UDS signs MoU with Desert Research Institute
The University for Development Studies (UDS), has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Desert Research Institute (DRI) for the establishment of a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) centre at the university.
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The centre which will be based at the Navrongo Campus of the university, aims at fighting desertification, while conducting action research on WASH. It will collaborate with players and stakeholders in the sector to find sustainable solutions to the numerous problems confronting Ghana and the WASH sector in West Africa.
When established, the centre will undertake capacity- building activities on sustainable WASH services and environmental management issues focused specifically on challenges in Ghana and West Africa.
It will also develop and run academic certificate, diploma and degree programmes to train middle and high-level manpower to manage the WASH sector.
Speaking at a ceremony at the university in Tamale to formalise the agreement, the Pro Vice Chancellor of UDS, Professor Gabriel Ayum Teye, said UDS recognised that that DRI, a research institution based in Nevada, USA, had a wide range of basic and applied research expertise in atmospheric, earth and ecosystem and hydrological science.
He said with the DRI also recognising that the UDS had a wide range of experience in disciplines such as agricultural and environmental sciences, “the parties mutually recognise that it is in their best interest to develop a long-term collaboration to strengthen research capabilities, broaden research opportunities, enhance faculty expertise and provide basic and applied research and educational opportunities for students, staff and community transformation at both institutions.”
According to him, the centre will also develop appropriate and affordable technologies for rural communities, jointly conduct basic and applied research and run short courses on WASH for NGO and government workers.
The President of the DRI, Dr Stephen E. Wells, said he had been working with the World Vision and Hilton Foundation, both humanitarian organisations in Ghana, for more than 20 years and are therefore, abreast of the challenges confronting the water, sanitation and environmental sector in the country.
He said grants would be sourced to conduct researches not just in water and sanitation but also in environmental issues.
A development communication expert and Dean of the Faculty of Agribusiness and Communication Sciences of the UDS, Professor Amin Alhassan, said Ghana lagged behind in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water and sanitation.
Daily Graphic/Ghana