Tuesday January 14th 2014, provided yet another exciting experience for the ResilientAfrica Network (RAN). A delegation led by the RAN Deputy Chief of Party Dr. Roy William Mayega, who was representing Dean Makerere University School of Public Health/RAN’s Chief of Party- Prof. William Bazeyo, visited the recently re-located West Africa RILab. During this trip, the agreement between RAN and the University for Development Studies (UDS) as a network partner was signed by the Vice Chancellor of UDS and the collaboration officially established. The Lab’s work will focus primarily on population growth and urbanization, from fast-growing cities and low-income settlements to refugee camps, working to understand local adaptive capacities. Consequently UDS will engage the University of Bamako in Mali and the University of Dakar in Senegal, and another institution in Ghana that is to be identified soon, as network plus partners to support activities in these countries.

 “The UDS team is ready and committed to working with RAN to push forth RAN’s agenda” stressed Prof. G.A.Teye-Pro-Vice-Chancellor UDS. The Dean of the School of Medicine, Prof. Dr. K Kyei-Aboagye also emphasized the leading role that Makerere University has played in the past in supporting capacity building for newer universities, and welcomed the collaboration. UDS, in articulating its mandate implements a unique community-based program with a multi-disciplinary approach where all UDS students spend one term per academic year in the field. This focus on community participation fits in very well with RAN’s approach that emphasizes community participation in all aspects of the resilience innovation pipeline. Mr. Dennis Chirawurah, Lecturer at the University for Development Studies, School of Medicine

Department of Allied Health Sciences and Department of Community Health and Family Planning, is the RAN West Africa RILab Director

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(Above) RAN Deputy Chief of Party-Dr. Roy William Mayega (right) receiving the signed agreement from the UDS Pro-Vice Chancellor-Prof. G.A. Teye, while Dr. Wanjiku Nganga RAN Director of Innovations (far right) and Prof. Dr. K Kyei-Aboagye, Dean UDS School of Medicine, look on

 RAN-UDS further discussions

 

Prof. Gordana Kranjac-Berisavljevic-Director of UDS International (right) stresses the importance of international collaboration in addressing global challenges