EP-NUFFIC ANNUAL STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP, 2016

Kenya on the 14th - 15th March, 2016 for a follow up on institutions supported by NUFFIC. The stakeholders were expected to do presentations on the impact of the activities/outputs of their NUFFIC projects on their organisations in the year 2015 and their expectations for the year 2016. Egerton University (EGU) and Dairy Training Institute (DTI) were represented by the DAIRYTRAIN project through the principal investigator Prof. A.K. Kahi. The project activities carried out in 2015 and their impact on both institutions were presented; capacity development of the teaching staff at EGU and DTI, Dairy conference, competence-based curriculum development.

1.    Capacity building of teaching staff at EGU and DTI

Fourteen teaching staff at both institutions have been trained on the following courses: Business management course (Strathmore University); Financial management for non-financial Managers (MDF Tanzania); Management and communication skills (MDF Tanzania);  Leadership and people management (MDF Tanzania); Highly coordinated programme administrator (Human Assets Nairobi); Learning, action research and outreach for inclusive development-Boosting competencies in higher education course (ICRA); Senior Management course (Kenya School of Government); Strategic leadership development programme (Kenya School of Government).

Impact of the activity:-

•    The teaching staff have enhanced their capacity on managerial skills and student-oriented learning
•    This has further enhanced their current job performance and contribution to the achievements of their institutional goals and growth

2.    Regional Conference on Dairy Education and Training in Africa

The conference theme was “Transforming dairy education and training for health and wealth in Africa”. It was held on the 21st – 22nd September, 2015 in Nakuru, Kenya and hosted over 100 participants from Ethiopia, Denmark, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, The Netherlands, USA.

Guest speakers from The Dutch Embassy, EP-NUFFIC, Wageningen University (The Netherlands and SNV (Kenya) were invited to give presentations on education, practical training, trade and development in the dairy sector in Africa. The purpose of the presentations was to provide participants with an insight on untapped opportunities in the dairy industry. A total of sixteen (16) papers were presented during the conference on the following sub-themes: Status of dairy education and training in Africa; Dairy education and training; Dairy curriculum development for tertiary training institutions; Case studies of competence based curricula in dairy. A plenary session was carried out allowing the participants from diverse dairy backgrounds to work in groups and come up with suggestions on the following key areas in the dairy sector in Africa:-
•    Improvements needed in the current dairy education and training curricula to prepare for the future of the dairy sector in Africa
•    Role of the various stakeholders involved in implementing these improvements
•    Role played by the donor community towards this success

Impact of the activity:-
•    Opportunity to network with other African countries doing similar work on Dairy Education
•    Chance for Kenya to transfer its experience to other African countries that are less developed in Dairy education
•    Visibility of NUFFIC to African countries not aware of the programme eg. Malawi
•    Chance for Nigeria to show case their growth in the dairy industry resulting from the DAIRYTRAIN project
•    The need to develop a ‘cow-signals training’ customized for the African situation for inclusion in dairy education
•    Increased number of applicants from Africa requesting for post-graduate programmes in Animal Sciences at EGU, especially in the area of Dairy
•    The need for An African Dairy Academy to bring Africans together in terms of dairy education and training

3.    Curricula Development

The objective was to develop a competence based curricula that is practically and student oriented on five programmes (BSc. Animal Sciences; BSc. Dairy Technology and Management; Diploma Animal Sciences; Diploma Dairy Technology and Certificate Dairy Technology) identified as relevant for the dairy labour market needs. This followed the recommendations from a Labour-market Needs Assessment in order to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of skills and competencies in the dairy sector. The process involved a team of teaching staff from EGU(5) and DTI-Naivasha (6).

Impact of the activity:-

•    The team from both institutions have acquired skills in competence based curricula development
•    EGU has the opportunity to set pace as the first university in Kenya and the region to have competence based curricula
•    Since the Ministry of Education require universities to channel competent graduates, this presents an opportunity for EGU to provide expertise to other universities
•    EGU graduates that have gone through competence based curricula are expected to have an edge and advantage over those that have gone through the traditional curricula