SSDPP's Tanzania Project in Summer of 2019

From July 21 to August 3, the summer exchange activity of SSDPP in Tanzania led by Mr. Tian Donghua, Secretary of the General Party Branch of SSDPP was successfully concluded. The project lasted for two weeks and was attended by teachers and students from four universities in China, Tanzania and the Netherlands. During the event, the participants from China, Tanzania and the Netherlands conducted in-depth exchanges and research on "qualitative research methods" and "sustainable development" through academic lectures, open discussions, field research and group display and achieved fruitful results.

On July 21, led by Mr. Tian Donghua, Liu Lei, a doctoral student enrolled in 2017, Hao Weiqi, a postgraduate student enrolled in 2018, and Zhang Rui arrived at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Africa. They attended the welcome dinner together with teachers and students from the University of Dar es Salaam and Groningen University in the Netherlands, and conducted friendly exchanges with them.

In the next four days, following the opening ceremony and the self-introduction, the students visited the University of Dar es Salaam and attended a lecture given by the professor of the university. The lecture was about Africa's development history, research tools (qualitative methods such as community map and problem tree), etc. The Dutch professor also delivered a lecture and the students learnt a lot from the event. Mr. Tian Donghua of SSDPP introduced the history of China's medical and health system to African and Dutch students, described China's development experience, and actively communicated with the professors and students present, which aroused great enthusiasm and interest of the participants. After that, we talked about gender and development, Tanzania's sustainable development goals, etc. During the event, the students from China, Tanzania and the Netherland held many group discussions and group displays, and the Chinese students were active and performed well in the event.

Four days later, the teachers and students arrived at Sekomu University in Maganba Lushoto by bus, which took them eight hours. The professors here also prepared many lectures and discussions for the students to understand the development history and current situation of Lushoto. Under the teachers' guidance, 15 students were divided into three multi-national field research groups. They independently developed field research plans and carried out field surveys on three themes, namely, women's status, children's development and environmental protection. Under the leadership of different teachers, each field research group interviewed the farmers in the village for three consecutive days, held discussions in the village committee, visited the rural households, and had a good understanding of the current development status of Africa.

On August 1, the three groups held wonderful exhibitions with detailed contents in various forms. The teachers also gave valuable opinions on different themes. After the group presentation, three professors from China, Europe and Africa respectively presented diplomas to the students.

On August 2, the teacher and the students returned to Dar es Salaam together. The students cherished this exchange experience very much and bid farewell to each other.

By: Liu Lei, Hao Weiqi, Zhang Rui