller perspectives.

We take action together with other DRH schools.

The headline is Development Conference on November & New Years Concert on January.

Development Conference 2010, Tvind

Take responsible in charge area

The one in charge of responsibility area will have a chance to learn something new in their given area and share their knowledge with the other members of their team. The team can decide how they can use the in charge areas in the best way to educate themselves and give individuals a chance to discover their strengths and weaknesses, helping to build team relationships. It also helps build a community atmosphere between teachers and students for example; during the cleaning action everybody is equal. It also encourages an independent lifestyle, which means everyone does their fair share to ensure the school runs smoothly. This helps to improve social skills and makes for a more tolerant environment.

Examples of how you can benefit from your in charge area:

· Everybody can give a lesson about their in charge area and learn how to speak out in public.
· You will learn how to be responsible and respect the people around you.
· You will learn how to take charge and delegate jobs.
· You will learn things about yourself.
· You might actually enjoy it!