Beginning of July 2021, about 160 candidates applied for the "German-African Trainee Program 2022". After the first pre-selection by the Bukura Agricultural College (BAC), 50 applicants were given the opportunity to attend the German course and prepare for the final selection. The young students of Bukura Agricultural College (BAC) come from small family farms and study agriculture specializing in animal husbandry, animal health, agriculture, horticulture, agribusiness and agricultural extension.

In order to make the final selection of the most qualified candidates, AKI project manager Teklezghi Teklebrhan travelled to Kenya and conducted the final selection together with the advisor for Green Innovation Centres in Agri-Food (GIAE) in Kisumu, Mr Lucas Zahl. The high motivation of the candidates to learn more about agricultural practices and to improve their German language skills impressed Mr Teklebrhan and Mr Zahl the most. The interview was conducted majorly in German.

A total of 39 qualified applicants were finally selected to participate in the trainee program in 2022. The applicants are highly motivated to gain new knowledge and to be exposed to new technologies through the traineeship program in southern Germany which they intend to later implement in their home country. The main focus of the program is - helping people to help themselves, which is exactly in line with the AKI traineeship program motto - learning by doing. Within this framework, the trainees will participate in the daily working life of the farmers and will be exposed to working methods and business structures of the farms during their six-month traineeship which will take place from May to November 2022 at the host farms in southern Germany.

The traineeship program is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as part of the global project "Green Innovation Centres in the Agro-Food Sector (GIAE)" projects. The aim of the project is to increase the income of smallholder farms, enhance employment and the regional supply of food in the rural target regions of Africa through innovations in the agricultural and food sector. Within this framework, AgrarKontakte International (AKI) e.V. has been granted to implement the traineeship program with Kenya since 2019.