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CSU-Ethiopia Strategic Partnership News

CSU College of Agriculture Team Travels to Hawassa University for Strategic Planning Effort

November 27, 2012

A team of seven faculty members from CSU's College of Agricultural Sciences recently traveled to Hawassa University (HU) in southern Ethiopia. The primary purpose of the trip was to develop a strategic plan for collaboration with HU's College of Agriculture. On October 1st, approximately 50 faculty and staff from HU came to the daylong strategic planning kickoff meeting. The College of Agriculture at HU is organized into four Schools, and the week's events were structured around those Schools. In the kickoff meeting, each School Head spoke about their School's programs and was followed by the CSU faculty members from those disciplines describing CSU's programs and ideas for collaboration. Throughout the week, the HU and CSU faculty split up into groups by School and by discipline within School to develop a strategic plan for future collaboration.

First, they conducted a SWOT analysis detailing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist within each School. Next, they brainstormed goals in each of the following areas: Capacity building (both human and physical), Teaching, Research, and Extension. Many thoughts were brought to the table from specific research ideas to problems affecting everyone (for example, the inadequate library). The goals were classified from Low to High in both their Impact and Cost, and the goals with the highest impact and lowest cost were selected to pursue initially.

Finally, the teams developed Action Plans to achieve those goals with specific people from both universities assigned to complete step-by-step tasks by certain dates. On the final day of the CSU team's visit to HU (October 5th), all of the school planning teams came back together to describe their plans to the entire College of Agriculture and to identify commonalities. All of the team members were given gifts at the end of the week to express their appreciation: HU coffee mugs, classic leather paintings, and scarves distinctive of the Sidama region in the South.

In addition to the strategic planning efforts, there was also a field trip so that CSU faculty (some of whom had never been to Africa before) could become familiar with the farming and livestock production systems of southern Ethiopia. The team even got to drink coffee in Yirgachefe, the place where the best coffee is believed to be grown! While visiting one farm, they spotted colobus monkeys up in the trees, and a few daring souls went out on Lake Hawassa to see the hippos!

Each team member also presented a workshop in their area of expertise for graduate students and faculty. Terry Engle taught a small group of graduate students how to operate and maintain equipment in the Animal Nutrition Laboratory, and Mark Brick taught about biotechnology approaches. Casey Matney led a hands-on workshop on rangeland assessment, and Dana Hoag shared information and tools to evaluate how agriculturalists manage risk. Larry Goodridge taught hands-on techniques for evaluation of food safety and microbiology, and Jessica Davis led a workshop on composting, comparing ingredients for on-farm composting with waste materials available on-site at the university. Assefa Gebre-Amlak made a presentation on how Extension works in the USA and how it has evolved and led a discussion about developing an extension model for Hawassa University to implement.

Committees have been named including participants from all four HU Schools and at least one from CSU. These committees will be moving forward based on the strategic plan developed during the CSU visit to Hawassa.

The Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory is Partnering with the US Forest Service to Support Pastoralists in Ethiopia

November 26, 2012

In November 2011, the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL), Colorado State University (CSU) and the United States Forest Service International programs (USFS) reached an agreement in support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Pastoralist Livelihood Initiative project, PLI II in Ethiopia.

The initiative aims (among other things) to improve the management of rangelands, provide alternative forage for livestock, and manage water resources to maximize access for livestock in an effort to mitigate the effects of disasters and improve livelihoods of pastoralists in Ethiopia. Past USFS support to PLI II project were accomplished on areas such as rangeland planning, prescribed burning, management of invasive species and payment for environmental services. The NREL–USFS joint support for 2012 targeted rangeland planning and prescribed burning for Borena Zone in South East Ethiopia, and management of invasive Prosopis juliflora for the Afar region in North East Ethiopia.

Following the November 2011 agreement, Tewodros Wakie, a CSU PhD student who has previous work experience in Ethiopia and research interests in ecology and management of P. juliflora, was selected for the work as his research objectives fits in with that of PLI II objectives. Tewodros joined the CSU Graduate Degree Program in Ecology in August 2011 through the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) fellowship. Deliverables included:

1. Marketing / business strategy for a specific alternative P. juliflora use that augment the pastoralist household economy.

2. Framework guidelines of best practices for conversion of P. juliflora lands to productive lands.

3. Report summary on nature of P. juliflora expansion and threats in Ethiopia.

4. Report summary on GIS mapping of P. juliflora in specific pilot areas.

Consequently, the PhD student spent four months (February to May 2012) in Afar Ethiopia, meeting with pastoralists and collecting economic, socio-cultural, biological and geospatial data. After returning to CSU the student delivered a comprehensive report that addressed all objectives set by USFS and NREL. The student's work was overseen by Dr. Melinda Laituri and Dr. Paul Evangelista who also traveled to Ethiopia in February 2012.

Dr. Laituri is a professor in the Department of Ecosystem Sciences and Sustainability at CSU and Dr. Evangelista is a research scientist for NREL. Similar plans are underway for 2013. This successful partnership among CSU, NREL and USFS is expected to be used as a model for other graduate students in the future.

Download full report in pdf format here.

