Trade, educational and cultural exchanges

Kent City CouncilExchanges can help your council share ideas and experiences and provide an insight into the culture, traditions and practice of another community. The ‘exchange’ part of the initiative is two-way - both parties learn and gain from dialogue with each other. Typically ‘visits’ are also two-way with a reciprocal programme being arranged in each location.

In some cases, though, the partners may decide the most productive exchange can be achieved by focusing actual meetings and viewing of real-life situations in one location. Such exchanges are often important as part of development education or fair trade initiatives but they can also be particularly useful for development purposes, for improving local services in developing countries and in the UK.
 

>>Case studies

Bristol's educational exchanges with Nicaragua

Bristol Link with Nicaragua (BLINC) has been working closely with the local community of Puerto Morazan to improve the livelihoods, and health and educational services. The benefits of the link are also reflected in development education activities for Bristol's school children. Among the activities over the past 20 years:

  • Two secondary schools and a nursery named "Pre-escolar Bristol" have been set up in Puerto Morazan. "Pre-escolar Bristol" loves to welcome Spanish speaking volunteers from Bristol. BLINC has also sent 40 computers to the two secondary schools.
  • Long-term support has been provided to a women's shrimp farming co-operative and a related local non-governmental organisation to develop health education programme.
  • 'Nino a nino' (Child to Child) was a one-year project supported by BLINC, that provides training on health care for Nicaragua's older children, so that they can share their knowledge with their younger siblings and their families.

An annual Copa Sandino five-a-side football tournament is held every May to raise funds for a child health care project in Nicaragua.

MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger  MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women  MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases  MDG 8: Develop a global partnership for development   

>>Tips

+ Early planning. Plan as early as possible and liaise closely with your partner community on the programme.

+ Specific aims. Focus on the objective of ‘exchanging’ by thinking through what will maximise two-way learning and insight.

+ Oriented selection. Develop criteria for the selection of participants.

+ Dividing up roles. Be clear about the roles and contributions expected from each participant.

+ Use online tools. Think what could be done online. Increasingly, it is possible to use online tools to exchange experience and expertise.

+ Adopt a global view. Consider what needs to happen before and after the exchange, in particular what can be shared at distance beforehand and what needs to be done to follow-up and capitalise on the exchange.

+ Do not forget practicalities. Think through and be ready for all the practical things that need to be done to ensure the exchange runs smoothly (see visits and exchanges practicalities section).