Börje Eriksson and Jonas Bodenhem took three month’s leave in order to work in Mozambique after seeing an announcement on Sveaskog’s intranet. It was an experience that has benefited them both professionally and personally.
Börje works as a timber buyer and Jonas as a planning manager for Sveaskog in Bergslagen.
"I wanted to do something different for a while, and I have always thought it would be interesting to work with forest care in a developing country,” says Jonas.
Global Solidarity Forestry Fund, GSFF, is a Swedish forest fund that finances several development projects in, among other places, Mozambique and Angola. Börje and Jonas replaced holidaying staff at Chikweti Forests of Niassa, a company financed by GSFF. They were given the title Forest Managers and responsibility for their respective areas.
“The work largely involved being out in the plantations, instructing staff to do things correctly and managing problems that arose. I was responsible for an area with 400 workers, no easy task,” says Börje.
Close contact with the village chiefs
The work also involved cooperation with local politicians on questions such as, for example, fire fighting. This process had to be handled via the village chiefs, who gathered the villagers to information meetings, so that provincial politicians could address them.
“It is the village chiefs who decide. My task was to get environmental politicians from the provincial administration to come out and talk to the villages,” says Börje.
Workforce recruitment also went via the village chiefs.
“If I needed 20 people at a plantation, I spoke to the village chief, who then arranged for personnel,” says Jonas.
The time spent in Mozambique also made Börje and Jonas aware of other cultural differences:
“People live more for the moment in Mozambique than we do in Sweden. For example staff had difficulty grasping the concept that the plants would be forest in 10 to 20 years time,” says Jonas.
“Very few people spoke English, so I had to learn some Portuguese phrases which I linked together with English words and sign language,” says Börje.
Supervise the workforce and relinquish control
What experiences have Börje och Jonas brought home with them?
“In my case it has primarily been that of leading a large work force. I have no personnel responsibility in Sweden. I deal with contractors but that cannot be compared with managing 400 subordinates,” says Börje.
“In my work at Sveaskog I have much more opportunity to follow up the work done than I had in Africa. I had to learn to relinquish much of the control I am used to having and that was good for me sometimes,” says Jonas.