RUFORUM Quarterly Report for the period April-June 2019

This report is a synthesis of key achievements and progress made during the period 1 April - 30 June 2019 (the last quarter of the Financial Year 2018/19, and year-one implementation of the operational plan-2018-2022 of RUFORUM Vision 2030 strategy). Key highlights of progress made include: 1) The Republic of Sierra Leone signed the RUFORUM Charter becoming the first African Country to recognise RUFORUM’s continental role in Higher Agricultural Education, Science, Technology and Innovation; 2) In partnership with Egerton University in Kenya and Gulu University in Uganda, the RUFORUM Secretariat continued with the the rigorous student recruitment process to identify economically disadvantaged yet intellectually deserving students from across Africa. 158 applicants from 20 countries in Africa were shortlisted for Bachelors and Masters Degree programmes at the two universities under the support of Mastercard Foundation; 3) RUFORUM Secretariat participated in the First Annual General Meeting and launch of the Eastern Africa Parliamentary Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (EAPA FSN) held 15-17 April 2019 in Arusha, Tanzania; 4) RUFORUM Secretariat participated in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Joint Meeting of Ministers responsible for Education and Training, Science, Technology and Innovation in Windhoek, Namibia (17-21 June 2019); 5) RUFORUM Secretariat awarded the second and last round of 20 PhD research scholarships under the Social and Environmental Trade-offs in African Agriculture (SENTINEL) Project; 6) RUFORUM Secretariat developed a proposal to the BRIDGIN Foundation for the construction of RUFORUM Secretariat headquarters with support from the Government of Uganda. The US$ 65 Million proposal is part of a bigger proposal (US$ 560 Million) to the BRIDGIN Foundation for the development of high technology centres in three RUFORUM Member Universities in Uganda; 7) In order to bolster RUFORUM Secretariat capacity to deliver the Vision 2030, two Deputy Executive Secretaries have been recruited: Deputy Executive Secretary-Programme Development & Implementation (Dr. Alice Mweetwa from Zambia) and Deputy Executive Secretary- Planning, Resources Mobilisation and Management (Dr. Florence Nakayiwa from Uganda).