Module 1 : Successful personal integration in the host country

1. Cross-cultural awareness: The key to a successful expatriation

• Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
• Culture shock and the integration process
• Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of Equatorial Guinean culture

• A bipartite micro-state in sub-Saharan Central Africa
• Fang and Bubi: a population drawn from different ethnic origins
• Colonization, slavery and tribal warfare: a history steeped in conflict
• A presidential republic characterized by nepotism
• An economy chiefly based on mining and oil
• Insufficient infrastructure

3. Equatorial Guinean values and behaviour patterns

• Importance of the tribe and the family as a social bedrock
• A patriarchal and polygamous social structure
• Equatorial Guinean women: second-class citizens
• Catholic fervour alongside the persistence of traditional belief systems
• A respect for status, age and authority*
• A restricted view of space and a flexible approach to time
• Celebrations and rituals: shared communal experiences

4. Practical day-to-day information

• Focus on the host town
• Transport, administration, housing, security, hygiene and healthcare
• Social life, leisure activities
• Schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful professional integration in Equatorial Guinea

1. The Equatorial Guinean corporate world

• A paternalistic corporate structure with tightly supervised decision-making
• The impact of poverty and unemployment
• Privileges, favouritism and discrimination: political control

2. Effective communication with the Equatorial Guineans

• Networking and relationships: the many benefits of social interaction
• The importance of protocol and greetings
• The extensive use of tactile and non-verbal communication
• Spanish, French and local dialects

3. Working with Equatorial Guinean teams

• Effective management: charisma, experience and pragmatism
• Defining tasks and determining duties and responsibilities
• Supervising, anticipating and verifying
• Building trust and confidence: integrity and kindliness

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Equatorial Guineans

• Identifying rank and position
• Giving relationships that personal touch
• Proposing and persevering
• Written contracts, their interpretation and implications

5. Final handy tips

• Caution, patience and humility
• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code
• Sensitive subjects: politics, history, religion
• Humour: a double-edged sword