On 8 November 2021, a bilateral meeting was convened between the Biovision Foundation and the Department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology (LARMAT). From the Biovision side were Frank Eyhorn (CEO) and Fabian Kohler (Program Officer). Representatives from the University of Nairobi (LARMAT/AATC) and NutriProduce were Prof. Richard Onwonga, Janeth Chepkemoi, and Noel Templer. The meeting rationale was to consult with the key training leads concerning the recently concluded Agroecology and Agrobiodiversity Training Course (AATC). Three significant aspects characterized the meeting: i) an update portion from the AATC 2021, ii) a review of the collaboration areas and vision, and iii) next steps and a discussion of the way forward.
The session presented the University’s commitment to sustainable production systems and training of next-level change makers.
In terms of the update, Noel Templer summarized the activities undertaken during the training, followed by a clip presentation from AATC 2021 students. An insightful presentation by Prof. Onwonga followed and briefly introduced the University of Nairobi (UoN), significantly highlighting the University’s opportunities to provide AATC training. The session presented the University’s commitment to sustainable production systems and training of next-level change makers.
The meeting yielded several significant recommendations and action points both from the donors and project leads. Some of the recommendations were a) upgrading the training to a (post-graduate) Diploma course, b) collaboration with other like-minded universities at the national and regional levels, c) incubation of innovative projects and d) linking students to mentorship programs, apprentice platforms, and practitioners like YALTA, RODI, KIOF, NutriProduce, Sylvia’s Basket, and APSID. The concluding remarks included a framework for conceptualizing the synergies and drafting a case for implementation.
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