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President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni launches Annual Nelson Mandela Commemorative Lecture

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The President of the Republic of Uganda, H.E. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni last week launched the Makerere University Annual Nelson Mandela Commemorative Lecture. The launch followed a public lecture in honour of Nelson Mandela organized by the Department of Political Science and Public Administration in collaboration with the South African High Commission. Held under the theme; Mandela the Legend: A Message for the Youth, the lecture took place in the University Main Hall and was attended by among others, several dignitaries from the Governments of Uganda and South Africa, members of the University Council and Management as well as staff and students. At the public lecture, Mandela’s granddaughter, Ms Zoleka Mandela, delivered a keynote address in which she shared moving testimonies of her personal experience growing up under apartheid with absent parents involved in the liberation struggle, later on giving a message of hope to young people experiencing similar challenges.

Ms Zoleka Mandela “My personal experiences growing up as a child were largely afflicted by the repercussions of growing up in an unconventional and unstable home environment that was mostly vulnerable. I had my first drink at the age of nine, followed by multiple encounters with sexual and physical abuse. The severity of my drinking and drug use at the age of thirteen had escalated to a seventeen-year addiction to alcohol and suicidal behavior that was accompanied by a decade of drug dependency. An unsheltered life, poorly protected from the demoralizing ills of society is a narrative commonly shared by many youth and those like me who are born in politically famous families. I however assure you that much as you may feel unimportant, uninvolved and unheard, there are seeds of greatness that exist within you, seeds that will inevitably blossom whatever way the winds of life may blow you,” Ms Zoleka explained. Despite her tragic life as a youth, Ms. Zoleka has grown into a responsible adult now managing the Zoleka Mandela Foundation. Established in 2013, the foundation aims to educate young people about breast cancer, road safety and social responsibilities. The foundation also seeks to assist young people with personal growth, volunteerism and accountability to become responsible citizens.

Like her grandfather, Ms Zoleka emphasized the importance of education in fostering personal development noting that the quality of education has great impact on the quality of someone’s life. “My grandfather was passionate about education and always thought of it as a formidable approach to changing the world. Young people must therefore take it upon themselves to receive the highest level of education to represent us well as future leaders,” she said.

Ms Zoleka further said her grandfather believed so much in the youth as determinants of society’s future and greatly emphasized the need for all children to have political, social and cultural protection.

The discussants who included Prof. Mahmood Mamdani, Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, Dr Julius Kiiza, Hon. Anna Adeke Ebaju and Brig. Henry Masiko, applauded Nelson Mandela’s selfless contribution to the liberation struggle of South Africa saying he exhibited servant leadership skills and  was indeed a true legend. They underscored the need to empower young people pointing to their critical role in the social, economic and political  transformation of nation states across the globe.

In his remarks, President Museveni paid glowing tribute to Nelson Mandela for his selfless contribution to the liberation of South Africa in particular and the African Continent in general. He noted that Nelson Mandela played a crucial role in the liberation of South Africa by injecting a spirit of activism into the African National Congress as the first leader of the youth wing in 1944, which redefined the ANC’s struggle in the eyes of the apartheid regime.The panelists

He further noted that Mandela played a critical role in the launching of the freedom charter of 1955 that emphasized the fight for freedom for all South Africans no matter their color or race.

He said Mandela’s involvement in recruiting and fighting in the armed resistance, his refusal to collaborate with his oppressors even after a long jail period and preaching the message of reconciliation between South Africans without revenging against his former oppressors, made him a unique freedom fighter.

The President, however, said that the plight and suffering of the generation of the late Nelson Mandela, is closely related to the plight and history of the African continent. He noted that although the African continent derives pride in being the origin of humanity, a pioneer of civilization and also being blessed with abundant natural resources, on account of lack of a clear ideology and poor governance, the continent has suffered several setbacks in the last 500 years putting it and her people behind all other continents in terms of development.

The President said that because of being poorly governed under many fragmented kingdoms and chiefdoms, the African people became more vulnerable when they were confronted by foreign forces of domination especially from Europe that led Africa into suffering from slave trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

He said that to honour the late Nelson Mandela and other African freedom fighters for independence, the current leaders on the continent as well as the coming generations need to work to economically and politically unite the African continent to ensure economic prosperity and strategic security.

Speaking at the public lecture, the South African High Commissioner expressed gratitude to the Government of Uganda and Makerere University in particular for providing a platform to carry forward the legacy of Mandela through the Annual Nelson Mandela Commemorative Lectures.President Yoweri Museveni

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu, thanked the Department of Political Science and Public Administration for spearheading the initiative to recognize the contribution of the Mandela family to the liberation of the African Continent. He extended appreciation to the South African High Commission for the support rendered to Makerere University in its effort to recognize the great works of the Mandela family.

The Principal of CHUSS, Prof. Edward K. Kirumira, explained the contribution of the humanities and social sciences to national development calling for the amendment of the policy that emphasizes the natural sciences over behavioral sciences. He appealed to the youth to emulate Mandela’s legacy by “working towards leaving a good name”.

The Dean, School of Social Sciences, Dr Andrew Elias State, called for the establishment of a Nelson Mandela Scholarship Fund to carry forward his legacy. He also called for the establishment of a Y.K Museveni Scholarship Fund to promote and strengthen the training of peace and security studies.

In her remarks, the Head Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Dr Suzie Nansozi Muwanga extended her sincere appreciation to the sponsors of the public lecture. The sponsors included Eskom, Toyota Uganda, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Stanbic Bank and Pinnacle Security Group.

Denis Wamala

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Special Exam Results -Diploma in Performing Arts 2025/26

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The results for the 2025/2026 special entry examination for the Diploma in Performing Arts held on Saturday 17th May, 2025. Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the Examination and have been recommended to the university’s Admissions Committee for consideration.

