General
Nyabyeya Forestry College Hands Over 10hectares to Enhance Mak’s Practical Forestry Training
Nyabyeya Forest College (NFC) in Masindi has handed over ten (10) hectares of land to Makerere University to enhance practical forestry training. The land provided will be used for establishment of a training plantation forest which will help in enhancing practical training and research.
This follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) and Nyabyeya Forestry College on 3rd July 2018.
The land was handed over by the Principal NFC Mr. Godfrey Akubonabona to the Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe on his maiden visit to NFC on 15th August 2018. The MoU between CAES and NFC was operationalised on the same day.
The hand over was witnessed by NFC staff including the Deputy Principal, Mr. Kisakye Richard, the Academic Registrar Mr. Swaib Gwanyi, the Assistant Academic Registrar Mr. Ambrose Ahimbisibwe and the Plantation Manager, Mr. Geofrey Sebahutu among others.
The Vice Chancellor was accompanied by the Director Legal Affairs Mr. Henry Mwebe, the Principal CAES Prof. Bernard Bashaasha, his deputy Dr. Gorettie Nabanoga, the Dean School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences Prof. Mnason Tweheyo, Deans and Heads of units from CAES.
Prof. Nawangwe described Nyabyeya Forestry College as a centre of excellence in training foresters and appreciated the college for the excellent work it has been doing to train Makerere University students.
“I must commend those who have been resilient to keep this place in difficult times. I also commend the Principal Nyabyeya Forest College for the transformations during his two years in office,” Nawangwe commended.
The Vice Chancellor noted that Mak and NFC provide the biggest opportunity in the country as the only university and college training foresters.
The Professor decried the declining forest cover in the country noting that unlike the past where permission would be sought to even cut a tree one owned in his or her land, today cutting of trees is not regulated leading to the disappearance forestry cover.
Citing Kenya as an example of an organized country where cutting a tree for charcoal is not allowed, Nawangwe implored educational institutions including Mak and NFC to take on the responsibility to ensure these standards come back.
“Government expects a lot from us the educational institutions. The most absurd thing is that someone from government should advise Makerere what to do. We can do a lot of research and that is extremely important.
The reason forests are disappearing is that we are producing very fast. Uganda is still among the fastest growing populations in Africa and therefore we must research into alternative ways of keeping our forests,” Nawangwe said.
The Vice Chancellor emphasized the importance of more practical training and learner-centered approach in promoting entrepreneurship and churning out graduates that can compete on the world market.
He observed that with two forests at their disposal, the two institutions can work together not only to do research and promote practical training but also generate resources to supplement government efforts.
“NFC has the land and expertise. Makerere has expertise. We should identify what we can do jointly so that we are able to relieve government from the burden of paying staff salaries.
There is a shortage of avocados on the world market. Israel with its problems is the biggest exporter of avocados to Europe but they can only supply one season. This is one thing we can look at, say if we plant 100 acres, we would be the biggest suppliers in East Africa”. Nawangwe advised.
The Professor thanked NFC for the support given to Makerere over the past 40 years and advised the two institutions to take advantage of the capacity built to offer sabbaticals and staff exchanges so that the relationship is mutually beneficial.
Nawangwe further implored the two institutions to take on responsibility of advising Government on matters of policy. He noted that since the 1998 Act, everyone in the country can do whatever they want irrespective of the repercussions.
“The Great lakes region is the worst affected. The Water war will begin from here, there is high population, climate change, all forms of degradation and we are heading for disaster.
We are the people who have the knowledge to avert these problems. You need to do research in these areas and give proper policy guidance to our government,” Nawangwe said.
The Principal CAES, Prof. Bernard Bashaasha said NFC and CAES have been enjoying an informal relationship for over 35years. Bashaasha expressed happiness that they were at Nyabyeya to consummate the marriage.
“The collaboration has been going on not properly anchored and I am happy that this is happening .
The MoU has three critical elements; facilities, recess term and staff exchange but we are here to add another aspect of the relationship of having land,” Bashaasha reported.
Prof. Bashaasha was optimistic that with the acquisition and improvement of the existing facilities at NFC, forestry students would be able to spend more time on practical training.
