Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s youngest population by far – and young people are increasingly opting to learn German. Through its programme (Digital) GFL Competence Network Sub-Saharan Africa, the DAAD is supporting universities in Togo, Kenya and Namibia in their efforts to meet the growing demand for high-quality German courses. The kick-off event for the first project, SANDD – Sub-Saharan Africa Network GFL Digital , will take place in Namibia in early October 2024. 

When Dr Gerda Wittmann enters the seminar rooms and lecture halls at the start of the semester, she sees numerous new faces. Wittmann is senior lecturer and head of the German section at the University of Namibia (UNAM) and responsible locally for the DAAD-funded project SANDD –Sub-Saharan Africa Network GFL Digital. “Interest in our ‘German as Applied and Business Language’ course, which is essentially a language course, is growing rapidly – both among enrolled students and the wider public,” she explains. “We are also seeing rising numbers of students within our German studies section.” 

German is one of the 30 or so languages spoken in Namibia, which include eleven national languages and English as the official language; roughly 20,000 people speak German as their first language. “Furthermore, tourism plays an important role in the Namibian economy, with most visitors coming from German-speaking countries,” explains Wittmann. Other young people see their future in Namibia’s German-language media, while schools also offer good career prospects. “German teachers are more likely to get a job than those in many other subjects, meaning that a good degree can be a way out of poverty,” says Wittmann. 

Strengthening and internationalising GFL in Germany and sub-Saharan Africa

To meet African universities’ high demand for academic training of German teachers and to strengthen teaching of and research in German as a foreign language (GFL), the DAAD has launched its new programme (Digital) GFL Competence Network Sub-Saharan Africa: with funding from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the DAAD has been supporting GFL departments at universities in Togo, Namibia, Kenya and Germany via the programme since May 2024. The focus is on three target groups: university teachers, young researchers and students. Scientific and subject-specific expertise is shared, and the project contributes to the linguistic and academic training of young people for whom a course of study or employment in Germany could be an interesting option.

“Alongside the DAAD lectureships, the German Language, Literature and Culture: Institutional Partnerships and the Dhoch3 platform, the programme is another important element when it comes to promoting the German language abroad,” explains Julia Schwarzenberger, the DAAD Section Head responsible. “In addition, it allows us to generate key impetus not only for exchange between Germany and Africa but also within the African continent, and to ensure the internationally oriented further development of German as a foreign language.”  

The programme is being implemented by an alliance of five universities: the universities of Augsburg and Paderborn in Germany, the University of Kara in Togo, Kenyatta University in Kenya and UNAM pool their expertise and jointly expand their capacities in the project SANDD – Sub-Saharan Africa Network GFL Digital. “In our network we address pressing issues that affect us all, such as digitisation, sustainability and participation, and make resources more widely available,” explains Project Leader Professor Kristina Peuschel, who holds the chair in German as a second / foreign language and its didactics at the University of Augsburg. “Among other things, we will develop modules for the professionalisation of GFL teachers that reflect local contexts and the state of research and are practical in orientation.” 

The University of Augsburg is responsible for the organisational side of the project, contributing its expertise in digital learning. Paderborn University focuses on multilingualism and language in specialist fields, professional life and university studies and profits from the joint research conducted in these areas. Together, all the universities offer continuing education and seminars on these topics, as well as on digital competence, literary didactics and in research methodologies and academic writing.  

Didactic and digital competence in focus

UNAM and Kenyatta University contribute their knowledge in the training of German teachers; Kenyatta University is East Africa’s largest GFL teacher training institution. The University of Kara in Togo is specialised in vocational German degree courses. Binational master’s courses are planned, as are double and triple degree programmes. At the heart of the project’s virtual component is the development and use of a digital teaching, learning and communication platform. “This can be used internationally for reciprocal academic exchange and to support teaching events,” says Peuschel, explaining that formats could be either online-only or blended: for example to present work results and materials or to arrange internships for German students in Africa and for African students in Germany. “The particular benefit of the project for the University of Augsburg is the internationalisation of GFL as a subject and the professionalisation of GFL teachers,” Peuschel says. And this also applies to Paderborn, the project’s second base in Germany.

Training and qualification of GFL teachers also takes centre stage at the University of Kara in Togo. “We do not have enough suitable staff to run our vocational bachelor’s degree programme,” says SANDD Regional Head Dr Aqtime Gnouléléng Edjabou, a lecturer at the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at the University of Kara. “And yet the number of pupils wishing to learn German in Togo is rising continuously, and more and more faculties at our university also want specialised seminars.” He explains that there is also a lack of any academic training for teachers – currently, graduates with a degree in Applied German start working as schoolteachers immediately despite having no knowledge of didactics or methodology. “With the support of SANDD, we are now developing a master’s degree course that will strengthen academic teacher training,” says Edjabou.

In addition, the project helps overcome infrastructural problems that are evident in the poor equipment of the language lab and the shortage of specialist literature and digital tools. “The new teaching and learning platform will allow us to easily access teaching and training materials and profit from curricular innovations,” he says. There are also plans to introduce basic IT equipment: laptops and internet connections in the seminar rooms are to ensure that lessons and exams, not to mention the SANDD continuing education courses and workshops, can be run smoothly.

Regional exchange with partner universities

At the same time, the initiative is attracting attention throughout the region. “We are in close contact with colleagues from Cameroon, Benin and Burkina Faso who are showing great interest in our project,” explains Edjabou. “This is a good opportunity in Kara for stepping up cooperation with the schools based there.” As East Africa’s largest GFL teaching training institution, Kenyatta University is also taking advantage of regional exchange with numerous partner universities in both Kenya and Uganda. And SANDD is also meeting with a positive reception in Namibia’s neighbouring countries. “As things currently stand, Namibia is the only country in southern Africa that trains German teachers for schools,” says Gerda Wittmann from UNAM. “We want to use the project to change this.”

One first milestone towards this is the project’s kick-off event, which will take place in Windhoek in early October 2024 and is eagerly awaited by the SANDD consortium members. “So far all of our discussions have been online, and in just one year we have managed to get the project set up across four countries and two continents,” says Project Leader Kristina Peuschel. “Now we are all looking very much forward to meeting each other in person at UNAM.” It is not only UNAM teacher trainees and German teachers who will profit from the cooperation: “Anyone interested can go online and take part free of charge in the hybrid continuing education courses for GFL teachers on the subjects of digital competence and multilingualism that we are offering for the first time as part of the event,” says Peuschel.

Christina Pfänder (14 August 2024)