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Government Pledges Support as HERS-EA Second Academy Closes

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The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) has pledged to support the good work being done under Higher Education Resource Services, East Africa (HERS-EA), aimed at promoting the advancement of women in leadership and management in Higher Education through training. Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Second Academy on Friday, 6th July 2018 at Grand Global Hotel, the State Minister for Higher Education-Hon. Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo reassured the audience that HERS-EA’s efforts had not gone unnoticed and the Government would arrange to meet the leadership and deliberate on the terms of support.

“In the Ministry of Education and Sports, we have a culture of sharing, and so when I told the Minister of Education and Sports and First Lady that I was coming to preside over this closing ceremony, she was not only excited to learn about what you have been doing here but also sent her warm greetings to each and every one of you” remarked Hon. Dr. Muyingo.

Earlier, the HERS-EA Coordinator, Ms. Naomi Lumutenga had shared that HERS-EA is solely run by support from volunteers and its concept of empowering women leaders and managers in Higher Eduction has now been embraced by all East African Community Member countries. “We are now at a point where we need government buy-in, in the same way that the government of the Republic of South Africa bought into HERS-South Africa. We have support from IUCEA and we would prefer to take HERS-EA forward as a regional organisation that is aligned to the EA regional agenda” she added in address to the State Minister.

HERS-EA Coordinator, Ms. Naomi Lumutenga shared that the HERS-EA Concept has been embraced by all EAC Member Countries as well as Ethiopia

“I wish to reassure you that before your request came, the conversation had already started in the Ministry of Education and Sports” said Hon. Dr. Muyingo. “I therefore urge you to get in touch with my office so that we can discuss this matter further” he added.

The State Minister thanked the facilitators for demonstrating their love for Uganda by volunteering their time and resources to impart knowledge to their fellow ladies. He also thanked participants for dedicating time to the course and prayed that they would put all that they had learnt into practice.

“Our problem in society is the shortage of people who are equipped with good leadership and management skills. The skills that you have gained during the course of this workshop will help provide solutions to some of our problems. We need more women in leadership than in any other sector. I therefore urge you to go out and share the skills you have acquired freely” encouraged Hon. Dr. Muyingo.

He further urged his audience to read Robin Sharma’s book The Leader Who Had No Title, the take home being that leadership is not about titles or the salary at the end of the month but rather how brilliantly we work, how expertly we go about our behaviour and how unshakable our faith is in the visions of our respective institutions.

“Uganda’s national Agenda – Vision 2040 and Second National Development Plan are rooted in the Global Agenda that emphasises gender mainstreaming, if the country is to develop. Universities admissions continue to provide special dispensation to female candidates but we all recognise that there is more work to be done, to improve the experiences of female students at university campuses.

“I wish to reassure you that the additional 1.5 points affirmative action for the girl child will remain and as Government, we appreciate what you are doing here to empower women professionals and we shall support you” concluded Hon. Dr. Muyingo.

Hon. Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo (L) makes his remarks as Dr. Euzobia Mugisha Baine (R) who represented Vice Chancellor-Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe listens

Representing the Vice Chancellor-Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, the Acting Director, Gender Mainstreaming Directorate (GMD)-Dr. Euzobia Mugisha Baine thanked the honourable State Minister for sparing time to attend the closing ceremony; an act that demonstrated the Government’s appreciation of the role women play in leadership and management.

A 2009 alumna of HERS-South Africa, Dr. Mugisha Baine shared that as attendees then, they were encouraged to look at themselves as brands, because “you must stand for something or you will fall for anything.” She also encouraged participants to look at all their placements in life as a privilege so as to be able to consciously and meaningfully make a difference every day.

“Where I am is a mission and a conviction. I am either functioning or I am not. Therefore as a Directorate, our daily quest is to see how we can make Makerere University more inclusive for both women and men. We also emphasise gender-focussed research. We must look at what this research is for and whose it is.

“I warmly congratulate everyone who has been involved in this event and I hope that you will continue to build your team and to work together, for the betterment of your institutions, countries and our continent of Africa. I wish each one of you the best of luck in your future endeavours.” concluded Dr. Mugisha Baine.

Speaking on behalf of her fellow participants, Dr. Jane Akinyi Aduda from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya could not hide her admiration and respect for the HERS-EA leadership and workshop facilitators.

JKUAT's Dr. Jane Akinyi Aduda (L) receives her certificate of completion from Hon. Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo (2nd R), flanked by Dr. Euzobia Mugisha Baine (R) and other facilitators from the Gender Mainstreaming Directorate

“When we came here on the first day, we were like chicken, comfortable in our spaces; happy to move along the ground and fly short distances, only to realise that we were expected to soar like eagles” she remarked, before adding “And all week we’ve been wondering what these women eat! Every speaker and facilitator has been so full of wisdom and their sharing has been enlightening. We are definitely coming for tips on your diet as well” to which her audience responded with thundering applause and laughter.  

“I can’t stop asking what we did to deserve this but all I want to say is thank you to HERS-EA, the partners, funders, facilitators and my fellow participants. It has been phenomenal!” she concluded.

Sharing some parting words of wisdom with the participants, Ms. Lumutenga said, “Congratulations and welcome to the HERS Community where ‘Empowered Women Empower Women’!”

Quoting the Biblical Parable of the Talent, Ms. Lumutenga went on to say “You all have your God-given talents which, for personal or institutional reasons may have been lying low or completely undiscovered. We hope that we have helped you to figure out how to dig into yourself, discover that/those talents. When you do; develop and use them so that they can multiply!

“So step out boldly and pull others; you might get some bruises along the way but, keep going, the scratches will heal!” encouraged Ms. Lumutenga.

The ladies were then awarded certificates of completion by the Chief Guest, who later joined HERS-EA leadership, facilitators and participants in a cake cutting ceremony to mark the successful conclusion of the Second Academy.

Article by Public Relations Office

Mark Wamai

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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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