The Norwegian funded programme gives students of higher education the opportunity to gain international experience, tie bonds with fellow students in other countries and benefit from the academic capacities held at universities in Norway and in East Africa. The programme is funded by NORAD, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. It aims at stimulating South-South-North cooperation and building sustainable capacity of institutions in the South to provide the national workforce with adequate qualifications within selected academic fields of study.
The students at JKUAT have been participating in a 3 week long course on urban housing and settlements as part of their Masters Programme in Urban Transformation and Sustainable Development. The Programme brings together students from Makerere University in Uganda, Ardhi University in Tanzania, Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, Nairobi University and Jomo Kenyatta University in Kenya. These four countries share not only problems relating to urban planning, but also a vision to improve the current development. But to improve, the development needs direction and the professors at this course are certain that this direction will come from the young people. And this is exactly what this programme wishes to contribute with: educate people who see in three dimensions and think beyond boarders.
The next semester the east African students will be joined by students from the Oslo School of Architecture in Norway. Through their stay in East Africa they will learn about the challenges and difficulties facing cities in the south and gain understanding of how these can be met without compromising the environment and the scarce water resources. In her speech at JKUAT, the ambassador spoke about the advantages this interaction and cooperation gives to both the East African and the Norwegian academic circles. She also honoured the programme for their gender equity policy and urged the female students to be good role models for other young girls and women.
You can read the whole speech here