The pivotal role of writing centers in improving the quality of academic writing has been well
documented by research. Although writing centers are commonplace in many countries, it
appears that none existed prior to 2008 between South Africa and the Sahara. This article
reports on the writer’s assignment to start one in Namibia. The expectations of the challenges in
this task, centering on training staff and tutors and acquiring resources, did not resemble the
realities experienced, involving infrastructure, matrix management, hierarchy, and bureaucracy.
Various paradigms for deconstructing these experiences, such as post-colonialism, culture
clash, and ‘contact zone’ theory, all only partially explain the challenges encountered. These
experiences in Namibia provide a case study of the politics of collaboration involved in
implementing a writing center, and a microcosm of the challenges one might face anywhere.
This account is thus ‘glocal’; that is, locally derived but with global applications. Eleven specific
guidelines can assist anyone contemplating a similar administrative assignment.