Everlasting professional and private experiences: The grant-holders return from their project assignments for Sparkassenstiftung with new insights. Linda Ostendorf with a “non-bank client” during her work in Kyrgyzstan.
“The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world.” Axel Gellenberg started his lecture about his assignment in the Philippines with this quotation from Alexander von Humboldt as a guideline for the newcomers. The Regional Manager of the German savings bank Sparkasse Mittelmosel – Eifel Mosel Hunsrück was one of the grant-holders of 2015 of the joint grant programme of the Eberle-Butschkau Foundation and the Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation), who left his working place at his home savings bank to work abroad in one of Sparkassenstiftung’s project and see things from a different angle.
Gellenberg supported Sparkassenstiftung’s team of experts in Southeast Asia working on the introduction of a dual vocational training programme within the scope of the “K to 12 plus” project. His main task was to hold seminars, workshops and lectures on the topic of Customer Relationship Management. In pursuance of his task, the 36 years old expert from Rhineland-Palatinate visited vast parts of the archipelago comprising 100 million inhabitants and 7,000 islands.
His biggest challenge and at the same time most gainful experience was the completely different culture, the way of living and working of the local people: “German virtues like punctuality, organization and forward planning are only of little use here. In Germany, I am a very structured person. I always know for certain what will be coming in the next two weeks”, says Gellenberg. In the Philippines, things are completely different. He had to get used to the different way of handling things without planning ahead or even planning at all. Unexpected working orders like “You will hold a lecture today at the university – On which topic? – We will see” and the procedures of Philippine business meetings required a high level of flexibility and spontaneity. “It’s nothing special, if meetings are an hour delayed. But they always start with a prayer and with singing the national anthem, because the Filipinos are very religious people and proud of their nation. Permanent eating and leading phone calls during such business meetings are part of the routine”, Gellenberg remembers. During his stay abroad, he was particularly impressed by one thing: “The people live their lives very intensively; they are affectionate and incredibly spontaneous. We here in Germany could learn a thing or two about this special attitude towards life.”
It has not been the first visit to Asia for the bank employee. He had spent several holiday trips in this region prior to his assignment within the scope of the grant programme, thus he was familiar with the culture and the people. But according to Gellenberg, it is a huge difference between visiting a country as a tourist and working there. The Asian eating habits, too, asked a lot of him during his stay. “Eating plays an essential role in the Philippine working life. It’s a matter of courtesy to eat with your guest or business partner. On days with a lot of appointments, it was not unusual that I had to eat lunch for three or four times”, Gellenberg smilingly remembers. His working assignment abroad has influenced his private and business life. There were days, when the cultural differences brought him to his limits. But looking back, he acknowledges this experience as an asset. That is why he recommended the following to the new grant-holders, who are looking forward to their assignments abroad in 2016: “Be open, courageous and curious in all you are doing. Do not hole up, but plunge into the unknown and get to know the people and the life in the new country.”
Janina Meyer from the Landessparkasse zu Oldenburg reported about her work in the Caucasus: “First, I had my doubts whether working in Azerbaijan and Georgia would be the right thing for me.” The 28 years old grant-holder conceded that she had never before even thought about this region. She didn’t know anything about the culture or the people living in these countries, nor did she know a word of Russian. But already after the first few days of working together with Sparkassenstiftung’s team, she fell in love with the region and the people. In Georgia, Meyer supported the project “Women in Business”, a technical cooperation project supporting women-led start-ups and female small and micro-entrepreneurs in their professional further development. In Azerbaijan, she worked within the scope of Sparkasssenstiftung’s financial literacy project and held trainings for teachers, scholars and students as well as for families on this issue. “The support from the team and the general hospitality of the local people were impressing”, she reports about her assignment in both countries. And she shares a special experience with her previous speaker Gellenberg. Meyer explains: “The German thoroughness and structuredness encounters a completely different mentality, a different attitude towards life and different work patterns – you have to cope with huge personal and professional challenges.” There is only one thing Meyer would have changed in retrospect: “I should have learned the language earlier – the communication during the trainings and in the banking institutions would have been much easier”.
Linda Ostendorf looks back on a similar experience during her assignment in Kyrgyzstan: “Although almost half of the population lives beyond the poverty line, the people are cheerful, generous and go out a lot – they lead an active life. Kyrgyzstan is a very friendly country.” The Master of Business Administration, who is employed at Sparkasse Rheine, was astonished about how many German and international organisations engaged themselves in the economic and social development of this landlocked Central Asian country apart from the Sparkassenstiftung. “Sparkassenstiftung’s work is incredibly valuable. Saving is not an important issue in Kyrgyzstan. In most of the cases the money is spent immediately. Loans are also a difficult topic, because the care and servicing of customers is often bad and the banks do not have enough savings deposits to use them as loans.” For these reasons, she perceived her work within the scope of Sparkassenstiftung’s project to introduce dual vocational training for bank specialists as an enormous enrichment.
Katja Rauscher, too, had second thoughts about her assignment in Zambia: “Will I fit in there? How will the people be? Will I be able to cope with the cultural differences?” Back in Germany, the 32 year-old savings banks expert of Sparkasse Nürnberg can answer all these questions with a definite “Yes!” With enthusiasm, Rauscher reported about the country and its people. She was particularly impressed of Sparkassenstiftung’s work approach. “We are not here as Germans who know it better and want to impose our German solution, but we work on project goals and develop solutions in close cooperation with the local banks and the people working there.” Rauscher supported Sparkassenstiftung’s team in preparing and implementing the World Savings Day. Among others, Rauscher developed a budget planner, enabling Zambian families to control their income and expenses and help them to generate savings more easily.
