Living and working in Senegal

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Summary

Target audience

Employees preparing for an assignment in Senegal and their partners

Prerequisite

No prerequisite

Objectives

This seminar aims at significantly improving the ability of the participants to meet the challenges of living and working abroad. The objective is to enable them to identify the stumbling blocks that lie ahead and to be able to adapt and integrate in Senegal.

At the end of this training, participants will have acquired the necessary skills to:

  • Be aware of their own cultural baggage
  • Understand Senegalese context and culture
  • Analyze situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating more effectively
  • Reduce and manage the symptoms of culture shock
  • Understand Senegalese mindset, work practices, decision-making processes and negotiating styles
  • Strike the right balance between personal et professional life

Added value

ACCESSIBILITY

All our training courses are accessible to people with disabilities. Each training project will be the subject of a case study by our teams, in order to adapt the training program.

Program

Module 1 : Successful personal integration in Senegal

1. Cross-cultural awareness : the key to a successful expatriation

  • Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
  • Culture shock and the integration process
  • Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of Senegalese culture

  • A west African nation with extensive resources
  • The impact of French colonization
  • Senegal’s Muslim tradition
  • A delicate political and economic situation

3. Values and behaviour patterns in Senegal

  • A warm welcome and hospitality
  • A patriarchal social structure
  • Senegalese women: the backbone of society
  • The impact of community ties and promiscuity
  • Religion: a vital bedrock
  • The importance of appearance
  • An elastic view of time
  • A respect for age and status

4. Practical day-to-day information

  • Focus on the host town
  • Transport, administration, housing, security, hygiene and healthcare
  • Social life, leisure activities
  • Schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful professional integration in Senegal

1. The corporate world in Senegal

  • A paternalistic and hierarchical company structure
  • The weight of the Senegalese bureaucracy
  • Privileges and favouritism

2. Effective communication with the  Senegalese

  • The fundamental role of greetings
  • The meaning and prevalence of tactile and visual contact
  • The power of networks and networking
  • The French language and local dialects

3. Working with Senegalese teams

  • Striking the right balance between flexibility and firmness
  • A willingness to listen and an open mind
  • Building trust and confidence: perseverance and goodwill
  • Supervision and dialogue
  • Dealing with touchy or sensitive people

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Senegalese

  • Setting the scene: Preparing the background information for your meeting
  • Forging relationships, frankness and honesty
  • Time and deadline management
  • Written contracts, their interpretation and implications

5. Final handy tips

  • Caution, patience and humility
  • Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code
  • Sensitive subjects: politics, history, religion
  • Humour: a double-edged sword

Intra-company coursesDuration: to define
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