Aga Khan's latest initiative to help communities adapt to climate change

Dar es Salaam. The Aga Khan University (AKU) has entered a research partnership that, among other things, will benefit communities in and around Tanzania by advancing resilience against the current climate menace, it was stated yesterday. The new project, they said, will focus on advancing climate change adaptation and vulnerability assessments with a focus on high-quality, relevant, accessible, and impactful applications.

This comes after the university signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) for the exchange of expertise and collaboration on research, capacity building, and institutional development.

According to the two parties’ five-year agreement, facilitated by AKU’s Global Engagement Office and signed yesterday, AKU will avail its land in Arusha to NM-AIST for research. “Responding to global problems requires the creation and nurturing of partnerships. It requires building links across borders and boundaries of all kinds—between the public and private sectors; between cultures, countries, and continents; between disciplines and industries,” said AKU Provost and Vice President for Academics, Dr Carl Amrhein.

“My hope for our partnership is that we will develop shared strategies for research and policy implementation, involving our collective student body and faculty. Together, we will make important contributions to knowledge and demonstrate the power of partnerships and their impact on the community,” he said.

He said the five-year partnership will also enable AKU and NM-AIST to establish a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship that links natural resources and the environment with human, animal, plant and planetary health—known as the OneHealth concept.

“The uniqueness of our university is its use of the five D business modes to achieve social and economic transformation through research and innovation,” said Prof Anthony Mshandete, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic, Research and Innovation at NM-AIST. According to them, as a result of the commitment to partnership, AKU and NM-AIST faculty members have begun exploring collaboration on grant applications, for example in water resource management. According to Dr Amrhein, AKU recently established its 3,700-acre Arusha climate and environmental research station in Tanzania. “The site is meant to be a ‘living laboratory’ for studies related to climate change, environmental stewardship, biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, community engagement, and other fields.”