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Bernd MayerAbout me

In prospect of working together with me, you might want to know who i am and what is my background. 


In a project it is to everyone's benefit to know of each other a bit better and about each others set of values.


More about me

My parents were not affluent. After World War II both of them were expelled from the regions they have been brought up – my mother from Silesia (now Poland), and my father from Romania. They came together at Düsseldorf, fell in love and married in the 1950ies. As refugees it was not easy for them to get settled in the new environment. However, they both of them were strong believers and optimists – which are good prerequisites to establish a family.

Together with my younger sister I grew up in Düsseldorf. I am eternally grateful to my parents for bringing up their children with love and for providing us the opportunity to attend a High School. After graduation I did a civilian service at a youth hostel (as an alternative to the military service), followed by an apprenticeship as a craftsman and finally a study in mechanical engineering and pedagogy with focus on vocational education. Actually, I wanted to become a vocational teacher - but that never happened. Towards the end of my studies I could imagine less and less to work as a teacher at a school. 

I frankly admit: A personal crisis was the result. But a combination of good luck and willingness to change brought me up again. I started working in the sales department of a company that manufactured learning systems for automation technology. Suddenly I was dealing with a wealth of interesting topics and challenges: The technology was new, the metal-working and electrical engineering trades were being reformed in Germany by mid of the 1980ies, and my most important client became a company named “GTZ” (now GIZ). (…)
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That’s been a complete new and fascinating world for me: Together with my clients I took the opportunity to get familiar with vocational training projects in developing countries as GTZ was the implementing agency on behalf of the German Government. I learned a lot about development. Vice versa it was my intention to bring in the latest concepts of vocational education developed by my highly innovative employer. 

In 1996 I had the first opportunity to fulfill a long-cherished wish: I always wanted to live and work abroad, at least for some time! After all, my favourite book as a youngster was my Atlas. Consequently, I didn't hesitate to accept an offer to train young Egyptian engineers as instructors at a training center for automation technology in Cairo. It was a fantastic year! Even today I still have strong ties to this important country on the Nile with meanwhile 100 million inhabitants. I have been working there time and again on behalf of various projects and I am in regular exchange with many Egyptian friends and colleagues.

Another country that has fascinated me very much is Indonesia. I worked there from 1998 to 2002 with the Ministry of Education as an advisor to the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training. The country with its 13,000 populated islands and meanwhile over 250 million inhabitants is incredibly diverse and exciting. Many people literally live in the shadow of volcanoes. About 80 of them are active and therefore it’s risky to live in the neighborhood.  

It’s not been by coincidence what happened at the end of 2004. One of the greatest natural disasters of modern times occurred in the north of Sumatra, in the province of Banda Aceh: over 200,000 people died as a result of the impact of a tsunami in Indonesia alone, but there were also numerous victims in Thailand, Malaysia and even India and Sri Lanka.

Germany helped - among other things with funds to rebuild the destroyed schools. I was a member of an expert team that was sent on behalf of KfW to assess the damage and to prepare a school reconstruction and recovery plan. What I saw and experience in terms of destruction, distress and despair will accompany me for the rest of my life. 

After further assignments in Vietnam, Uganda and various other countries, I returned to Germany in 2008, where I had the chance to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects in general education schools on behalf of renown company that promoted STEM initiative as part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). I trained technology teachers in basics of automation technology and established networks with universities, associations and foundations.  

In 2016, I took the chance to work in Egypt for a longer period and in an exciting project.  The job was totally different from the jobs before:  My team and me developed planning tools and training programs for the Extension Servicer of the Ministry of Agriculture in the frame of a Water Management Reform Program. The Extension Service was expected to teach the Egyptian small-scale farmers in the Nile Delta to use their water resources more efficiently in the future. It’s been a task with a nationwide dimension as water resources are limited in Egypt. 80 % of the available resources are spent in and for agriculture. 

Since then, the topics "efficient use of water" and "agricultural extension" have been a constant source of interest to me and I would accept an assignment in these fields any time.  


