Bright future in Agriculture project activities, trainings and the triple helix kick-off

November and December 2020 were months full of activities such as trainings and workshops in different areas of the Bright Future in Agriculture project.

The Arba Minch triple helix kick-off event took place in Arba Minch, Haile Resort on November 19th, 2020 in the presence of different stakeholders from public and private sectors and knowledge institutions. The purpose of the event is to kick-off the establishment of "Arba Minch Triple-Helix: Leveraging Triple Helix to Build A World-Class Fruit Cluster" with an aim to bring public and private partners to work towards co-innovation and scale-up innovative solutions to address the critical problem of harvest and post-harvest loss for fruits and vegetables within the Arba Minch fruit production belt. During the event, three working groups were created; themed Knowledge, Innovation and Policy. A secretariat that will be able to implement and carry out the activities of the platform will be organized so that members can take ownership and work towards accomplishing the goals of the platform. The representatives from all sectors appreciated the platform for creating a way to bring them together and made plans to continue collaborating in the following weeks and months to enrich and develop their action plans and strengthen the platform.

BFA-South also held a Gender Equity and Women training, which was conducted between 07 and 11 December, 2020 in Arba Minch. Participants from Wolaita Soddo ATVET, Alage ATVET, Bishoftu Polytechnic College and Arba Minch University took part in the training.

Different trainings and online sessions have also been ongoing in the months of November and December alike. Skill sheet developments in all the 7 beneficiary colleges for Horticulture and Dairy subsectors are being conducted by the colleges’ respective departments together with different experts, Labour market needs assessments are being conducted by the colleges as well and steps to begin Tracer Studies in the 7 colleges are underway.

Another training on Leadership and Management coordinated by FTI has been conducted from December 21-24, 2020 in Adama city. Different representatives from the beneficiary colleges were present and the training was given by Dr. Asmelash Beyene and Mr. Alemayehu Assefa from the African Institute of Management, Development, and Governance (AIMDG).

After finalizing the long process of procurement and shipping, vehicles for lead partner Federal TVET Institute (FTI) and BFA colleges have finally been handed over. The event took place in the compound of the Federal TVET Institute in the presence of the deans from the beneficiary colleges; namley Bako, Merawi, Woreta, Kombolcha ATVETs, and FTI staff and invited guests. Remarks were given by Dr. Solomon Mogus, Mr. Teshale Berecha (Director General of FTI and member of the BFA Steering Committee ), Mr. Getachew Negash (Director General of Federal TVET Agency and member of the BFA Steering Committee), and Dr. Genene Abebe (representative of the State Minister of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education) thanked the Netherlands Government for the Donation of the vehicles and expressed their delight in the progress and involvement of the project in strengthening the ATVET system. We hope this achievement will be repeated with other components of the project and these vehicles will allow these institutes to continue the great work they have undertaken and are doing.

The handing over of the four vehicles that are also purchased through the project to Arba Minch University, Wolaita Sodo ATVET College, and Alage ATVET College will be realized soon.

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About the project
Bright Future in Agriculture (BFA) is a three-year project managed by Maastricht School of Management (MSM) in support of the Ethiopian agricultural vocational education sector that runs from January 2019 to 2021. The main contribution of the project will be on creating more opportunities for (youth) employment and hence improved business and value chains in the horticultural and dairy sub-sectors.

Orange Knowledge Programme
This project is part of the Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) which is funded by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Nuffic. For more information click here.

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