December 12, 2006 - 4:00pm
Malaspina University-College is launching a new initiative to reduce poverty in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana, Africa.
Spearheaded by Malaspina’s International Education department, the five-year project has received $400,000 in funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC).
“We’re really excited about this,” said Sheila Swanson, Director of English as a Second Language programs and International Education at Malaspina. “Our primary objective is to work with two post-secondary institutions in Ghana and facilitate environmental education. Specifically, we’ll target waste management (particularly plastic waste), the spread of HIV/AIDS, and control and reduction of wildfire.”
Malaspina faculty in Tourism, Forestry, Health and Human Services and International Education will work with the Sunyani Polytechnic and the Faculty of Forest Resources Technology at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science, to develop new curricula in Educational Stewardship, Community Development, Environmental Communication, and Health Promotion and Prevention.
“The new curricula will be offered by our institutional partners in Sunyani, Ghana, a municipality of about 61,000 people,” explained Swanson. “Malaspina will also work with the partner institutions to develop effective teaching and learning strategies for the new courses, and build awareness of international and cross-cultural issues, in particular a better understanding of these issues in Ghana. The Ghanaian institutions want to involve their students in building environmental awareness in the community.”
“The project is really about sharing knowledge and expertise between institutions, and connecting with the community and with leaders in Ghana to affect positive change,” added Dr. Rick Rollins, Tourism professor at Malaspina.
Over the next five years, Canadian faculty and students will work in Ghana, and Ghanaian faculty will visit Malaspina.
Two Ghanaian officials from Sunyani just completed a two-week visit to Nanaimo this month. They met with students and faculty in Malaspina’s Fisheries and Aquaculture, Forestry, and Tourism programs, attended local Rotary club meetings, and met with others to begin the process of information sharing and knowledge transfer.
“We had some very rich interactions with Malaspina faculty and other officials in Nanaimo, said Samuel Obour, Secretary/Registrar with Sunyani Polytechnic.
“From a human relations aspect, every interaction I had – whether it was from a hotel clerk, to someone working at the mall, to students at Malaspina, the people I met were very welcoming. I had a good first impression of Malaspina and of Nanaimo.”
Lawrence Antwi, Dean of the Faculty of Forest Resources Technology in Ghana, was also impressed with the facilities and the people he met at Malaspina University-College. Antwi and Obour will return to Ghana and meet with political bodies to solicit support for the new Canadian partnership.
Swanson said Malaspina’s interest in working with post-secondary institutions Ghana resulted from the Regional District of Nanaimo’s (RDN’s) work in Sunyani, Ghana over the past year. In 2005, the RDN partnered with the Sunyani Municipal Assembly in Ghana to plan and manage a multi-year project that focuses on an aspect of municipal management or governance.
In March 2006, Swanson, Rollins, Laureen Styles, Dean of Health and Human Services at Malaspina, and former Tourism and Recreation Management student George Addai, travelled to Sunyani, Ghana to meet with educational representatives to discuss possible partnerships.
When Swanson and her team returned to Canada, they prepared a feasibility study and the CIDA funding proposal, focusing on environmental education.
“Now with the possible involvement of local Rotary Clubs, this could turn into a real community project,” Swanson added.
Tags: In the Community
