Building Resilience through Education

Project Information

BRTE

Grant agreement ID: 778196

DOI

10.3030/778196

Project closed

EC signature date 17 October 2017

Start date 1 November 2017

End date 31 December 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 2 097 000,00

EU contribution

€ 2 097 000,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BRTE (Building Resilience through Education)

Reporting period: 2019-11-01 to 2022-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

BRTE brings together partners from academia, the private sector and the non-governmental organization sector to find innovative ways to strengthen the resilience of communities affected by recurring disasters. It sees a new role for academia in the whole aid paradigm. Wolaita, a rural zone in southern Ethiopia, is exposed to climatic induced vulnerabilities with increasing frequencies. This new paradigm needs to go beyond mere absorption of or adaptation measures to meet immediate life-saving assistance while working towards ensuring Sustainable Development Goals.
The BRTE partnership identified education as a key influencer to bring about this transformative change. The hypothesis is that local intelligentsia in Wolaita Sodo University can partner peers in Europe, the private sector (in Ethiopia and Europe) and the non-governmental organization to accelerate change and bring about socio-economic transformation. The aim of BRTE is to build the capacity of Wolaita’s educational institution in pursuit of the following objectives:
• To build the requisite critical infrastructure to enable resilience education and research;
• To establish an educational platform that will build human capital and transform livelihoods;
• To develop research and innovation capacity that will radically promote social and economic well-being.
Despite these challenges early evaluations of the project suggest that WSU has significantly enhanced it critical infrastructure evidenced by: the automated registry system that can cater for over 30,000 students compared to 18,000 at the start of the BRTE project; the improved library system in the main campus and the Otona campus; the ICT system and the ongoing plans to turn WSU into technologically led university; the modularised system and the increased opportunities to progress to post graduate education; and the university environment is greener and more student friendly that tackles issue of sexual discrimination on other racial threats. WSU is now an applied scientific university and its education and research is very much aligned with plans for the socio-economic transformation of society based on commercial agriculture and food production. The ongoing plans for a model university farm to guide and steer agricultural development is just one of the outcomes of BRTE that will shape this future. All indicators suggest that the BRTE will result in 13 PhDs.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

All the deliverables of the BRTE project were achieved over the course of the project.
WP1 – Ethics: The project successfully established: templates of the informed consent forms and information sheet are secured and are ready for submission upon request; copies of ethics approvals for the research with humans have been obtained, are kept on file and are ready for submission to REA upon request; and, copies of opinion or confirmation by the competent Institutional Data Protection Officer have been obtained, kept on file and are ready for submission to REA upon request.
WP2 – Critical Infrastructure: A strategic document that enhances educational infrastructure in WSU has been prepared; a conceptual Framework for Building Resilience through Education was developed; the interim report on the implementation of proposed strategies was developed; and a final report on implementation of proposed strategies to enhance educational infrastructure at WSU was submitted that demonstrates how the enhanced critical infrastructure will advance education in WSU.
WP3 – Innovative Education Sharing: Established a qualifications framework that will be used between the two universities to enable awarding of joint degrees; a pathway programme is established; and, WSU staff have developed various business and innovation modules. The results of this work packages impacted the educational system beyond Wolaita and contributed to the national modularisation system.
WP4 – Research and Innovation: Head of incubation and business development unit of WSU developed a strategy that presents options to build an innovation hub in WSU; thirteen innovative, appropriate and relevant research studies have been progressed by PhD students jointly between UCD-WSU. While yet to be finalised, this work package has resulted in the submission of more that thirty academic papers to international peer reviewed journals; nine of which are already published.
WP5 – Knowledge Sharing and Dissemination: The project launched its project website (http://www.brte.eu) that was maintained throughout the 62 months; and news coverage was given to twelve major events of the project especially in Period 1, this waned slightly in Period 2 given the challenging context and the need to respect the challenging times for the people of Wolaita; the dissemination and outreach strategy of the project was developed and implemented despite ongoing challenges and delays. The BRTE book has been delayed, however a detailed proposal has been agreed for its completion in the 2023 calendar year.
WP6 – Project Management: Building relationship; getting ethical documents from consortium members; kick-off meeting; and, he project management team is continuously met to manage risks, catch up delaying activities, enhance mobilities, and achieve the overall objective of the project. The BRTE Consortium grew in number and strength over the course of the project. A commitment was given by all Consortium member to progress to a BRTE 2 and open the doors to new beneficiaries and partners interested in supporting the goal of BRTE: TO STRENGTHEN THE RESILIENCE OF WOLAITA AND ITS PEOPLES.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Work Package 1 -Ethics Requirements – the experience of the BRTE Programme in satisfying best standards in ethical requirements has added little to the state-of-the-art of social research per se, however, in an era of growing suspicion around the rationale for European HEIs engagement in third country research it has paved the way to reduce the bureaucracy in acquiring permissions for ethically sound research.
Work Package 2 – Critical Infrastructure – the BRTE Programme has adopted a ‘holistic approach’ to sharing knowledge and learning. In a move from the conventional approach to HEI internationalisation that focuses on research and/ or education sharing, the BRTE Programme began by analysing the ‘enablers’ that facilitate the sharing of research and education.
Work Package 3 – Innovative Education Sharing - The European HEIs involved in the BRTE Programme has embraced modularisation very much in line with the educational philosophy that has evolved from the Bologna process.
Work Package 4 – Research and Innovation - this work package is demonstrating significant innovation both in ‘product’ and ‘process’. There are 13 PhD studies being progressed each governed by the minimum criteria of a PhD study namely; that they will contribute to knowledge. Probably more importantly, in the interest of the RISE philosophy, is the innovative process to HEI internationalisation and the engagement of staff across the consortium members to carry out joint research to the mutual benefit of all members. A further significant development that emerged from the BRTE programme is the need for reform in terminal degrees in Ethiopian higher education. The research being undertaken by the BRTE teams is very much applied in nature. The studies seek to address societal issues that will contribute to building resilience of communities and individuals in Wolaita.

WSU management visiting Institute of Technology Carlow June 2018

BRTE scholars visit the Kerry Group food ingredients outlets

BRTE mid term review meeting in UCD March 2019

14 joint PhD students with WSU's management in UCD March 2019

The end of BRTE project seminar at the breakout session in UCD