…so that Personnel Development Co-operation has a lasting effect Interviews with co-ordinators in the South

Living the co-operation without forgetting that “we are guests in the South”… Help over-come the wounds from past colonial rule … Daily practice of modesty in the relationships of mutual learning … Breaking the vision of “knowledge transfer” by replacing it with the paradigm of horizontal exchange in the framework of co-operation designed as a “two-lane road and not a one-way street.” But also to strengthen Southern partner organisations so they can be actors of their own achievable utopias. And at the same time, inform, educate and change Swiss attitudes, by enriching them with real experiences gathered in Africa, Asia or Latin America.

This bouquet of wisdom is apparent from these seven interviews, conducted by Unité over the last three years with just a few of the co-ordinators of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Switzerland dedicated to the Personnel Development Co-operation – until recently known as NGOs “sending volunteers to the South.”