“If we utilise the 10hectares of land well, we can train environmentalists and conservation managers and also make money. Environmental issues are important, climate change is here with us, when you see global patterns, that makes training in environmental conservation very important,” the CAES Principal stated.
The Dean School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences Prof. Mnason Tweheyo explained that as the most needy and user unit they labored to undertake the curriculum review to remove redundancies and duplications and ultimately found that Nyabyeya Forest College was the most practical area for training foresters.
Prof. Tweheyo said, since 1973 NFC has been training Makerere students undertaking forestry and related programs every year during recess term including use of the college facilities, staff exchange and collaborative research.
Tweheyo said at one time both institutions benefited from NORAD support. From 1973 to 1975, NORAD supported NFC and Makerere University to establish the Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation.
“Before, we used to time when NFC students were out and would bring Makerere students here. This year 2018, more than 400 students from 1st to 4th year have passed through NFC.
NFC offered space where Makerere can build a hostel to accommodate 45 students. In addition there is land identified next to the hostel allocated to Makerere that can be used to expand accommodation for staff and students.” The Dean said.
Prof. Tweheyo explained that for a long time stakeholders have been complaining about forestry graduates being more theoretical than practical. He said with the acquisition of the 10 hectares of land from NFC, the university will be in position to offer the best training in Africa.
“NFC sits on a Forest reserve. Those who work in forest reserves do not get titles but certificates. So NFC gave us user rights for training students.
We thought this would be very important and we shall be able to collect data from day one when the trees are planted, conduct research as well as training,” he said.
Prof. Tweheyo said the school will not plant indigenous trees but look at different species for recommendation to the industry.
“We shall use it for demonstration whereby students visit once a month, and rely on student labour as this is important for them to gain practical skills. Mak and NFC will do research together,” the don added.
“For the first 2 years, one hectare can consume 3million shillings. The next 2-6 years a hectare will consume 2million. 6-12 years, a hectare requires 2million and from 12-18 years a hectare will consume 1 million shillings” the Dean said.
Prof. Tweheyo pledged that school had earmarked 4million Uganda Shillings to kickstart the process and called upon the college and the university to lend a helping hand to make the project a success. The Dean also underscored the role played by Budongo Conservation Forest (BCF) in accommodating and training Makerere University staff and students although this association was yet to be formalised.
He said BCF by virtue of its being a tropical forest has attracted researchers from across the globe. He was optimistic that the BCF would become the Biological field station for Makerere since many of her units including CAES, the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (CoVAB) and the College of Natural Sciences (CoNAS) stand to benefit.
The Deputy Principal Dr. Gorettie Nabanoga thanked the Dean for articulating the issues affecting Forestry training. She observed that the field of forestry training has taken a turnaround, requiring modern and state-of-the-art equipment as opposed to the obsolete machines.
She also echoed the need to promote retooling of teaching staff in forestry so that what is given to students meets the current employers and stakeholders expectations.
Nabanoga proposed the need for Makerere and NFC to look at both long and quick maturing tree species so as to project the resources to be generated for the university and college. She also encouraged the two institutions to be gender sensitive during the enrolment of students and recruitment of staff in forestry.
The Deputy Principal thanked the Vice Chancellor for honouring the invitation to grace the occasion.
“We have never had the Vice Chancellor visiting this college. Pulling you out of the university Main Building to the forest is a signal that forestry training and natural resource management is dear to your heart,” Nabanoga said.
The day’s major events included, meeting between Mak and NFC staff punctuated by brief remarks, launching the implementation of the Mak- CAES & NFC MoU, exchange of appreciation gifts, touring NFC facilities, tree planting at the allocated site to signify the handover of the land and finally the visit to Budongo Conservation Field Station.
Report Compiled by
Jane Anyango,
Principal Communication Officer, CAES
School Managers have been urged to incorporate entrepreneurship as an innovative solution aimed at addressing the existing problems in Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools.
Studies indicate that in most UPE Schools in Uganda, learners still lack parental support, mid-day meals, scholastic materials, clean water, and are often unattended to by teachers, which undermines children’s desire to learn or stay in school because hunger impairs their ability to concentrate and learn effectively.
