On the second weekend of January 2018, PROJECT-E’s Team Europe came together for our traditional bi-annual Strategy Weekend. This time, we met in the winterly 😉 and windy harbour city Hamburg to evaluate, plan, and discuss PROJECT-E’s previous work in 2017 and forthcoming plans for 2018 – and of course to catch up with old and new members of Team Europe.

2018 started with an inspiring and productive Strategy Weekend for PROJECT-E’s Team Europe. Usually meeting twice a year to discuss relevant topics and set milestones for the upcoming months, Team Europe had its first strategy weekend of 2018 in Hamburg from the 12th to the 14th of January.

The Strategy Weekend was kicked off on Friday with the same procedure as always – a delicious dinner in an Ethiopian restaurant where we could enjoy Injera together, catch up, and get in the mood for the forthcoming work-intensive weekend.

The content-related part started on Saturday morning, with updates from our Department Heads (from Finance, Fundraising, and Public Relations), who presented the work of the last six months as well as their upcoming goals. This was followed by PROJECT-E’s country representative – Sena Kinati – giving us interesting insights into recent developments at the Hospitality Institute in Addis Ababa, as well as an update into what has been happening and what their future plans are.

Our first workshop aimed to establish an overall strategy encompassing short-, middle-and long- term goals for PROJECT-E in Ethiopia.  This was followed by two other workshops focusing on fundraising strategies for Europe, and the acquisition of future volunteers. Time flies when you’re surrounded by a group of people this driven and committed; and soon it was night and time for an enjoyable dinner over Italian ‘spaghetti al pesto’ – to get to know each other and become stronger as a team. Even though Sunday was our last day, there was much to do! We made the most of our time together in person to meet in our respective departments to plan the coming months, discuss new strategies, and finalise our milestones and goals. Before saying our goodbyes, we rounded up the weekend with a windy and cold but stunning boat tour of Hamburg’s harbour.

Thanks to highly motivated people, productive discussions, and a very well organised agenda (for this we owe thanks to our Management Board, Nadja Frercksen and Moritz Kolbe, and our amazing country representative Sena), all of us left Hamburg inspired; filled with new goals, well-developed strategies, and a high level of dedication to the goal of empowering women in Ethiopia. PROJECT- E is ready for 2018!