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Mature Age Scheme Exam Results for 2025/2026

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The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released full results for the Mature Age Entry Scheme Examinations for the Academic Year 2025/2026 held on Saturday 14th December, 2024.

The Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the examination and have been recommended by the Pre-Entry & Mature Age Committee to the University’s Admissions Board for Consideration.

The Aptitude Exam  Results for 2025/2026 Academic Year released in February 2025 can be found here.

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Call for Application: 2025 SNRM session 4 Summer School

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Participants in focused group discussions. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus East Africa Research Network (LEARN) in collaboration with the Urban Action Lab at Makerere University a workshop to deliberate strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change in urban centres in the East African Region, Theme: “Resilient Urban Futures: Adapting Livelihoods to Climate Change”, 4th-5th September 2024, School of Public Health Auditorium, Kampala Uganda.

Context:
Natural resources in Africa are being depleted at an alarming rate due to several factors, including unsustainable human activities, climate change, and population growth. A primary condition of sustainable development is to ensure that the pressures do not exceed the environmental limits, and that demand for the resources does not exceed levels that can be sustainably provided by nature. Therefore, there is a pressing need for transformative, systems-thinking approaches and tools that can tackle the diverse challenges facing these systems. In Africa, this need is compounded by a lack of data and monitoring, which significantly hinders sustainable decision-making.

Investing in young scientists who are committed to take lead in sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources is very important. Capacity building of young scientists will enhance their knowledge and skill on sustainable natural resources and their involvement for implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in Africa. To this effect, SNRM summer schools have been implemented in three sessions in 2019, 2020, and 2022 with support from Volkswagen Foundation; to build a critical mass of skilled and competent young natural resource scientists in Africa through training, capacity building and mentorship. Session 4 (2025) will target competent young scientists (MSc and PhD students) in Africa and Germany to further develop their knowledge and skills in systems thinking, advanced data collection and analysis, and application of emerging digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), and embracing transdisciplinary approaches. In addition, we include an ideation workshop where students can work on real problems to come up with solutions for sustainable transformations in natural resource use.

Organizers: Leibniz Universität – Hannover (Germany), University of Antananarivo, University of Abomey Calavi (Benin), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana (Ghana), University of Parakou (Benin), The Technical University of Kenya, with financial support from the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany).

Venue and dates: Nairobi, Kenya, 16-28 November 2025

Target: MSc and PhD students, early in the program of less than 35 years of age from any university/research institution in either sub-Saharan Africa or Germany with an interest in natural resources management.

Participants and Scholarships: The course is fully funded and open to 20 MSc and PhD students from Africa, and 5 from Germany. Funding will cover the costs of air ticket, accommodation, meals, visa, and transportation. However, participants will cover the cost of their travel health insurance.

Topics

SNRM Summer School Session 4: Transformative pathways in biodiversity management and conservation.
This summer school is designed to deliver four modules over a two-week period. The modules are designed to enable the students to acquire new ways of designing data collection protocols and analysis for transformative sustainable natural resources management.

Module 4.1: Data collection I
Skills in data collection for a transformative and sustainable management of natural resources (water, wildlife, forest, land, livestock, crops) monitoring and data collection techniques; remote monitoring tools, earth observation system data, e.g. satellite data sources, LIDAR, and UAV aerial images. Collect and analyse In-situ data on biotic and abiotic parameters, map and analyse data using R or Google Earth Engine, field data collection and retrieving data from online databases.

Module 4.2 Data management and processing
Introduction to tools and methods of managing large and diverse data sets of natural resources such as time series, spatial, directional, and multivariate data. Practicals will include data storage, organization and conversion into various formats using databases such as PostgreSQL and statistical programming software such as R and Python; scripts.

Module 4.3 Ecological monitoring, modelling and management
This module aims to teach participants how to anticipate and validate trends that can be observed in various ecosystems. Lectures include ecological monitoring and its design; population monitoring studies; metrics in population monitoring; methods for monitoring and assessing marine ecosystems; human ecology to socio-ecological systems; climate change impact of ecosystems; suitability assessments; overview of the principles underlying wildlife monitoring and prediction systems for climate change adaptation. Practicals will include field data collection (individual and group); ecological data analysis using R or PAST; modelling and experiencing the behaviour of complex systems using Vensim.

Module 4.4 Natural habitat restoration ideation lab
This module is designed to spur students’ innovation and creativity, and to help students comprehensively identify interdependencies across the 17 SDG goals. Participants will be trained on ideation processes for solutions and intervention for transformative natural resource management. They will work collaboratively in small groups on case studies and develop pathways of transformative sustainable natural resource management. Examples of projects include forest (mangrove) ecosystem and habitat restoration, improved technologies for agricultural production, nature-based solutions for improving water quality, and reversing land degradation.

Language: The course will be delivered in English. Participants are expected to be fluent in writing and speaking the English language.

How to apply

Applicants are kindly requested to fill in the application form available from https://snrmafrica.com/ and submit the following documents in English through the system.

  • a curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages)
  • a letter of motivation (maximum 1 page)
  • a confirmation of university enrolment
  • a reference letter from the academic supervisor
  • project summary of MSc/ PhD project (1 page including objectives, methodology
    and key findings or expected outcomes).

Important dates
Application deadline: 30th June 2025.
Announcement of accepted applicants: 15th August 2025.
Confirmation of attendance by selected participants: 12th Sept 2025.
Summer school held: 16 – 28 Nov 2025.

Further information is available from

The secretariat info@snrmafrica.com
Dr Lydia Olaka lydiaolaka@tukenya.ac.ke
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Stuetzel stuetzel@gem.uni-hannover.de

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