Sophia Ulrich supported a Sparkassenstiftung project in Africa, too. For three months she left her working place at the Sparkasse Ulm to assist Sparkassenstiftung’s project work in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Ulrich’s assignment focused on enhancing financial literacy within the scope of professionalising Rwanda’s microfinance sector. “In East Africa not many people are aware of the importance of saving”, reported the 27-year-old. To improve this situation, she developed and organised “Learn-to-save” events for children and young people at the local schools. Ulrich was thrilled about the openness and motivation of the young people in issues of saving: “Most of the scholars aspired to support their families by saving money and be able to finance their education or studies later on all by themselves to give financial relief to their parents. Ulrich’s most important lesson learned from her work in Rwanda is the insight “that it is possible to achieve a lot with only limited means”. After her return to Germany and her home savings bank, she even made news on local TV: The television broadcast “Studio talks from the savings bank’s headquarters Neue Mitte in Ulm” reported in its end-of-year review 2015 with the topic “What really counts in life” about Ulrich’s short-term assignment for Sparkassenstiftung and her commitment to East Africa.
Grant programme: A win-win-win situation for all involved
What really counts in life are perspectives, in particular for the people in the poorer regions of the world. On the meeting of generations, Niclaus Bergmann, Sparkassenstiftung’s Managing Director, emphasised the win-win situation for the Sparkassenstiftung and for the participants of the programme: “The Sparkassenstiftung imparts the know-how of the German savings banks to developing countries and emerging economies. Our grant-holders implement their knowledge and skills as savings banks experts in our projects. At the same time, they broaden their horizons during their assignments abroad; they learn to see things from a different angle, discard old patterns of thinking and develop new solutions. The home savings banks, too, profit from the personal and professional experiences and ideas gained by their grant-holders.” Bärbel Kaatz from the Eberle-Butschkau Foundation is delighted about the successful development of the grant programme, which was drafted and implemented in 2013 just within a few months. Many beneficiaries of the Eberle-Butschkau Foundation have uttered the wish to work abroad for some time. It is a good thing that this wish may come true within the scope of the joint grant programme. But not only the grant-holders and the Sparkassenstiftung take direct benefit from the grant programme, but the people in the countries of assignment, too, Bergmann added. “Sparkassenstiftung’s work helps to offer people a secure income and better chances in life. This creates value added for all.” He also saw a direct connection to the current wave of refugees: “If the people come to Europe, to Germany, they don’t do that for the beauty of the country. They come here, because they see a perspective. If we succeed in contributing to improving the prospects in the refugees’ home countries with what we are doing and give them new hope for a secure existence, this will be a great success for all of us.”
Next generation is at the ready: Grant-holders of 2016 will go abroad soon
The experience reports of the old grant-holders and the vivid discussions with Sparkassenstiftung’s staff were met with great response by the new grant-holders of 2016, who are looking forward to their assignments abroad. In this year’s round, Shakib Ahmed from Kreissparkasse Birkenfeld will support the Sparkassenstiftung in Bhutan, Tobias Brill from Sparkasse Weserbergland will work in Peru, Danijela Lazarevic from Sparkasse Bodensee and Margaret Köhn from Sparkasse Minden-Lübbecke will be seconded to East Africa. Sparkassenstiftung’s project countries in Central Asia will be the destination of Arthur Klauser from Sparkasse Uelzen Lüchow-Dannenberg and Thomas Piela from Sparkasse Neuss. Nicole König from Sparkasse Jena-Saale-Holzland will support Sparkassenstiftung in the Philippines and Thies Rasmus Popp from the Savings Banks Academy of Schleswig-Holstein will be seconded to Vietnam. Irina Riggert from Sparkasse Uelzen Lüchow-Dannenberg will assist Sparkassenstiftung’s project in Zambia and Freya Edith Ahrens from Kreissparkasse Verden will go to Mexico and El Salvador.
As of June 2016, the application phase for the 2017 grant programme will be on.
To access the homepage of the Eberle-Butschkau Foundation, please follow the <link http: www.ebusti.de _blank>link
The exciting and very detailed experience report of Axel Gellenberg from Sparkasse Mittelmosel – Eifel Mosel Hunsrück about his work in the Philippines in 2015 for Sparkassenstiftung can be accessed<link file:51> here (German language only)
About her experiences during her assignment in Zambia, Katja Rauscher reported in a blog:<link http: katjagoeszambia.de _blank> katjagoessambia
The TV report (German language only) about Sophia Ulrich’s work in Rwanda can be accessed <link https: www.youtube.com _blank>here
Sophia Ulrich’s experience report which was published in the savings banks magazine “Sparkassenzeitung” on 24 June 2015 can be accessed <link http: www.sparkassenstiftung.de fileadmin user_upload pdf artikel _blank>here (German language only)
Contact partners:
Matthias Fohs / Carina Lau
Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooepration
Simrockstraße 4
53113 Bonn
Phone: +49 228 9703 6617 / 6608
Fax: +49 228 9703 6613