Service with consideration

Personalized services make Chinese training programs endearing to African officials

Personalized services have been an integral factor in ensuring the success of the training programs organized for African government officials at several Chinese institutes including the Agricultural Management Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, says Wang Yiqun.

Wang, director of the Liaison Office for Human Resources Development at AMI, says that unlike training programs organized by Western nations for African officials, China looks to make a difference by providing round the clock assistance during their stay.

"In most of the Western programs, the participants are often left to fend for themselves as they want them to gain confidence. But since China is not an English-speaking country, we provide one or two assistants for each participant to help them in their day-to-day activities while in China," Wang says.

Enock Boadu Amo, assistant director of the Ministry of Culture in Ghana, says the friendly and considerate nature of the Chinese assistants has helped many African officials tide over problems such as transport and accommodation.

"I remember the first time I came to China that there was a Chinese assistant waiting at the airport to pick me up," Amo says. "Without the assistant, I would have been totally lost as I felt I was in an unfamiliar country."

Wang says most training assistants pick up African government officials at the airport on arrival, and also stay in the same hotel. During the officials' 21-day stays in China, these assistants accompany them constantly, including to classes, on field trips as well as on shopping trips to help with translation.

"Some African officials may not trust us initially, but they soon get captivated by our warmth and hospitality and end up becoming our life-long friends," Wang says.

According to Wang, in order to make African officials feel comfortable during their stay in China, food menus are often translated into languages such as English and French, while the computers they use have English operating systems. In addition, Chinese staff make a note of every participant's birth date before they come to China, and hold a small party on that day.

"It is not easy for a person to stay in an unfamiliar country, and we are trying to remember their birthday and celebrate their festivals when they come, to make them as comfortable as we can," Wang says.

Wang says since African officials' safety and health is of utmost importance, some training bases have started to provide basic medical check-ups upon arrival.

"Some participants may not realize they have a high glycemic index before they come to China, and they need to be reminded to have low-sugar food if they have a high glycemic index," Wang says.

Wang says African officials are quite friendly and respond well to such gestures.

"They also buy us gifts and sometimes make us souvenirs by themselves," Wang says, pointing to a medium-sized board stuck with photographs of Chinese staff and African participants, carrying the wordings, "Long live China-Africa relations". African participants made the memento, Wang says.

Most of the African officials stay in touch even after they return to their countries and update each other with the latest developments.

"Though the training program lasts for just 21 days, the bonds of friendship last forever," Wang says, adding "and I wish we could meet again."

Despite all the planning, the Chinese assistants still have to be prepared to deal with unfamiliar living habits and the unexpected.

Wang says the most unexpected experience she encountered was when an African died of a heart attack during the training program.

"To be honest, it was not something that we were prepared for. The challenge was to arrange his funeral rituals immediately as we knew he was a Muslim," Wang says.

Shi Hu, Chinese ambassador to the Republic of Niger, says people working in the field of training for African officials play an important role in enhancing relations between China and Africa, and to some extent, can be seen as "folk diplomats".

Li Bo, who has been working as a training assistant for African government officials at Peking University for the last five years, says she likes her job as she considers it a meaningful thing to do. "Sometime I feel my job is troublesome as I need to pay attention to details like these officials' living habits, but when I look back, I find that I have made several international friends and also played a small role in promoting my country," she says.

liaoxue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/31/2013 page7)