Jelena Dunjic

Cooperation with partner staff

I had the pleasure of participating in a pilot project with Bank Windhoek. The bank staff members welcomed us very warmly. We were able to hold the workshops very flexibly and adapted to our partner (Bank Windhoek), so the weeks were a complete success. Both the planning and the exchange had to be flexible and was therefore challenging, but also totally exciting and feasible due to the good cooperation.
Both the location and the premises of Bank Windhoek are very nice and well equipped, which made it easy to organize the lectures.

Collaboration with students

It was very nice to see the development of the students during the week, especially the improvement of the focus topics. It took the students a while to open up. After the importance of self-confidence was addressed in class, it directly led to a change. The cultural differences were also very instructive for me. The exchange with the students during the project work on sustainability for Bank Windhoek, was very inspiring. They cooperated very well with us as well as within the groups. The immersion in the project and the quick grasp of the topic generated many interesting sustainable ideas for the partner Bank Windhoek.

Impact and win-win

The students were able to benefit from my many years of professional experience as well as from my life experience. It was very valuable to teach them the importance of working on their self-worth and their presence.
In addition, it was also an interesting and valuable experience for me. I learned a lot from a cultural point of view about the challenges in Namibia through the students’ contributions and the insight they gave me into their private lives.  

Memorable event

It was a pleasure to see the students’ engagement about how to create more sustainability for Bank Windhoek. In particular, a presentation for Bank Windhoek’s sustainability project was very exciting. One group had the idea of ​​separating waste within the bank and then bringing the plastic parts to an existing company, which manufactures bricks out of it. The brainstorming and the implementation of what the process should be like was very interesting.

It also warmed my heart when a student asked at the end of the week for a picture to commemorate a person who significantly changed her life. Realizing the impact we can have on other human beings was quite amazing.

Personal message

It was very important to motivate the students and to show them perspectives. Above all, observing, listening, and connecting was very essential. The influence each person can have is massive, it is possible to empower others.  It was a pleasure for me to meet these young students, interact and learn with them.