My Top 5 Tampere-Mwanza Moments and Memories

I have had the pleasure to serve as the Project Manager for the Tampere-Mwanza Co-operation project for the last 3 years and 2 months. And I’m grateful for all the wonderful moments, inspiring people and amazing success stories I have witnessed during this time! Sadly, this period has come to an end and it’s time to say goodbye and move on to the next challenges ahead of me. For now, at leas.

As a thank you, I listed the 5 most exciting moments I had during this journey:

1. Getting to know and work with our extremely-excited-and-forever-helpful Project Coordinator Mr Amin Abdallah. We have shared some great memories and good stories and pushed through some pretty difficult times in the project, as well. Thankfully the work lies in good hands in Mwanza!

 

2. Travelling to Mwanza with the Tampere Steering Team chair lady Ms Kaisu Anttonen and finally seeing the long-lost fire truck finding its way to Mwanza, where it was received with a big event and a lot of fuss! One of the most rewarding days in this project for me.

3. To witness the enthusiasm of the Tampere and Mwanza teachers and their schools and the great bonds created in the school co-operation. The schools in both Tampere and Mwanza have absolutely dazzled me over the years! The connection is so strong and both teachers and pupils are so excited to be part of the project. It has been a great source of motivation for me!

4. The moment when the two mayors finally met. This was secretly a dream come true for me and I’m so happy that it happened and I was able to witness it. The bond between the two sister cities grew stronger and I’m confident that it will stay forever!

5. Our project steering teams have brought so much support and long-learnt-experience in this co-operation that it has been absolutely heartwarming. I can’t thank enough all the members of the teams and their availability and interest for this project.

I’m confident that all these people that I have had the chance to meet over these years will continue building the co-operation stronger and stronger and with the new funding possibilities the possibilities for the continuation are endless! From my part, I want to thank you all for the trust and support you have given me and most definitely, we shall meet again! 

Asanteni sana, kiitos paljon! 

                                                                                              

With gratitude,

Ruusa Gawaza

Towards the end of the project period

The ongoing project period 2013-2014 is coming to its end and it’s time to look back at some of the activities that took place during this time.

Tampere Bonanza in Mwanza on 5.12.2014. Pic Amin A.

As has been described before in the previous blog post, the school co-operation has become stronger and many new schools have joined in both in Tampere and in Mwanza. It has been heartwarming to see the enthusiasm of teachers and pupils when they have joined their effort under the project. The recent school concerts held both in Tampere (on 25.11.2014) and in Mwanza (on 5.12.2014) were very successful and reached a total audience of more than 1200 pupils and teachers from many of the co-operation schools in both cities. The feedback has been nothing but positive and encouraging and schools are hungry for more activities alike! The Tampere schools have also organized many activities by themselves under the Mwanza theme as part of global education.

Ward Executive Officer training, January 2014. Pic. Amin A.

The other mode of co-operation that has been successful and appreciated is the administration exchange. One might ask, what can be the impact of one administration officer travelling to Tampere or to Mwanza for a work exchange visit. Well, the impacts are many and although somewhat difficult to measure but to individual officers and their respective units, some of the newly learnt models and methods are indeed very important and built the capacity of the unit as a whole. For example, the Urban Planning Unit in Mwanza has gotten many new planning ideas and tools from Mr Kalimenze, the head of the Urban Planning Unit in Mwanza City, who visited Tampere recently. As a consequence of his work visit, the Urban Planning Unit now has a plan and a proposal for how to improve green spaces in Mwanza City and how to involve some external financing partners in the process. In Tampere Mr Kalimenze saw the importance of green spaces to the community as a recreational area and therefore took it as the key development issue for his Unit to work on. Also, reorganizing and computerizing all the city data (maps, information etc.) into a GIS system is in the process in Mwanza and is a very important tool for any future urban planning. To that note, the project found a Tampere University of Technology student, Ms Natalia Rincon, who contributed to the Mwanza Central Business District Strategy formulation as her thesis work. This work will help much the Urban Planning team in Mwanza in the planning process.

Mabatini School teachers with Tampere teachers in April 2014. Pic. Kaisa Henttinen.

One important part of the capacity building activities of the Tampere-Mwanza co-operation are the different trainings organized in Mwanza. During this project period we trained a number of different officers and stakeholders from the street level officers (Mtaa and Ward Executive Officers) to the City Councilors. These trainings dealt with environmental and good governance issues. The environmental and composting trainings to the Mtaa and Ward Officers were highly valued and appreciated since they had no prior knowledge or training on these subjects. Many Officers organized themselves after the training and mobilized the community to clean the streets and to apply composting. The City Councilors felt that the good governance training was much needed because it helped them revise all off the small tenders they have approved based on the new knowledge they had and hence were able to enhance their activities.

