By Dr. Pascal Okwiri Ojwang
Sub-Saharan Africa faces a major challenge of the impact of climate change and this is aggravated by rapid population growth, which puts pressure on food security. Consequently, there is serious need to enhance the capacity of Higher Education Institutes (HEI) and their staff across sub-Saharan Africa to train graduates with digital skills to lead the development of climate-smart technologies and policies for agrifood systems. These efforts require the promotion of inclusive academic mobility and partnerships among institutions. The Faculty of Agriculture (FoA), Egerton University with its HEI partners across the sub-Saharan Africa formed consortia to solicit funding support towards mitigation efforts to address the impact of climate change. The efforts culminated into the University winning two Intra-Africa Mobility projects funded by the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (NDICI) of the European Commission’(https://www.eacea.ec.europa.eu). The kick-off meeting for all the 15 projects funded in 2023, was held in Brussels, Belgium from 20th to 22nd March 2024.
The first project titled “Partnership to Strengthen Graduate Training and Research Capacity for developing climate-smart agrifood systems in Central and East Africa” with the acronym CSAS, is led by Prof. Patience Mshenga, the current Dean FoA. The other project team members are Prof. Mwanarusi Saidi and Dr. Dickson Okello. The project aims to strengthen the graduate training and research capacity of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Central and East Africa to develop climate-smart technologies and agrifood systems. The funding amount is EUR 1,795,200. The project brings together a consortium of six universities from Central and East Africa comprising Univite De Dschang, Makerere University, Bishop Stuart University Mbarara (U) Limited, Haramaya University, Egerton University, Université De Kinshasa, Regional Universities Forum for Capacity (RUFORUM) as an associate partner and Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet (SLU) as the European technical partner.
The second project is titled “Mobility for Plant Genomics Scholars to Accelerate Climate-Smart Adaptation Options and Food Security in Africa II” with the acronym GENES II. The project is led by Dr. Pascal Okwiri Ojwang of the Department of Crops, Horticulture and Soils. The project team comprises of Dr. Benard Karanja, Dr. Oscar Donde, Dr. Maurice Oyoo, Dr. Stephen Githengu and Dr. Mercy Wamalwa. The objective of the project is to produce highly-trained plant breeders with the capacity to use digital and genomic approaches to complement classical breeding methods and accelerate the development of climate-smart mitigation and adaptation options for food and nutrition security in Africa. The funding amount is EUR 1,796,820. The GENES II project brings together a consortium of Six African Universities cutting across three major regions comprising West Africa represented by Ebonyi State University in Nigeria and the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin, eastern Africa is represented by Egerton University in Kenya and Jimma University in Ethiopia, Southern Africa represented by North West University in South Africa and University of Zimbabwe and Wageningen University as the European partner.
Through the two projects, Egerton University will train 4 PhDs, 9 MScs and 3 academic staff will participate in staff mobility
Dr. Pascal Okwiri Ojwang of CHS department, front left, participating in the GENES II small group session during the kick-off at Comet Meeting in Brussels in Belgium from 20-22nd March 2024.
