Looking back
For more than five years, the joint newsletter of NetzWIRkung e.V. and EduNeC has been one of our most important formats for sharing projects, encounters and developments within our German-Cameroonian friendship network. Until now, the newsletter was sent out by email three to four times a year and brought together several articles in one issue. Among its most important recurring formats are the Inter- and Transcultural Zwischentöne, reflections and personal accounts from our educational exchange trips, reports on our association members and school partnerships, as well as very personal excursions into poetic thoughts. And people are reading it: through the newsletter, we reach more than 150 people directly by email, alongside many others who read the articles on the NetzWIRkung website.
When the board members of EduNeC visited Hamburg in spring for our joint project Roots, Identity & Belonging, we took a closer look at all of our ongoing projects and asked ourselves what we wanted to keep, what we wanted to adapt and what we wanted to rethink completely. The newsletter remained something important to all of us, even though its current format no longer feels up to date. In particular, sending it out by email and bundling many articles into one issue requires a great deal of editorial work, while individual contributions struggle to gain visibility. At the same time, the current format leaves very little room for interaction with readers. For these reasons, we decided it was time to rethink the entire concept.
What will change
Instead of a bundled newsletter, we would now like to publish one individual article approximately every two weeks. These articles will be published in full on the NetzWIRkung website and will also be announced and shared through our new WhatsApp channel. In addition, selected contributions may also be shared on NetzWIRkung’s Instagram account.
With this new format, we want to become more flexible, more up to date and more accessible. Individual topics and voices should have more space, rather than being lost in a long collective issue.
Multilingualism as a shared commitment
Another important step in this new format is multilingualism. In an initial trial period of three months, we aim to publish the articles in German, French and English whenever possible. In doing so, we want the newsletter to reflect the reality of our German-Cameroonian network more closely and give more people direct access to our content.
Translations may be provided either by the authors themselves or by supporters from the networks of our two associations. Editorial work will also receive more attention in this process, because above all, we want one thing: to stay authentic. This also means that some articles may not always come in perfect grammar or flawless spelling, but they will always come from the hearts of those who want to share their knowledge, their experiences and their personal thoughts with you. For that reason, we also want to be transparent about who has translated each contribution.
Our editorial team
The new format will continue to be a joint project of NetzWIRkung and EduNeC. Topics and contributions will still be developed, reviewed and accompanied collaboratively. The project coordination is shared by Idrix Dassi for EduNeC and Alexander Kolling for NetzWIRkung.
In our editorial meetings, which take place around four times a year, we discuss ideas for future topics, evaluate the format and continue to develop it together. At the moment, however, our biggest task is to find a name for this new format, and this is where you come in.
Finding a name
Until now, the newsletter has never had its own distinct name. So it is definitely time to give it one. What matters to us is that this name should not be created behind closed doors, but should grow out of our shared network. Over the years, so many friends, companions, members, participants of our exchange trips, authors and readers have been part of this journey, and we want that to be reflected in the name as well.
That is why we would like to launch a shared search for a name. We warmly invite all readers, friends and supporters to send in their ideas for a name that can make our Cameroonian-German friendship visible and express the spirit of connection, exchange and collaboration that lies at the heart of this project. Who knows, perhaps the ideas will even lead to a multilingual name?
After the summer holidays, all suggestions will be collected and opened up for a first round of voting. From the three most popular suggestions, one final name will be chosen.
We would be very happy if you joined in. Because this newsletter should not only report on our collaboration, it should also be an expression of that collaboration itself.
If you have ideas for a name, you can simply send them to us by email, share them via our social media channels, or add them directly here in the Padlet: