This past quarter, CCWA partnered with IGS Energy to provide customized Global Fluency Training to a group of IGS employees as they prepared to travel to Nicaragua. Over the last year, CCWA has provided three of these courses to IGS Energy, with two sessions per course. These courses have been customized as “pre-departure orientation training”, designed to prepare IGS employees to live, work, and immerse themselves in the Nicaraguan culture and environment. IGS employees have traveled three times to Nicaragua in the past year to help spread and install renewable energy in Nicaraguan homes. Prior to each departure, the travelers participated in CCWA Global Fluency Trainings.

The customized GFT that IGS participated in, focuses on not simply working with people from diverse backgrounds, but also working in a foreign environment. Participants walk through international cross-cultural theory and then apply that theory in interactive simulations and dialogues. CCWA provides base information on Nicaragua and challenges participants to do their own research on Nicaraguan culture to educate their peers, applying the tools that GFT provides. At the end of the session, participants report feeling better prepared for cultural immersion and recognizing their own biases. CCWA recognizes that not all organizations’ needs are the same, but customized Global Fluency Training meets the needs of those thinking outside the box, interacting cross-culturally in new and exciting ways. Read more about IGS’s mission in Nicaragua and their partnership with CCWA.