The Erasmus day- world café meeting was held virtually on October 16, 2021 from 10:30 - 12:30 (CEST) with the maximum attendance of 35 active participants from ASAF including the host, moderators and panellists. The meeting was aimed to raise awareness of the impacts of mobility on various sectors, notably: social development, education and environmental sustainability.

The moderators of the event, Ms. Soumaya Nabili (Co-ambassador of ASAF to Morocco), and Mr. Yenesew Alene (Co-ambassador of ASAF to Ethiopia) opened the meeting by introducing themselves and a short briefing about the event. As per the time table, a short introduction about ASAF was made by Mrs. Felicia Lang (project coordinator, MOSAIC). Then the grand event of the meeting which was aimed to raise awareness of the impact of mobility on quality of education, social development and environmental sustainability began. The discussions were arranged into three separate tables in two rounds with 40 minutes allotted for each round. Each table had a panellist and a rapporteur. Participants were free to select among the three topics mentioned below.

Table 1: How Erasmus+ mobility can contribute to social development in Africa? Speaker on this topic was Mohammed Baha Saidi (core member of ASAF) allowed the participants the opportunity to give their comments about the topic. He explained ASAF’s role in relation to the Erasmus programme. They identified the social issues in the countries and made a comparison to find solutions to them.

Table 2: How Erasmus+ mobility can contribute to environmental sustainability in Africa? In this session, the speaker Felix Kwabena Donkor talks about how environmental sustainability is a very important issue in Africa as it is a source of life. In conclusion, Africans should be well educated on how to manage the environmental ecosystem and also think about developing and utilizing the skills to make a better change in the continent.

Table 3: How Erasmus+ mobility can contribute to educational development in Africa? The Speaker was Esmat Elsayed (Bluebook trainee European commission). She briefed about all types of Erasmus+ mobility, ways of application, benefits of the programme, techniques of writing a cover letter and personal statement and also talked about Ph.D. programmes. A brief introduction was made by the attendees who shared their international experiences, cultural differences, and language requirements.

There were very constructive discussions and interactions at every table. All the participants were asking and questioning freely and have received ample information and explanations from the speakers. As a result, the participants were highly satisfied and benefited from the event as per the comments and feedback forwarded.

In conclusion, the event hit its main aim of bringing the members of ASAF on one platform and discuss the common agenda of the continent of Africa. The participants, the moderators, and the speakers thanked the organizers and the host for creating such a golden opportunity to discuss and share ideas, and experiences on a common agenda. The meeting came to an end by farewell and closing remarks by Soumaya Nabili and Yenesew Alene.

Germany, Cologne, 26 October 2021
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