Yuan Shu: Promoting Sustainable Development through the BRI
Editor’s Note
Tsinghua University plays an active role in promoting the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by nurturing innovative talents, carrying out relevant research, among many other important ways.
After graduating from Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Tsinghua University in 2020, Yuan Shu spent several months in Uganda, assisting with infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and providing vocational training for local laborers. Here she reflects on her Uganda experience and shares her thoughts on how the BRI is helping implement the SGD 9 of building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation and the SDG 4 of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.
I once was a student volunteer at the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2019. At these forums, I witnessed officials from various countries expressing their views about the BRI and their expectations for future development. Beyond official occasions, I also once served as an interpreter to assist the communication between local and foreign entrepreneurs looking for business cooperation.
I was fascinated by these experiences and how the BRI was helping build resilient infrastructure in various countries, which finally led me to Uganda in 2021.
After completing my bachelor's degree, I worked as an assistant business manager for an overseas governmental EPC (Engineer, Procure, Construct) project in Uganda, overseeing the construction of a Skills Enhancement Centre that would offer seven vocational educational courses for the locals, as well as the supply of related vocational training equipment and extra engineering machinery equipment. All my experiences enabled me to get a closer look at how the BRI was contributing to infrastructure development in developing nations like Uganda.
Language barrier exists. When facing technical problems, translation becomes especially vital. A common problem overseas projects have to cope with is that skilled technicians aren’t usually fluent English speakers. So sometimes, our engineers would explain it to me in Chinese, then I translated it for the Uganda staff. It took me time and effort to gain basic knowledge about construction design and civil work. But I also benefited a lot from this process, such as how to balance groups with different opinions and interests and respond accordingly to unforeseen demands or situations.
Negotiation will not work if it is not based on mutual understanding. It is not just about which technical standard to comply with but more about acknowledging that we are working with people from different countries with unique social and cultural backgrounds and the willingness to embrace differences and compromise for a "greatest common divisor". I believe this spirit is why our projects can be implemented despite many difficulties, and why the BRI is being accepted by more and more countries and regions worldwide.
Sustainable Development as the Core
SDG 4 is about ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. However, the statistics still show significant disparities in formal school education completion, especially among Sub-Saharan African countries. Vocational education offers access to life improvement for those who are educationally excluded or early school leavers. From another perspective, the local market requires skilled labor forces for industrial development, but the current formal education system is unable to respond.
This is where our project of constructing a Skills Enhancement Centre to equip young people with mechanical, automobile, and agricultural machinery skills came in. But this is not where we stopped. However, there exist many vocational institutes in Uganda, established by the Ugandan government, established through international cooperation, or established by the private sector. But many face challenges like outdated or inadequate equipment for practicing, high entry fees, or poor operation and management.
Therefore, another part of my job involved training local people to use equipment and formulating an operation and management proposal for the Centre for its future operation. I participated actively in developing the proposal based on the Owner's requirements with colleagues from our Chinese headquarters and some famous Chinese vocational colleges. At the same time, I followed up with the Owner on preparations like recruiting potential trainees, establishing future operation teams, and applying for Centre qualifications. I genuinely hope that the centre we built will benefit local people.
During my employment for the company, I also participated in a Preliminary Feasibility Study to share China’s best practices on vocational education, training, and certificate issuance of engineering machinery operation with local stakeholders in future. By examining Uganda’s vocational education strategic plan and the Chinese government's corresponding practices and conducting online and offline research on current training and certification institutes, we did a comprehensive study.
As an old proverb in Chinese goes, give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. I think this statement aptly describes what our project and all the projects under the BRI are trying to accomplish in the BRI countries like Uganda. Besides helping develop the necessary infrastructure itself, the BRI is helping enhance local capacity for future development. In this sense, the BRI is a genuine path to sustainable development for all its members.
Even though my stint in Uganda was short, it made me realize the BRI's true values. These values have now become my future pursuits as well.
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TsinghuaRen | Yuan Shu: Promoting Sustainable Development through the BRI
Writer: Yuan Shu
Editors: Huang Fei, Maria Vula
Designer: Xia Yifei