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Mak-ASLC to use research-based policies to enhance Africa’s Socio- Economic Development

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On 1st August 2018, Makerere University Signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Africa Strategic Leadership Centre (ASLC), in which the two parties agreed to use research-based policies to enhance Africa’s social and economic Development. Signed by the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof.  Barnabas Nawangwe and the Chairman, Board of Africa Strategic Leadership Centre, Dr. Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari on behalf of the two institutions respectively, the MoU stipulated that the two parties will:

  1. Explore opportunities for collaboration in fostering relationships between political actors, civil societies, academia and private sectors in understanding the binding constraints to Africa’s development and identifying opportunities for Africa’s transformation.
  2. Foster peace and security on the continent through offering pro-active solutions to the cause of conflict in Africa
  3. Harmonize national, regional and continental interest and highlight a positive and balanced perspective on Africa
  4. Contribute and influence policy using independent evidence based research

The Africa Strategic Leadership Center (The Centre) is a collaborative initiative of leaders from public and private sectors, committed to Africa’s progress, cultivating growth opportunities and investing in the continent’s human capital. The Center engages key leaders from governments, business and industry, civil society, academia and other socio-economic influencers and opinion leaders to drive Africa’s next transformation agenda.

The Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof.  Barnabas Nawangwe and the Chairman, Board of Africa Strategic Leadership Centre, Dr. Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari exchanging the MoU

The Africa Strategic Leadership Centre was officially launched on Tuesday, July 31st 2018 by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda Rt. Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda at Sheraton Hotel, Kamapala. The High Profile launch that focused on understanding the pivotal role of think-tanks towards Africa’s growth was attended by prominent persons among which; was Mrs. Samia Yaba Nkrumah, the daughter of the legendary Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

“Our focus is to achieve a shared agenda, followed with complementary actions for building social order, political stability and inclusive economic growth across the African continent. We are equally committed to achieving actions representing a realistic image of Africa and supporting African countries in developing critically needed leadership and systems for catalyzing development,” said Awel Uwihanganye, the Associate Director and Secretary to the Board, Africa Strategic Leadership Centre.

The signing of the MoU at Makerere University,  was graced by Samia Yaba Nkrumah and was witnessed by; Betty Bigombe, the Senior Director for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence at the World Bank; Rt. Hon. Daniel Kidega, Speaker of the 3rd  East African Legislative Assembly (EALA); Irene Ikomu,member of Parliamentary Watch Uganda; Mr. Henry Mwebe, the Director Legal Affairs, Makerere University; Prof. Edward Kirumira, thePrincipal, College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Dr. Nansozi K. Muwanga, Former Head, Department of Political Science and Public Administration; Dr Andrew Elias State,  Dean, School of Social Sciences; and Dr. Paul Omach, Head, Department of Political Science and Public Administration.

Samia Yaba Nkrumah, Rt. Hon. Daniel Kidega, Speaker of the 3rd East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).

Commenting on the partnership, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe said that Makerere University is ready to engage in research and develop policies that will inform several changes and developments in Africa. He applauded the Africa Strategic Leadership Centre (ASLC) for the commitment to pool resources with the aim of identifying leadership and institutional ingredients necessary to address Africa’s growth bottlenecks. 

In a special way, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe welcomed Ms. Samia Yaba Nkrumah to Makerere University, the incubation Centre of African leaders. 

“At Makerere University, we are committed to ensuring that this partnership succeeds. We have the best human resource; this means that the potential is huge. Many of our staffs have engaged in research to find solutions to Africa’s problems and we are therefore up to the task,” he said.

The Chairman to the Board of Africa Strategic Leadership Centre, Dr. Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari, commended Makerere University for the various initiatives that the institution has put in place to find home-grown solutions to Africa’s challenges. “You have made extensive research and found solutions on aspects such as transformational leadership, ICT, peace and security, climate change and environmental conservation, food security and agriculture, economy, trade and investment, leadership and governance. We greatly appreciate your efforts,” he said.

The delegates posing for a photo with the Vice Chancellor together with Members from College Humanities and Social Sciences.

Samia Nkrumah thanked Makerere University for the warm welcome and applauded the institution for upholding Africa’s legacy through research, innovations, leadership training and mentorship, and the immense investment in production of human capital.

“I am happy to visit Makerere University, a renowned leadership academy that has groomed many African leaders. Your research has informed the world on the greatness of Africa as a continent,” she remarked.

The delegation led by Samia Yaba Nkrumah also visited the Nkrumah Hall, at Makerere University.

Africa Strategic Leadership Centre is soon organizing, the “Africa Now” conference. The conference will be an annual signature leadership event bringing together leading African minds to consider key constraints to socio-economic growth, an act of achieving drivers to secure a better future for Africa. 

Article by: Mak Public Relations Office. 
 

Proscovia Nabatte

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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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