International collaboration and outreach: GOI in East Africa
As part of the Global Opportunity Initiative (GOI), the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) in conjunction with the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine successfully ran an international collaboration and outreach summer visit to Kenya and Uganda. The objective of this year’s GOI visit was to understand Kenyan agri-food systems from a non-academic lens. A team of three GOI fellows - Dr. Natalie Cook, Dr. Tessa Lecuyer, and John Ignosh - three CALS Global staff (Dr. Tom Thompson, Dr. Jessica Agnew, and Dickson Otieno), and VCE’s Ben Grove visited and engaged in discussions with the following key partners:
Egerton University (Kenya) and non-academic partners, Makerere University (Uganda) and non-academic actors, International Livestock Research Institute (Nairobi campus), USAID Nairobi Mission, Tegemeo Institute, Farm Inputs Promotions (FIPs) Africa, Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), Kenya School of Agriculture, The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), and participated in a stakeholders’ East African Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) status and solutions’ discourse where other Virginia Tech faculty and staff joined the GOI team. Outside business hours, the team visited the Ndere Cultural Center in Kampala, Uganda, the magnificent Nairobi National Park, and tried cultural food; getting a true sense and feel of international collaborations.
“The Global Opportunity Initiative is a CALS Global flagship program meant to build faculty capacity to engage internationally and help address complex problems through collaborative research and outreach,” said Dr. Tom Thompson, Associate Dean and Director CALS Global and delegation head.
This position was shared by Egerton and Makerere University Vice Chancellors who expressed their universities’ commitments to international collaboration and commended Virginia Tech for the unique joint capacity building approach.
“Virginia Tech has been a longstanding friend of Egerton University. Specifically, I appreciate the joint GOI capacity building sessions that also incorporated East African faculty in the training,” said Egerton University Vice Chancellor, Prof Isaac Kibwage.
Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe on the other hand acknowledged the quality of graduate education and research outcomes VT alumni, now Makerere faculty, exhibit. He called for more structured Virginia Tech- Makerere University collaboration framework starting with our primary hosts in Uganda, the Makerere University Regional Center for Crop Improvement (MaRCCI), an African Center of Excellence under the World Bank ACE II project.
Overall, the East African visit was a success. We look forward to a lot more opportunities for study abroad, short-term faculty and student exchange visits, joint events, international internship opportunities, research projects for students and faculty, and more targeted global-view interactions.
“I now have reasons to bring students for international engagement and short-term research programs,” Dr. Natalie Cook commented during a visit to Makerere University and later at ILRI campus.
Dr. Tessa Lecuyer adding that the GOI opportunity has made her understand crisply what potential research and infrastructure gaps could be when engaging internationally and that the cultural diversities help get different perspectives to research and social needs. John Ignosh concurred.
“The visit was an eye opener and this helped me understand better the essence of international outreach for a greater Virginia Tech global impact,” said John.
“For only fourteen days, we have enhanced our networks and strengthened existing collaborations,” said Dr. Jessica Agnew, Associate Director, CALS Global as she encouraged multidiscipline faculty interactions and structured private-sector engagement. She also spoke of GOI evaluation plans and a look at the 5-year collaboration with Egerton University through their ACE II Center of Excellence in Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness Management (CESAAM).