European Union Planning Meeting

On November 2 and 3rd I was invited to attend an annual planning meeting for the Support to Education and Training Programme (SET) at the Orion Hotel in Pigg's Peak, Swaziland. Pigg's Peak is in the northern region of the country and is where most of the lumber is harvested and citrus groves are found. It is a mountainous and beautiful part of Swaziland. In addition, the Orion Hotel is the main casino resort in the country and is considered to be the 'nicest' hotel. I am not sure that I would agree with 'nicest,' but I am for sure that it is the most expensive! Thankfully for me, the EU was picking up the tab.

My room

The view from my balcony

The two-day meeting was scheduled such that it straddled the close of one budget cycle and the opening of another. We were asked to report on the progress of our programs in Program Estimate 4 (PE4) as well as to map out a plan for programming and spending in PE5. My boss, Maria, the Director of In-Service Education and Training (INSET) and I had thought that we had to come to the meeting prepared with a presentation on PE4 and then a plan for PE5; but, it turned out that the meeting was a 'working' meeting and that each of these tasks would be completed over the course of the two days. Needless to say, we were the darlings of the SET Programme as we appeared to be insanely organized and efficient. It was really just that we had done the work in advance...

The conference room

Maria presented our PE4 progress and then allowed me to present our PE5 plan. It was exciting to be able to stand in front of such a group as the highest people in the Ministry of Education, the European Union, UNICEF, etc. were present.

Our PE5 plan

It was a good learning experience and I got to check out the Orion Hotel (which I had always been curious about). I left feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the work that is yet to be done in PE5, but that is always the case with these sorts of 'step back' and 'plan ahead' meetings. Just when you've finished celebrating your achievements you plow ahead to what's next.

I feel very fortunate to have found such meaningful work in Swaziland. I wasn't really sure what to expect or what type of opportunities would exist, but I love working for the teacher training department and with the Swazi trainers and teachers. I will definitely miss them and be sad to go next June.