Greenwich University (UoG) delegates paid a three-day visit to Haramaya University from 28 to 30 August 2019. The delegates were Prof. John Morton and Dr. Tim Chancellor of the Natural Resource Institute (NRI) of the UoG.
During the welcoming ceremony Prof. Jeylan Woliyie, Vice-president for Administration and Student Affairs, said, “The future of our universities is tied to our success in creating strong and sustainable partnership. Partnership strengths our universities’ motivation and capacity for long-term cooperation and collaboration.”
The delegates also visited HU’s African Center of Excellence – Climate SABC and according to Dr. Mulugeta Damie, Project Manager of ACE Climate SABC, the purpose of the visit was to formalize a partnership previously initiated by Dr. Jemal Yousuf, Acting President of HU, and to conduct a follow up discussion and to identify priority areas of collaboration for mutual benefits of the institutions. The Director of Postgraduate Programs, Prof. Mengistu Urge; Dean of College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Dr. Kibebew Kibret; Deputy Director of ACE Climate SABC, Dr. Bobe Bedadi; school heads and senior faculty affiliated to ACE Climate SABC were among the participants.
During the discussion, participants from both institutions identified key areas for collaborations, including staff and student exchanges and joint proposal development to solicit fund through competitive grants. Moreover, an idea was forwarded to support a postgraduate education opportunity to be financed by NRI through a grant it secured from Expanding Excellence in England Initiative (E3). Accordingly, one staff member of the CAES with background in Agricultural Economics and/or Rural Development and Agricultural Extension will be selected to join a PhD Program at University of Greenwich, UK. The candidate to be selected will carry out a research on ‘Identification of Institutional and Policy Options for Enhancing Adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture in Ethiopia’ as part of collaborative research activity by HU-ACE Climate SABC- UoG-NRI, under the supervision of professors from the two institutions.
Moreover, UoG and HU agreed to formalize their relationship through MoU very soon and to prepare action plans and budget for joints activities to be implemented under the umbrella of the partnership agreement.
Prof. John Morton is a professor of Development Anthropology, and Dr. Tim Chancellor is the Director of Capacity Strengthening and Partnerships at NRI.