Visiting Waste Management Company Molok in Nokia in October 2014. Pic. Ruusa Gawaza

There are so many activities that are worth mentioning when reaching towards the end of the project phase, unfortunately the blog space is limited. However, I would like to mention one more and that is the communication about the project. The Mwanza City FM radio station has become an important voice to our project activities. Many interviews and programmes have been aired together and in Mwanza City it has up to 200 000 listeners. So indeed it is an important mode of communication about the project activities and results. A growing number of the citizens of Mwanza are aware of composting, fire prevention and other important life skills through these radio programmes. Also, the project’s Facebook page has a growing number of 253 followers and this blog has been read almost 6000 times all over the world! The rising awareness and interest towards our project activities is heartwarming and encouraging and proves that we are on the right road. Also the feedback that we receive from different stakeholders who are taking part in the project activities in Tampere and in Mwanza is positive and have a “let’s do it together” vibe on it. As our project coordinator, Mr Amin Abdallah puts it: “I try my best but I will improve more”. So, let’s improve our cities’ co-operation more and most importantly, let’s do it together!

PST members brainstorming together in Mwanza in Oct 2013. Pic. RG

For this 2013-2014 project period I would like to express my extended gratitude to all of you who have taken part to the project activities and strengthened the co-operation! Many thanks to our strong Project Steering Teams in both cities and the School co-operation group in Tampere! Let's continue walking together!

Project Steering Team in a joint meeting in June 2014. Pic. RG.

The two Mayors in Tampere in May 2014. Pic. Amin A.

Text: Ruusa Gawaza, Project Manager, Tampere

Walking together in the School Co-operation

Eager pupils in Sahwa School. Pic: Ruusa Gawaza

As the 2013-2014 project period is approaching its end, I took the opportunity to travel to Mwanza for an evaluation of the project activities. My first priority was to visit the project schools, especially the new ones that have joined the project only about a year ago. So we visited Mirongo, Mabatini, Iseni, Igoma and Sahwa Primary Schools during the first few days of my stay.

Between March-May 2014 a lot of activities were conducted in the school co-operation. First 2 teachers from Mirongo and Mabatini Schools accompanied by 2 Academic Officers from Mwanza City came to Tampere for a work exchange. In return, 3 teachers from Rahola, Juhannuskylä and Atala Schools as well as a School Social Worker from Juhannuskylä School came to Mwanza to hold a teacher training seminar and to spend some time in the Mwanza Schools. Also, a TAMK trainee spent 6 months in Mwanza going around in different schools and teaching about composting and environmental management. 

I had the opportunity to discuss with many teachers in the project schools and it was evident that these exchange visits and trainings had brought many new activities and practices to the schools. All of the interviewed teachers mentioned that they were taught to use assistant teachers in the classes to help manage the huge group sizes. The assistant teachers are chosen amongst the more advanced pupils in the class. They assist the teacher with some of the pupils while the teacher can spend more time and energy on some others.  Pupils get much more assistance now and their individual learning phases are taken more into account. The learning results of the pupils have gone up since they are now assisted more by this method.

Some schools have also established guidance counselling groups. These groups consist of different pupils from different classes and they address different issues and problems of pupils according to their needs. Pupil to pupil approach helps the children to open up more about their problems and the guiding pupils can give advice based on their own experience. As a result for example in Mirongo School, stealing in classrooms has decreased because the pupils have been discussing the issue together. Also dodging school has decreased because pupils are getting peer advice and example from other pupils who have gone through the same problems.

Evaluation meeting with Iseni teachers. Pic: Ruusa Gawaza

Group teaching and learning has now also become an important part of many schools daily teaching routines. Pupils are divided into groups in one class and they are encouraged to share and discuss more and learn from one another. In some schools the slower learners are also provided with  additional classes after school.

Sahwa and Igoma, that have been in the project for a long time, are well involved in the environmental activities, for example composting. However, I was also very happy to see that for example Mirongo and Mabatini Schools have quickly adopted many of the new environmental management methods through the trainings. Mabatini School, in particular, which is located on the slopes of a hill, suffers a lot from soil erosion because the school yard is quite bare. However, due to the encouragement of the project they have now started planting a lot of trees and other plants on the school yards. They have implemented composting and used the manure for the fertilization of the tree seedlings. The school yard is slowly improving and becoming greener. Also, Mirongo has used the composting method to revive the school garden. They have also invited members of the community to observe the concrete results of composting.

Protecting the environment in Mabatini School by using compost manure as a fertilizer. Pic: Ruusa Gawaza

These are just a few examples that I can mention from the evaluation of the school co-operation. But all in all, I have to say that I’m highly impressed by the motivation and involvement of the teachers and pupils in the project activities. These improvements might sound small to some, but listening to the excitement and deep engagement of the teachers and the pride in which they spoke about the new teaching methods and other activities in their school, I’m more and more convinced that small things eventually grow into something big. On a large scale these might be baby steps, but on a teacher’s or pupil’s individual level, they can have a much bigger influence than we can ever understand.

