Kick-of Meeting of the Horticulture Innovation Platform at Kyambogo University
“Working Together on Global Management“. The Triple Helix initiative in Uganda is bringing partners together from the academic, private and public sector to boost its horticulture, collaboratively.
On the 16th of April 2021, the Triple Helix platform successfully launched in Kampala. With the goal to drive innovations through information exchange and joint project activities, more than 25 motivated delegates joined. The initiative could be attended by visiting Kyambogo University in Kampala or online via Zoom.
The launch started with a warm welcome from Prof Katunguka Eli, the vice president of KyU, Mr. Carel Jaspers from Q-Point gave the first presentation about the critical areas of cooperation which have been identified within the Labour Market Needs Assessment (LMNA) and Triple Helix readiness surveys that were conducted in the summer of 2020. After a short tea break, Mr. Andre Dellevoet from Maastricht School of Management (MSM) took over illustrating with his presentation how to move with 3H partnerships from theory to action focusing on the aspect of transforming to a community of action. Following up on this, Ms. Laurika du Bois, the marketing director of Agricolleges International participated as a guest speaker from the 3H platform in South Africa (SA). In her presentation, Ms. Laurika du Bois shared valuable experiences about the setting, challenges and what the Ugandan 3H platform can learn from SA. The final speaker was Mr. Arinaitwe Gilbert from Agromax (U) Ltd. sharing crucial insights about the private sector and the 3H partnership in the horticultural sector. The presentation was a good summary of the key areas which have been addressed in the previous presentations saying that the 3H partnership should focus on capacity building and knowledge transfer. Afterwards, a short question round illustrated well that the sustainability aspect of this platform is key for its success and hence, should be taken into account from the beginning onwards.
Then, the session switched to the interactive part chaired by Dr. Tumuhaise Venansio. The partners were divided in four smaller groups in which they discussed the main challenges the platform should address. The key take-aways showed that all partners face similar central issues in regard to skills and knowledge gaps, marketing and innovations. The session was concluded by the dean of vocational studies, Prof Bua Bosco from KyU before everyone was invited for lunch. The words of Mr. Arinaitwe Gilbert described well the atmosphere during the launch “working together on global management“.
The Triple Helix Platform is part of a Nuffic funded project titled “Strengthening skills and training capacity in the horticulture sector in Uganda”. Thereby, one of the key issues is to establish and sustain this multi-actor horticulture innovation platform in Uganda. The launch set the stages to drive innovations in the coming months; the following-up meeting is already planned.
About the project
This project titled “Strengthening skills and training capacity in the horticulture sector in Uganda“ is managed by MSM who together with consortium partners Q-Point B.V., Inholland University of Applied Sciences, Ecopolis Europa and Egerton University capacitate Kambogo University (KyU) and Bukalasa Agricultural College (BAC). The project aims at strengthening the skills to improve the horticultural situation in Uganda. This is mainly achieved via strengthening the educational situation at A-TVET level. The project focuses on three main output areas: curriculum review and development, institutional capacity development at KyU and BaC and the establishment of a triple helix horticulture innovation platform. Main activities of the project are curriculum development, module development, training of teachers in activating didactics, strengthening linkages with the horticultural practise, and stimulating horticultural entrepreneurship.
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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