Besides my assignments I like most to spend my time with my friends with inspiring debates and discussions about everything. Sometimes we meet for hiking, skiing or biking – and of course, such kinds of activities are usually supplemented by delicious food and wine

Next to Vocational Training the issues of “Water” and “renewable energies” have more and more raised my attention in recent years.

My latest project activities in Egypt from 2016 to 2018 were closely linked to efficient water resource management and renewable energies. 

It is very much appreciated that the role of renewable energies is increasing in development countries. E.g. Cameroon, Egypt and Myanmar invest in solar power and wind energy with positive impacts not only on the emission of greenhouse gases but on the labor market as well. 

My values

Anyone who is or has been brought up in the catholic way (like me) is often dealing with questions of faith ... And in the quest to KNOW he / she believes less and less with increasing life experience 

Basically, I still believe in the good in life, and especially I believe in people and their networks. Whenever it is possible to work together in a trustful and goal-oriented manner across professional and geographical boundaries, success always follows. It applies worldwide: The "chemistry" must be right! If it is not, there will always be conflicts and frictional losses. That's why my highest principle is an honest and open way of dealing with each other, often spiced with a pinch of humour. I'm for plain language - and I don't like it when people beat around the bush or play games that are primarily aimed at gaining personal advantages. 

More than ever, and although digital skills have become essential for every human being I believe in the analogue world - professionally and privately. Especially the topics I have dealt with more or less throughout my entire professional life, e.g. …

  • How do people learn? 
  • What kinds of qualifications do they need in order to find work and make a living from it? 
  • What is necessary to make teams work together productively? 
  • What do we learn from failures and how do we deal with them?
– sind persönlich, oft sehr individuell und kontextabhängig. 

… have often a very individual and contextual background. People and their individual preferences are rarely black or white, on or off, up or down. Often, we are somewhere in between, sitting on a fence, facing the unexpected. At New Years Eve 2019 nobody would have thought that 3 months later the world and its future prospects would look completely different. An invisible virus changed our life, killed thousands of people and made millions tumble into a personal and economic disaster. 

Probably all of us are hybrids – analogue in our emotions, and “being digital” (1) more and more in our professional life. Of course, I use the Internet and many of the opportunities it offers to communicate, to inform myself and to learn. "The digital" will occupy an even larger space in our lives in the future - keywords like "work 4.0", "autonomous driving", "smart home" - there's no stopping it. But I see people first and foremost. They may be increasingly using digital instruments, but at heart they still tick "analogue". They need "real" social contacts - that's why they like to meet and talk to each other, that's why it's important that teams still meet and really interact. And we should never leave our family and friends behind! Everybody can study the consequences of social distancing and social deprivation: The Covid-19 lock-downs shows us what happens to US when we do not see and touch each other for a while.

Probably you will not believe that this book has been published already 25 years ago: Nicholas Negroponte: Being Digital. Negroponte describes long before the Iphone was introduced how the telecommunication, computing and television “implode” into one device.

Links

Anyone who would like to find out more about German development cooperation can do so via the following links:
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KfW Entwicklungsbank is responsible for Financial Cooperation:
www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de/Internationale-Finanzierung/KfW-Entwicklungsbank/
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The Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is responsible for technical cooperation:  
www.giz.de
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The Düsseldorfer Ausbilderkreis was founded more than 50 years ago and promotes exchange on all issues of training and further education:  
https://ausbilderkreis-duesseldorf.de
... then a link to a dance company and its various activities, which I have been supporting voluntarily (as chairman of a non-profit association) for more than 15 years: 
www.tanzmoto.com — donations for the support of the association are always highly welcome!

Would you like to know more?

Feel free to get in contact with me.

Bernd Mayer
Development Consulting & Training
Hermann-Harry-Schmitz-Str. 43, 40227 Düsseldorf, Germany

Mobile: +49 (0) 171 4932325
Email: bernd@mayer-development-consulting.com
Skype: live:bernd-mayer_6

Also available via Zoom, Webex, Facetime and MS-Teams

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