“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together” says the proverb. Indeed, in the Tampere-Mwanza Co-Operation, we are walking together and we aim to walk very far. 

Kids are now calling me Ruusa Tampere. Pic: Amin Abdallah

Ruusa Gawaza 
(Project Manager)

Cultural exchange and Global Education

Tampere-Mwanza-cooperation has many important impacts in Tampere, as well. In Tampere one impact is its global education aspect which can be seen for example in schools and kindergartens through cultural activities. Pupils' see and experience the culture of Tanzania and Mwanza through photos, videos, stories and teacher exchange activities as well as exchanging art and crafts with children from Mwanza. At its best, global education increases understanding about the broad world and tolerance towards differenct cultures and people. The school linckages involve 5 Schools in Mwanza and 10 schools and 3 day care centers in Tampere.  Here are some stories from schools that have taken part in the project during the years:

Kaukajärvi and Rahola schools are new to the project, and have been assigned as partner schools with Mirongo and Sahwa.  In Kaukajärvi the project is just starting, but some teachers have already visited Mwanza. The children as of yet, haven’t had the change to participate to the project in the early stages, but there are plenty of ideas for communication and cooperation with Mirongo. Mr Mikko Siippainen, the guidance counselor in Kaukajärvi School, has visited Mwanza and what he would like to bring to the Finnish culture from Tanzania is the positive attitude, relaxed atmosphere, and colors, songs, and laughter.

The kick off event in Rahola School for Mwanza project. Pic: Laura Pokka

In Rahola Primary School one Tuesday morning the hall fills with children in organized queues for a morning assembly.  “Habari za asubuhi!” they answer to the teacher’s greeting, which means "How are you this morning?" in Swahili.  A group of children performs a drum recital influenced by Tanzanian music, which gets loud applauds. Even though the project has just started in the school, it is evident that everybody is eagerly onboard. The purpose of the morning assembly is for the project contact person in the school, teacher Ms Ira Sipponen, to introduce Tansania, Mwanza and their partner school Sahwa to the pupils. There are already some ideas about what will be done in the future, like Mwanza themed week, art, letters, and so on. 

Tampere-Mwanza cooperation's impacts can be seen in the kindergartens ways of playing and involvment of music. In Jussinkylä play school the kids have familiarized themselves with some Tanzanian musical instruments. In this play school Mwanza has been brought closer in a fun way by videos and music from Mwanza, to show the differences and similarities in Tanzanian and Finnish children’s lives.

Kids playing with Tanzanian instruments in Jussinkylä day care center. Pic. Hanna Hjelt

Pispala School has been part of the Mwanza project for several years. In the past two years the first graders did some Mwanza themed art as well as prepared songs for the Schools' Mwanza Concert in Tampere. Also, a Tanzanian musician Menard Mponda came to visit the school and organised a drumming, singing and dancing work shop to the pupils. Teacher visitors from Mwanza have spent some few days in a year in the school. For example, in the spring of 2014 teacher Ms Edna Kidudo from Mirongo School taught some songs and plays to the children. Second graders Jade and Aimo remember the plays and they also remember a few words of Swahili language that teacher Kidudo taught them. They would happily welcome new teacher visitors from Mwanza to their school so that they would learn much more!

Puistokoulu School is a slightly smaller school of about 120 pupils. Also the learning groups are smaller, with only 8 kids in one class, whereas in Mwanza one class can have up to 120 pupils! The project contact person in the school, Mr Maco Oey has been in Mwanza two times as part of the teacher exchange, training and teaching teachers. He will soon leave for his third visit in order to play music and record songs and videos together with the pupils in Mwanza Schools. This material will be used in Tampere schools as part of the global education and Tampere-Mwanza Project activities. Mr Oey feels that the project has given the kids a chance to learn about tolerance, assistance and about the multicultural and international world. He says that the Tanzanian music and rhythm is something Finnish people could learn from and what they can give and teach us. In Puistokoulu school there has also been musical workshops with Mr Menard Mponda and the school takes part to the yearly Mwanza Week School Concert. 

 

Africa inspired painting made by a pupil of Puistokoulu School. Pic. Laura Pokka

The Mwanza Week School Concert has now been organised 3 times in November and is a joint effort of the schools that take part in the project. This year the concert will be organised on the 25th of November and there will be music, drumming and dance performances from 3 schools and 1 day care cente. 

Mwanza Week School Concert in 2013. Pic. Ruusa Gawaza

Text: Trainee Laura Pokka