Before getting going with the main course activities, we would like to give you an opportunity to introduce yourself to your colleagues from all over Southern Africa who will be participating in the course. You will get an opportunity to meet them face to face (if you do not already know them) when we gather for our workshop in Mozambique, but thought that it would be helpful if you shared something about yourselves online. 

 The task 

In this activity, you will prepare a short e-mail to send to colleagues introducing yourself to everyone else. In this e-mail, please indicate:

	Who you are;
	Which country you are from;
	Where you work, what your position is, and (very briefly) what you do;
	Why you are interested in the course;
	What you hope to gain from the course.

 

Then we would like you to identify two policies from your country, one which you consider to be successful and which you consider to be unsuccessful. Please describe these policies briefly, and outline why you consider them to be successful or unsuccessful.

If - at any time - you are uncertain about what you should do (or would just like to make an observation), click on the 'Mentor' button at the top of the screen to send a query to your mentor.

 What you should read 

  There is nothing that you need to read at this point.

 Other interesting readings 

Although there are no readings yet, you may be interested to start browsing through the collection of resources on the CD. You can find the contents page for these resources here. There are many more resources on this CD than you are likely to be able to read during the course. We hope you will find these resources useful for some time to come.

What you need to do 

Whenever you are asked to send e-mail to the group, we will provide a hyperlink that you can click to send a mail. This will also generate a pre-defined Subject heading for the mail and insert the correct e-mail address. Click on the link below  - which reads 'Click here to send an e-mail to the group for this activity - to see how it works.

Please prepare a short e-mail to send to your group containing the information outlined above (Click here to send an e-mail to the group for this activity.) When you have completed your mail, send it to the group.

If you are not sure how to do this, we have included help files on how to use e-mail.

At this time, you should start receiving the responses of other members of the group. Please read through their responses, so you can learn more about the other people in the group. At any point, you can respond to these mails (and we would encourage you to do so), either by pressing the Reply button on the e-mail or by clicking on this link (Share further comments on activity one with the group).

As these mails start circulating, your mentor  will begin a brief discussion via e-mail on the responses. Please  read these mails and - most importantly - feel free to get involved at any time by replying to the mails.

 Estimated time 

 We expect that this activity should take approximately 2 hours in total. We suggest you think of spending your time as follows (but remember this is only a guide):

	Preparing your first e-mail should take about 45 minutes.
	Reading the responses from other members of the group and participating in the ensuing discussion should take about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

On completion 

When you have worked through the steps above, please proceed with the course. You may also receive some e-mail prompting from your mentor to proceed, so that all learners progress together and have worked through the same activities before our workshop. However, you can move on as soon as you are ready.