CSU Faculty and Scientists Strengthens Academic Partnership with Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources

March 1, 2012

Faculty and scientists from the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) and Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability (DESS) recently visited Hawassa University to continue strengthening academic partnerships. Most of the two weeks were spent at the Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources located about 45 km from the main campus. Funded by small travel grants by NREL, CSU International Programs, The Murulle Foundation, and the US Forest Service International Programs, the CSU team toured university facilities and different campuses, met with the university's president and administrators, and taught a number of short courses and training seminars. The team included Paul Evangelista, Dave Swift, Melinda Laituri and Bill Romme accompanied by two CSU graduate students; Tewodros Wakie from GDPE and Carl Reeder in the Peace Corp Master's International Program. The trip was organized and hosted by Peace Corp volunteers Bob and Nancy Sturtevant, both retired from the CSU community and serving at Wondo Genet. The trip was primarily organized to allow faculty members to meet, assess teaching and learning needs, and explore strategic ways to support and facilitate education in natural resource management and conservation.

Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources was established in 1978, primarily to train forest technicians under a two-year forestry degree. In the following years, the college developed Bachelor and graduate degree programs in all major natural resource fields. In 2000, the Wondo Genet and several other colleges in the area were brought together to form Hawassa University, now one of Ethiopia's largest universities. Wondo Genet now has nine undergraduate, eight MSc and two PhD degree programs in forestry, soils, watershed, natural resource economics and policy, wildlife management, geographic information science, and others. Many of Ethiopia's natural resource managers, whether foresters, park wardens or wildlife officials, have graduated with a BS degree from Wondo Genet (those with a MSc or PhD usually stay in academia or work for Non-Government Organizations). In recent years, the number of students enrolled in Wondo Genet has risen sharply, as has the demand for natural resource professionals. As a result, there are fewer trained instructors for more students creating large teaching gaps in many of the degree programs. The situation is further compounded by the lack of teaching materials, such textbooks, library books and on-line literature access.

As part of the visit to Wondo Genet, the CSU team taught several short courses and seminars for faculty and graduate students. The courses included wildlife and livestock nutrition, forest and fire ecology, geographical information systems, watershed management, and writing for peer-reviewed publications. Each course totaled between five and eight hours over a week, and participants that attended a full series received a Certificate of Completion. Two additional teaching trips to Wondo Genet are already being organized for later this year (if funding can be secured) focusing on wildlife management, ecotourism and climate change. Future classes will be planned and taught by both CSU and Wondo Genet faculty and worth academic credit. In April, Jessica Davis, from CSU's College of Agricultural Sciences, will visit the Hawassa's College of Agriculture to continue building partnerships and collaboration between the two universities.

 

CSU and Hawassa University Signs Memorandum of Understanding

January 20, 2012

The first week of the 2012 spring semester marked a historic partnership between Colorado State University and Hawassa University, one of Ethiopia’s largest and oldest academic institutions. The president of Hawassa University, Dr. Yosef Mamo, spent a week visiting with different departments at CSU before signing a memorandum of understanding at a luncheon ceremony attended by dozens of faculty and administrators. During his opening remarks, Dr. Mamo talked about the number of collaborative partnerships already in place between the two universities, including the Colleges of Agriculture, Colleges of Forestry and Natural Resources and the US Peace Corp. Dr. Mamo not only hopes the MOU will help foster these partnerships in coming years, but open doors to other academic collaborations in business, health, veterinary medicine and other disciplines. Jim Cooney, the Vice Provost for International Programs, announced at the ceremony that Hawassa University will become next Key Institutional Partner for CSU and the first on the African continent. A Key Institutional Partner is defined as an institution or geographic region where CSU is actively engaged in multiple academic and research activities across different colleges or departments. Ethiopia currently has a number of CSU projects in place from the College of Agricultural Sciences, Warner College of Natural Resources (Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory; NREL), College of Business (Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise; GSSE) and the US Peace Corp (Master's International Program) with additional activities pending. Dr. Mamo's visit was arranged and hosted by Dr. Jessica Davis from the Department of Soil and Crop Science who will be visiting Hawassa University in a few months. As a follow-up to the MOU signing, Dr. Paul Evangelista of the NREL will lead a CSU delegation to Wondo Genet College of Forestry (of Hawassa University) to teach several seminars and training workshops, and outline a strategy for shared graduate programs in ecology and natural resources. Accompanying Dr. Evangelista will be Drs. Melina Laituri, David Swift and Bill Romme from the NREL and Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability (DESS), and PhD student Tewodros Wakie from the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology (GDPE). As part of the visit, the CSU team will be teach on subjects related to watershed sciences, wildlife and livestock nutrition, geographic information systems (GIS), forest ecology, fire ecology and publishing in peer-reviewed scientific journal. The team will also be joined by three CSU Peace Corps volunteers currently serving in Ethiopia.

NREL and Peace Corps Volunteers Collaborate on Biodiversity Study

December 30, 2011

In October, 2011 researchers from the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at CSU traveled to a remote portion of the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia to collect vegetation and wildlife data. The researchers teamed up with Peace Corps volunteers stationed in Ethiopia to help with the field work and logistical coordination.The data were collected in a framework that will enable the researchers to investigate ecosystem provisions, biodiversity, and species abundance spatially and under varying levels of human disturbance. This research continues from previous work by the NREL that was focused on areas outside the national park but still within the Bale Mountains. By sampling environments across a range of elevation gradients and human land uses, the team will be able to gain an understanding of how these drive the diversity and abundance of vegetation and wildlife. Additional data collection efforts are in development that will focus on collecting traditional ecological information associated with the study area with the hopes to integrate these data to understand the relationships among vegetation, wildlife, and people in the unique Bale Mountains region. This project has been funded by The Murulle Foundation, a Fort Collins based non-profit organization that has been supporting biodiversity research in the Bale Mountains for over 10 years.