End of Year Highlights 2018

Featuring news (in sequence) from Papua New Guinea, Australia, South Africa, Tanzania and Bolivia.

 
 

Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby – Monday 17 September

The Human Development Institute (HDI) has facilitated development for sustainable micro enterprise in Papua New Guinea for more than 20 years and since 2008, in affiliation with GULL. In 2018, HDI provided its Personal Viability (PV) ‘Game of Money’ course to inmates at Port Moresby’s Bomana prison as a component of its rehabilitation work. The programme was extended to include prison staff, dependents of staff and community members in nearby settlements.

The programme (in three stages) with around 100 participants began in April and ran until June 2018. On Monday 17 September, a PV- GULL graduation took place at the prison. Due to the innovative nature of the work, the event was widely covered by TV, radio and PNG’s national press.

 

(Above left) Bomana prisoners and staff members received GULL level 1, 2 and 3 awards to reflect their relative performance.

(Above right) ‘The Game of Money’ enables participants to learn how to use start-up capital effectively and the banner highlights key outcomes.

 

 

 

Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby – Tuesday 18 September

PV founder Samuel Tam explains how the ‘Game of Money’ works: All participants (including prisoners) must re-pay the start-up capital ((Kina) K1,410) PV course fees, the GULL and HDI certification fees and rent for the use of meeting space (including Bomana) so that all costs are covered by the income generated. For example, level 1 participants had to generate K1,000 to meet the certification requirements and to graduate at Entry level. This includes a surplus for their own savings that is deposited in a bank account on their behalf so that when they leave the prison, they have some money to begin a micro enterprise.

The Bomana application has exceeded all expectations as the participants multiplied the start-up capital 52 times in 15 weeks – from start-up funding of K1,410 to K73,000. See: www.gullonline.org/media/ Press and TV for more details.

 

(Above left) The HDI team hold a banner highlighting the key results.

(Above right) Samuel Tam receives a gift from representatives of the Bomana prisoners who greatly appreciated the opportunity to participate.

 

 

 

Australia
Brisbane – Thursday 20 September

GULL Pro Chancellor Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt – a world-renowned specialist in action learning and action research – was awarded the Order of Australia (Officer in the General Division of the Order) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list announced on 11 June 2018. In the citation, Ortrun is described as internationally recognised and highly regarded scholar who has contributed significantly to both academia and the personal growth and development of many individuals.

Ortrun’s career began in Germany and following her relocation to Queensland in 1971, Ortrun completed a doctorate – the first of four that she has received.

 

(Above left) Ortrun is pictured with fellow recipients at the Award luncheon on 20th September.

(Above right) Richard Teare was able to attend the luncheon (with other friends and family) and on behalf of GULL, thanked Ortrun for the remarkable support she has and continues to provide for GULL’s work.

 

 

 

Australia
Yeronga – Thursday 20 September

On Thursday evening, 20th September, the Action Learning and Action Research Association (ALARA) convened one of its regular ‘Conversations’ at Yeronga Village, Queensland to explore with Richard Teare the question: ‘Can academic and community-based learning co-exist?’

 

(Above left) More than 40 people participated in this interactive session. The discussion sought to explore the main theme of Richard’s recent book: ‘Why is it that in the 21st century, the place where a person is born still determines their life chance? Richard provided a 20 minute briefing and questions for group discussion followed by feedback, interaction and a concluding input by Richard

(Above right) Richard is pictured with ALARA members John Wicks (far left) Ortrun and Bob Dick.

 

 

 

South Africa
North-West University, Potchefstroom, Friday 19 October

How can GULL help to address youth unemployment in a socially and economically challenged community? North-West University (NWU) in affiliation with GULL and its local partner, Gatelepele Youth Development Consultancy is implementing a pathway that aims to: develop the employability skills of participants; research the perceptions of youth in Khuma about unemployment and use this information to develop practical responses to the problem.

 

(Above left) The group from Khuma community, Stilfontein who are participating in the NWU with GULL pathway to enhance employability.

(Above right) (Right) Lesley Wood (left) Research Professor, NWU, Richard Teare (GULL) and Bibi Bouwman, Director, Community Engagement NWU.

 

 

 

South Africa
South African Education Research Association (SAERA)

At the 6th annual SAERA conference (22-24th October 18) held at Saint George’s Hotel and Conference Centre near to Pretoria, Lesley Wood (North-West University), Bruce Damons (Nelson Mandela University), Karen Venter (University of the Free State) and Richard Teare (for GULL) facilitated a panel presentation on the 23rd October about GULL’s work to-date with three South African universities. The session was entitled: Making community engagement more responsive to democratic ideals – towards a new framework for inclusion based on participatory action learning and action research. The session illustrated ways in which GULL has supported university-led community engagement and service learning to-date. We hope that other universities will join the initiative!

 

(Above left) Some of the panel participants

(Above right) Richard Teare, Karen Venter and Lesley Wood.

 

 

 

South Africa
University of the Free State (UFS) and the Central University of Technology (CUT), Bloemfontein, 25-26 October

At the first annual grassroots community engagement ceremony organized by UFS on its Bloemfontein campus, Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele, Director of Community Engagement endorsed the UFS with GULL affiliation and spoke about wider deployment of GULL in support of the rehabilitation of gang members, among other initiatives. Karen Venter, Head of Service Learning has used GULL to support personal development and micro enterprise at Bloem Shelter (a residential home for homeless women). The outcomes to-date have been remarkable.

 

(Above left) 18 Bloem Shelter participants received their GULL awards at the ceremony.

(Above right) Karen and Richard Teare facilitated a GULL workshop at CUT on 26 October, Our thanks to Jeeva Munsamy for hosting the workshop.

 

 

 

Tanzania
Msalato Theological College, Dodoma, Saturday, 01 December

Msalato Theological College is located 10km North of the country’s capital city – Dodoma and on Saturday 1st December, the College’s Principal, the Revd Canon Hilda Kabia hosted a GULL graduation event for experienced church pastors who are learning how to integrate the church and community mobilization (CCM) process with their daily work. The event was supported by the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT) and Tearfund Tanzania. CCM Founder Francis Njoroge, believes that self-help is the reason why the process has been widely adopted throughout the continent of Africa: People are the best experts of their own situation. They know how best thy can solve their problem. It’s just that they have not been given the opportunity to look hard at what they have and what they can do.

 

(Above left) An image of the church and community working together to make full use of the available resources across Africa

(Above right) Some of the GULL graduates join the choir for the celebrations at Msalato college.

 

 

 

El Alfarero
Bolivia, Monday, 03 December

El Alfarero, Bolivia affiliated with GULL in 2014 and it’s post-graduate training for graduates (El Aprendiz) prepares them for Christian youth ministry in Latin America. The professional Master pathway integrates service and ministry in a practical yet strategic way to facilitate community transformation. El Aprendiz is based on individual mentoring to enable holistic change and comprises 30 modules in 6 areas of study that combine theory and practice. They are: spirituality, bible study, leadership, biblical counselling, administration and contextualization. A maximum of 12 students are accepted each year so as to ensure that they receive personalized attention. On Monday 3rd December, seven students received their GULL awards after achieving mid-point or end-point outcomes.

 

(Above left) (Left) Graham and (Right) Debbie Frith, founders of El Alfarero

(Above right) El Aprendiz students proudly display their El Alfarero and GULL certificates.

 

GULL is a non-profit public benefit corporation registered in California, USA. GULL’s mandate to confer professional awards is based on a statement of recognition offered in perpetuity and signed by the Head of State and the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea on 10 April 2007. GULL is also endorsed by other Governments, Leaders and Institutions.

 
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