Constrained by resources, UPE schools are unable to offer decent feeding, sanitary facilities and clean water. The situation is perpetuated by the inability of the School management to optimize potential benefits of UPE schools such as the available land, space, human resources, public goodwill to experiment with innovative solutions to address existing problems.
“If UPE schools incorporate entrepreneurship, it can make a very big difference,” said Prof. Christopher Mugimu based at the College of Education and External Studies at Makerere University. Prof. Mugimu is the Project Principal Investigator, Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative for UPE schools.
This proposal is informed by a one-year study conducted by the project research team consisting of staff from the College of Education and External Studies namely Prof. Christopher Mugimu, Dr. Badru Musisi, Dr. Victoria Tamale, Dr. Justine Namaganda and Dr. Joyce Bukirwa from Muni University
As an intervention, the project research team proposes an Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative for UPE schools to reboot, retool and re-orient school management. “This is a timely, strategic and innovative empowerment initiative purposively designed to transform UPE Schools managers’ mindset from a traditional managerial role to an enterprising leadership role,” said Prof. Mugimu.
The project aims at promoting entrepreneurial leadership in UPE schools by training and equipping school leaders and teachers with entrepreneurial skills.
He said: “With this project, we are confident that UPE schools can overcome the challenges that have held them back for so long and unlock a brighter future for their learners.”
Funded by the Government of Uganda through Makerere University Research and Innovation Fund (MakRIF), the project seeks to address the perennial challenges of low learning outcomes in UPE schools.
During the dissemination workshop held on 20th March 2025 at the College of Education and External Studies, Prof. Mugimu informed the different stakeholders that in most UPE schools, the leaders are not free to take on new ideas.
Presenting the results of the baseline survey, Prof. Mugimu underscored that the findings proved very low entrepreneurial orientation levels with less than 20% of UPE school leadership in terms of autonomy, pro-activeness, innovativeness, competitiveness and risk-taking.
Prof. Mugimu emphasized that the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative framework is ideal for UPE school leadership to identify and utilize opportunities to start-up and scale-up UPE School learning environment improvement initiatives.
On the issue of utilization of resources in UPE schools, the survey indicated that most UPE schools possess resources, most of which are unrecognized, unutilized and underutilized.
“If the School managers implement the entrepreneurial leadership initiative, these resources could be leveraged to improve the quality of education and transform the lives of learners,” he said.
Prof. Mugimu stated that some UPE schools have 10 acres of land, which could be a valuable resource to undertake school gardening to produce food stuff for school meals or bee-keeping for production of honey. He suggested that Schools could utilize biogas material from waste to support cooking and lighting, talent clubs should be ‘re-awakened’ to train and empower learners gifted in Music, Dance and Drama to come up with performances that generate income. The schools should rejuvenate art and crafts so that materials produced by the learners are sold to generate income.
According to Prof. Kagimu, entrepreneurial leadership builds and promotes an entrepreneurial mindset and culture bringing on board both the teachers and learners. He explained that if the school leadership creates an entrepreneurial culture in UPE schools, this would not only involve the teachers and learners in the activities, but also contribute to the ultimate goal of empowering learners with skills and knowledge as well as making learning attractive and interesting.
The Acting Principal of the College of Education and External Studies, Prof. Ronald Bisaso commended the project team for coming up with an intervention aimed at integrating entrepreneurship in UPE schools. He added that the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative in UPE schools would add value to learners in line with the new competence-based education curriculum.
“This intervention (the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative) is timely. Its implementation will contribute to the transformation of the education sector. It adds value to schools and significantly benefits the learners who are our focus. Teachers with an entrepreneurial mindset will train and equip learners with entrepreneurial skills,” said Prof. Bisaso, who is the substantive Deputy Principal.
He shared that the initiative will have a ripple effect on the entire education system, with benefits extending beyond the schools to the boarder community.
“By promoting entrepreneurial thinking and self-reliance amongst UPE teachers, we hope to create a new generation of educators and learners who are equipped to drive innovation and progress in the entire education sector,” he remarked.
Dr. Kulthum Nabunya, Officer Education Services at Kampala City Authority (KCCA) highlighted that the implementation of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative at the respective UPE schools would follow a committee approach to ensure continuity and sustainability.
