Latest Updates

As part of efforts to ensure effective partnerships with user-led processes and thus engage in articulating demand for relevant research and capacity building, RUFORUM is an active partner and leader of Work Package – Capacities in the EU-supported project “Platform for African-European Partnerships for Research and Development (PAEPARD). The PAEPARD Project is led by the […] 0

Written by Damtew Teferra Ph.D. Dr. Damtew Teferra wrote the discussion paper on Investment in Higher Education in Africa and led the higher education expert team which developed the background papers in the lead up to the Summit. He is a professor of higher education at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, founding director of […] 0

Double scoops: Charles Masembe of the College of Natural Sciences (CoNAS), Makerere University has scooped the highly competitive Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine; and has recently been promoted to Associate Professor (Molecular Genetics and Evolution). “Transmission dynamics of African swine fever in an endemic setting at the livestock-wildlife interface” Dr. […] 0

  STORY HIGHLIGHTS A continental summit in Dakar March 10-12 brought governments, academics, international development partners, and entrepreneurs together to develop a common vision towards transforming Africa’s higher education system. Hosted by TrustAfrica, the summit explored the challenges currently confronting the continent in terms of investment, financing, harmonization, access, quality, diversity, and graduate employability. Young […] 0

Written by: Mrs. Jane Anyango – Communications/PR Officer (CAES) Residents of Kanyonyi village, Wanzogi – Subcounty, Kalungi Parish in Nakasongola district have all reasons to celebrate following a successful project that has in this dry season relieved several households from shifting in search for water for their animals and domestic use. No animal deaths resulting […] 0

The CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Cereals (Dryland Cereals) through its newly launched Dryland Cereals Scholarship Program provides support and a platform for motivated, young scientists from developing countries in Africa and Asia to pursue agricultural research to end food, nutrition and environmental insecurity. The program will partially and fully (as the case may be) […] 0

This week (9-13 March 2015) is the Open Education Week – a celebration of the global Open Education Movement. Its purpose is to raise awareness about open education and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide. Open education encompasses resources, tools and practices that employ a framework of open sharing to improve educational access and […] 0

This publication has come out of the 3rd Africa-wide Women and Young Professionals in Science Competitions, and it profiles the achievements of the semi-finalists and all who participated. The two competitions were both timely and strategic as science, technology and innovation is increasingly regarded as an important ingredient for agricultural transformation and sustained socioeconomic development […] 0

Globally, about 700 million people are faced with inadequate food supplies, with more than 30% of the developing world’s populations living in extreme poverty. In sub-Saharan Africa, as living standards rise, populations grow and urbanization continues. Data suggest that, in the next fifty years, the global population will consume twice as much food as was […] 0

Family, friends and colleagues of the late Carl K. Eicher have established a fund under the IAAE to support an award for the best doctoral dissertation on Africa to honour the outstanding contributions of the late Professor Eicher to African agricultural research and education. The first award will be made at the International Conference of […] 0

Uganda is one of the leading producers of Sweet potato in Africa. But research into this staple crop has been neglected with farmers recycling diseased and poor yielding varieties. Bionnovate has been working to improve the yield of sweet potato crops in East Africa. Dr. Settumba Mukasa is the Bioinnovate project scientist at Makerere University […] 0

“In 2006, when I first got associated with RUFORUM, I was convinced that this network of highly committed individuals will make a mark in Africa’s history on capacity development and would turn the tide for this continent despite the odds. It has therefore been fulfilling all these years to have had the opportunity to contribute […] 0

“We should drop the notion that agriculture is a useless, unprofitable career: for those who are training and educated, agribusiness and agricultural science are profitable income earners.” Fredah Karambu Rimberia, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya Africa needs more agricultural scientists, and in particular more women scientists. Since 2009, CTA, the Forum for […] 0

“African Universities are in a change process- they are no longer ‘ivory towers’, but part of practitioners championing rural transformation in Africa” Over the years, it has become increasing important for the RUFORUM Secretariat to strengthen its brand as the focal point for Agricultural Capacity Building for Africa referred to as “Training the next Generation […] 0

Written by Jon Spaull – SciDevNet This film focuses on the work of researchers from Makerere University, Uganda, in Rakai district, an area of the country whose farmers are particularly prone to climate change-induced water vulnerability. As part of the WATERCAP project, they have helped transform local people’s lives. Through the introduction of low-tech innovations, […] 0

At a prominent meeting of African Union (AU) officials and higher education actors from across the continent, held at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, between 23-24 November, the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) announced a landmark operational move to Western Africa. As part of […] 0

RUFORUM organized a side event at the ongoing FARA 15th anniversary celebrations in Johannesburg, South Africa. The two day event which was a consultation with deans and principals of African Schools/faculties and related sciences was summarized with the launch of the Africa Journal of Rural Development and the announcement of the West Africa as new […] 0

As part of FARA’s 15th anniversary celebrations, RUFORUM held a two day consultation with deans and principals of African Schools/faculties and related sciences in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focused on developing RUFORUM’s second strategic and third business plan. Over 20 deans, principles and heads of Departments for Agricultural institutions and other private sector stakeholders from […] 0

Written by Linda Nordling RUFORUM was featured among three organizations whose stories are meant to inspire institutions that would like to innovate their communication strategies. Institutions that want to showcase their research impacts and attract investors to their work. The stories were collected and written by Linda Nordling (freelance journalist, based in South Africa). You […] 0

Prof. Adipala Ekwamu joined several delegates in Vienna for the agrinatura Science Days early this year.  The agrinatura Science Days brought together researchers and practitioners concerned with family farming, food security and transformative change in a single forum. The science days, hosted by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, offered a unique opportunity […] 0