Africa Regional Higher Education Summit
October 21 - 24, 2008
Showcase of Model Programs
Plenary: Strengthening Africa's Human and Institutional Capacity for Prosperity and Global Competitiveness
Kansas State University (KSU) is working with the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to bolster UNILAG's capacity to provide high-quality, private and public sector-relevant courses for undergraduate and graduate students in the Faculty of Business Administration (FBA) and the Department of Computer Sciences. This Higher Education for Development (HED) partnership is a component of and complement to a broader Global Development Alliance supported by USAID/Nigeria. The program evolved out of Nigerian, Microsoft, Cadbury, and Nestlé interest in building the capacity of local business schools. By working with these schools, USAID is strengthening struggling MBA programs, realigning curriculum with private sector needs, and linking graduates with attractive employment opportunities.
USAID Rwanda invested $10 million in two HED partnership projects to increase the incomes of small holder farmers. The projects, known as the Partnership to Enhance Agriculture through Linkages (PEARL) and Sustaining Partnerships to Enhance Rural Enterprise and Agribusiness Development (SPREAD) formed development alliances between the National University in Rwanda, Michigan State University, Texas A&M University, Rwandan farmer groups and the Food and Beverage industry. The projects built specialized capacity at the National University of Rwanda and other Rwandan Agriculture Institutions to develop high value commodity chains like specialty coffee and gourmet chilies. These chains are now generating millions of dollars to small holder farmers. This was accomplished through professionalizing the Rwandan entrepreneurial operations at each link in the value chain and linking the producer groups directly to international markets. Impact has been great. In coffee, Rwandan coffee farmers are now making over four times what they made in 2001 and Rwanda has grown from an unknown specialty coffee origin to a sought-after specialty coffee destination for scores of International coffee companies like Starbucks and Green Mountain. In processed foods, Rwandan "Bon Foufou" is sold throughout Europe in large grocery chains and small ethnic food shops. For more information, see www.spreadproject.org.
Leadership Initiative for Public Health in East Africa (LIPHEA) Project works with U.S. and East Africa schools of public health and associated schools of business and development communication, to design and develop a major leadership training program. The HED initiative has an in-country program management structure and has become an Alliance of Schools of Public Health in 8 countries in the East African region that have agreed to work cooperatively to share faculty, materials and expertise and to offer courses in each others' countries via the web. The consortium includes: The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, the College of Health Sciences at Muhimbili University in Tanzania, the Institute of Public Health at Makerere University in Uganda, the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, the Tulane University School of Business, the George Washington University School of Public Policy and Public Administration, the World Bank Institute, the Uganda Management Institute, the East and Southern Africa Management Institute, and the London School of Economics.
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