The United Nations University’s Institute for National Resources in Africa (INRA) in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) has organized the 2nd Education for Sustainable Development in Africa (ESDA) Consortium meeting with eight (8) African Universities at the KNUST International Centre for Innovative Learning (ICIL).
The three-day workshop was aimed at reviewing activities of research programmes in each participating university and also addressing the challenges faced by partner universities.
ESDA is a project that seeks to develop and test, with the participation of leading African Universities, graduate-level education programmes for professionals to be engaged in sustainable development in Africa.
Professor Imoro Braimah, Provost for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), in his welcome address expressed his gratitude to all partner universities for their efforts in the ESDA consortium. He said that KNUST believed in sustainable development and that was why the vision in the strategic plan of the university had been revised. He hoped that there would be productive results at the end of the three- day workshop for the development of research activities in African Universities.
Professor Stephen Simukanga, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Zambia and Chairman of the ESDA Consortium, revealed that ESDA had generated problem-solving fieldwork-oriented Masters Programmes in the areas of Sustainable Integrated Rural Development, Sustainable Urban Development and Mineral and Mining Resources.
He explained that during the first meeting which was held in Tokyo in June 2013, these programmes were accepted on the basis of MoUs finalized by the United Nations University and AfDB. He observed that one major initiative of ESDA consists of the establishment of a Next Generation Researcher (NGR) team, comprising young researchers nominated by the partner universities, for promoting problem-solving research to generate learning materials to be used in ESDA classes as well as to create the needed space for students’ field work. He added that AfDB had approved a two-year funding support for the programme. He stated that there were challenges in the mobilization of resources to enhance these programmes and as a result the outcomes had been affected. He commended all partner universities for doing their best as a collective body to cause a positive change so far in their universities for sustainable development. He hoped that through these deliberations, there would be new possibilities to strengthen ESDA in the partner universities.
Partner African universities include University of Development Studies, University of Ghana, University of Cape Town, University of Zambia, Kenyatta University, University of Nairobi, University of Ibadan and Universite Felix Houphouet Boigny.