PEER-TO-PEER WORKSHOP INVITE AND PROGRAM
VENUE: MBARARA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE – TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
DATE: 17 – 18, November 2015
Why you should not miss
Have you heard of Innovations? Are you an innovator? Do you wish to be nurtured in innovating for communities? Are you having an idea that can help impact communities through the shocks and stresses in life? Have you shared it with your peers? At whatever stage it is bring it out and share it with an audience that can help nurture it to reality. Join a community of fellow Innovators, mentors and implementers from various disciplines on 17 – 18 November 2015 at MUST Institute of Computer Science in a peer-to-peer innovator session. This session is open to all students and faculty from all faculties of the University
Why peer to peer?
Peer to peer is often defined as learning for everyone, by everyone, about almost anything. During the two days, we shall interact and have presentations from innovators around the community. The approach is based on the premise that people, especially young people, are more likely to listen to and respond to information when it comes from their peers. They will share their motivation behind the innovations, challenges faced; lessons learnt and make some demonstrations. In another interactive session we will learn methods and techniques of involving the target communities that one is innovating for. By the end of the day will have looked at various tools that one can use to smartly identify a community need and how to act upon it using minimal available resources.
Ignite session: The University as a driver for Innovations
The innovation bubble has been growing steadily for the last 5years or so and we have witnessed emergence of impressive solutions like Mobile Money, SMS banking, low cost food preservation methods, resistant hybrid crops, water harvesting and management methods among others. Some of these have worked (in our communities) and others have failed horribly. One Professor hinted that there is need to take the university from the University to communities. Come 18th Nov, we ask ourselves; what is an innovation? Why do student projects collect dust in the University archives? Why are some of the current solutions failing? Could this be the pivot of the innovation bubble?
Our speakers will give us acumen into what an innovation is; how an innovation ecosystem functions; what it means to be innovative as an individual or community; how an innovation culture can be developed in the University; what opportunities are available for innovators? How does research plug in as part of the innovation bubble? The improved clarity of such questions and tools will allow and improve the mindsets of the students and faculty towards innovating pertinently for Community needs.
About ResilientAfrica Network
The ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) funded by USAID is a partnership of 20 universities in 16 African countries. It is aimed at strengthening resilience of communities vulnerable to shocks and stresses in Sub-Saharan Africa through university led-local African innovative solutions. The Network is led by Makerere University, School of Public Health and is one of the seven global development labs under the Higher Education solutions Network (HESN). The core partners are; Tulane University’s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy (DRLA), Stanford University and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); (http://www.ranlab.org).
The program of the day will be as follows;
Day 1
09:00am–09:30am Arrival and registration
09:30am–10:00am Introduction and welcome remarks (RAN), RAN objectives, methods of operation, opportunities
10:00am–10:10am A brief intro about peer to peer learning, Back ground, pros and cons of P2P
10:10am–11:00am Presentation from selected community members about their innovations, 2-5 community members with innovations share their success and failure stories
11:00am–11:30am Tea Break
11:30am–12:45pm Needs Finding presentation: Participants learn the tools and methods
12:45pm–1:45pm Lunch break
2:00pm – 3:00pm Break out session (group formation): Participants engage in a brainstorming session about community needs
3:00pm – 3:30pm Presentations: Results from the group session
15:30 – 16:00 Wrap up session Lessons learnt, observations and experiences Ronald/Dpt. Head
Day 2
2:30pm – 5:00pm Ignite session: The University as a driver of Innovations
5:30pm – 9:00pm Movie night: An Inspirational movie based on a true story about an Innovator’s journey
As an Innovation Lab, RAN is prepared to work with individuals/teams to mentor and nurture ideas that have the potential of transforming society. We will continue to host more of such events within our various communities. Don’t forget to carry your notebook and a pen/pencil.