Dr. Nabunya also acknowledged the project research team for the timely intervention. “With the ongoing implementation of the Competence-based education curriculum, schools have no option, but to embrace the innovative approaches such as the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative,” she said.
She was optimistic that if the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative is effectively implemented, UPE learners would be in position to adapt to the secondary competence-based curriculum.
Contributing to the discussion, Dr. Nicholas Itaaga, an Associate Professor at the College of Education and External Studies said the implementation of the entrepreneurial leadership initiative would significantly benefit staff in UPE schools through skills acquisition, empowerment and involvement in school activities.
Wrapping up, the stakeholders who participated in the dissemination workshop stressed the need for mindset change programs in UPE schools, incorporating entrepreneurship into the curriculum, and undertaking community-school working strategies that bring on board politicians and community leaders.
Project Summary:
UPE was introduced in 1997 to cater for poor households in Uganda. Hence, UPE schools’ management was mandated to create inclusive and enabling learning environment for upward social mobility of deprived children. However, 23 years later, UPE schools are typified by a tangible state of teacher, parental and community detachment; which leads to learner letdown. As an intervention, we propose an Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative for UPE schools to reboot, retool and re-orient school management from mechanically implementing prescribed solutions; to encounter school management challenges and dilemmas in a sustainably creative, innovative and adaptive ways. The Initiative is consistent with the Ministry of Education and Sports’ mission to deliver quality education to all Ugandans and to SDG 4 Target 1, seeking all children to complete free, equitable and quality basic education by 2030.
On March 21, the Makerere University community welcomed a new era of student leadership as Ssentamu Churchill James was inaugurated as the 91st Guild President. The ceremony gathered students, faculty, parents, and dignitaries, marking a significant moment in the university’s history.
In his inaugural address, Ssentamu expressed gratitude, stating, “It’s been God’s grace all through.” He acknowledged the vital support of his family and mentors, reinforcing the importance of collaboration in leadership. “We have been entrusted with the responsibility to bring political, social, and academic salvation,” he declared, emphasizing his commitment to restoring Makerere’s status as Africa’s premier higher education institution.
Reflecting on his campaign, Churchill credited his team, stating, “I am no one without my team,” and dedicated his victory to every student aspiring for a better Makerere. He underscored that students are the foundation of his cabinet, stating, “Those students are our bosses,” and called for unity and resilience among fellow leaders as they prepare to tackle challenges ahead.
The ceremony also included the swearing-in of Guild Representative Councilors from various colleges and Halls of Residence, culminating in the inauguration of Ssentamu and the Vice Guild President.
The outgoing Guild President, H.E. Lubega Vincent Nsamba, shared insights from his tenure, highlighting the importance of building harmonious relationships and the value of collaboration in solving challenges. He quoted theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the dangers of ignorance and urged new leaders to actively engage with the university’s governance structures.
Nsamba linked his faith to leadership, encouraging his successors to seek divine guidance and reflecting on his administration’s efforts to foster a good working relationship with university management. He congratulated Churchill and wished him success in his term.
Professor Buyinza Mukadasi, speaking on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, expressed joy in welcoming the new leadership and emphasized that this was the time to chart a new leadership journey. He acknowledged all election participants and praised the peaceful transition of leadership, encouraging the new guild members to embrace dedication, humility, and adherence to university regulations.
“As students of Makerere University first and foremost, aim for academic excellence,” Mukadasi advised, highlighting the importance of dialogue with university management. He officially commissioned the new government, expressing optimism for their future contributions and collaboration. He called on them to embrace dialogue with the university administration.
Dr. Winifred Kabumbuli, Dean of Students acknowledged the departing President, Vincent Lubega Nsamba, for his efforts in enhancing student life and congratulated Churchill on his election, encouraging him to uphold values of inclusivity and diversity.
“As we celebrate this transition, let us reaffirm our commitment to fostering a supportive campus environment,” Kabumbuli urged, emphasizing the need for collaboration in creating a conducive learning atmosphere.
As the inauguration drew to a close, the Makerere University community looked forward to a promising future under President Ssentamu’s leadership.
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