mrc collaborates with the office of first lady on the ecd...

1

Volume 7, 2017

The Official Newsletter of the Multidisciplinary Research Centre

The Official Newsletter of the Multidisciplinary Research Centre Vol. 7. 2017

MRC collaborates with the Office of

First Lady on the ECD Project

Volume 7, 2017

2 The Official Newsletter of the Multidisciplinary Research Centre

www.unam.edu.na

Conference Theme: “Ending hunger, improving health, inequality and environmental change in Namibia for sustainable development” 26-28 July 2017, Safari Hotel, WindHoek, namibia

The Multidisciplinary Research Centre was established to promote and conduct research by strengthening research collaboration with UNAM faculties and stakeholders from public and private sectors, as well as with regional and international partners.

CONFERENCE SUBTHEMES:

1. Poverty Eradication, 2. Food Security and Ending hunger 3. Sustainable Agriculture4. Health, Nutrition and Wellbeing 5. Communicable and Non-communicable diseases6. Infant and Young Children Feeding practices7. Young people and Reproductive health8. Education and Labour Force9. Gender and Population10. Water and Sanitation11. Urbanization &Human settlement12. Ageing and Intergenerational Relations 13. Economic growth and Income inequalities14. Industry, innovation and infrastructure15. Climate Change, disasters and Sustainable Development16. Land17. Strengthening global partnerships18. Indigenous Knowledge Systems19. Energy20. Ecology and environmental protection

multi/interdiSciplinary Research Conference

3

Volume 7, 2017


Prof. Nelago Indongo

Director, MRC

Table of Contents

O nce again I am very proud to present to you Research Matters Vol. 7, our official newsletter. This

is the second edition of the 2016 academic year. I must admit it has not been an easy year as we are faced with mounting challenges as a country, institutions and as MRC. Our consolation lies in the fact that with every challenge that we encountered, we managed to rise to the occasion and never faltered to deliver our mandate to provide quality research outputs and meet various needs of our stakeholders.

Reflecting on the path we travelled in 2016, we have many blessings to cherish. First and foremost, our researchers were able to attend high-level symposiums and presentations both locally and internationally. This is fundamental as it gives our researchers the international perspectives on how best we can benchmark the work we are doing at MRC. Secondly, our research output has been on the increase and in the same breath and depth, the collaboration with our stakeholders. As a contribution to UNAM strategic objectives of increasing research outputs, MRC researchers successfully published 22 refereed publications during the 2016 academic year. This is indeed commendable! The recent appointment of Hatago Stuurmann as our SANBiO Ambassador for Namibia is another development for a good cheer. This is a milestone achievement which we believe

Chief Editor’s Note will give our youth the desire to embrace research as a career for the future.

Our work in the malaria field has never been so progressive as we continue to gain new knowledge and perspectives on how we can assist our government through the Ministry of Health and Social Services.

The recent bi-annual conference on Disaster Risk Reduction that took place in the resort town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe has capacitated us to deal with climate change better in order to create resilient communities.

Our hard working and selfless researchers have been criss-crossing the country conducting various research projects whose findings are contributing to national development goals. Recently, our ZERI Division conducted a successful training

on mushroom production in Angola to add another feather of success on the researchers’ hat.

As we strive to be a centre of excellence in research, we have been aspiring to provide specialised training both in-house and externally and we are proud of the achievements made in this regard thus far. We endeavour to see that our resources keep pace with the advancement and acquisition of research tools in order to improve the quality of our work.

MRC will be hosting the Insaka Symposium and a second multi/interdisciplinary research conference in 2017 and we look forward to the participation of everyone. The research centre is output is getting better by the day as it moves towards the achievement of our goals and objectives. Happy Reading!

1. Message from the Editor in Chief ……………………………………....…………… 3

2. Malaria Symposium held in September ………………………………...………… 4

3. Course on conflict resolution in Finland ………………………………...………… 6

4. Disaster conference in Zimbabwe …………………………………………....……… 8

5. MRC participates in Unam Research Day ………………………………..……… 10

6. Clinical trials/UNAM-SABINA workshop ……………………………….………… 12

7. Training on Mushrooms in Angola ……………………...………………….……… 14

8. Women cracking academic glass ceiling ............................................ 16

9. EDC project in collaboration with Office of the First Lady ………….…… 18

10. Software training in SPSS and GIS ……………………………………………..…… 20

11. Climate Change and food security …………………………………………….…… 22

12. MRC participation at SANUMARC Conference …………………..…………… 24

13. Namibia takes the Insaka Chair for 2017 ………………………………………… 25

14. New appointment for S&TD ……………………………………………........……… 27

15. Hatago’s selection as SANBiO Ambassador for Namibia …………….…… 28www.unam.edu.na

Conference Theme: “Ending hunger, improving health, inequality and environmental change in Namibia for sustainable development” 26-28 July 2017, Safari Hotel, WindHoek, namibia

The Multidisciplinary Research Centre was established to promote and conduct research by strengthening research collaboration with UNAM faculties and stakeholders from public and private sectors, as well as with regional and international partners.

CONFERENCE SUBTHEMES:

1. Poverty Eradication, 2. Food Security and Ending hunger 3. Sustainable Agriculture4. Health, Nutrition and Wellbeing 5. Communicable and Non-communicable diseases6. Infant and Young Children Feeding practices7. Young people and Reproductive health8. Education and Labour Force9. Gender and Population10. Water and Sanitation11. Urbanization &Human settlement12. Ageing and Intergenerational Relations 13. Economic growth and Income inequalities14. Industry, innovation and infrastructure15. Climate Change, disasters and Sustainable Development16. Land17. Strengthening global partnerships18. Indigenous Knowledge Systems19. Energy20. Ecology and environmental protection

multi/interdiSciplinary Research Conference

Volume 7, 2017


N amibia is one of eight countries in the SADC region seeking to eliminate malaria by the year 2030.

The University of Namibia in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the University of California San Francisco, the London School of Hygiene, the University of South Texas Medical Clinic, the University of Witwatersrand, the Clinton Health Access Initiative and other partners with support from the Novartis Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; are working on a project in the Zambezi region, to look at different interventions to eliminate malaria. This partnership is called the Namibia malaria elimination research partnership (NAMEP with the focal persons in Namibia being Dr. Davis Mumbengegwi the Principal Investigator at UNAM and Dr. Petrina Uusiku, the Chief Medical Officer at the National Vector-borne Disease Control Program (NVDCP) at Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS).Every year, NAMEP has a steering committee meeting which is attended by senior research members of the partner institutions to review the project’s progress as well as its plans for the following year.

Malaria Symposium held in SeptemberDr. Davis Mumbengegwi

Unam is represented by the pro-vice chancellor for Research, Prof. Matengu and the director of the MRC, Prof. Indongo as his alternate. The steering committee creates a coming together of research experts and global malaria experts in Windhoek and to take advantage of this, we hold a malaria elimination symposium once every two

years to talk about topical issues relating to malaria.

This was the second such symposium and on this occasion, the NAMEP partnership teamed up with the elimination Eight (E8), whose secretariat is based on Windhoek for the symposium. This paved way for the E8 ambassador, Dr. Richard Kamwi to give the key note speech. Dr. Kamwi is not only a rousing speaker as evidenced at the symposium, but he is also a board member of the Global Roll-Back Malaria (RBM) partnership and is the former minister of health and social services. His key message stressed that malaria is not a single country problem but a regional and global one which can only be eliminated by partnerships between countries, between governments and between research institutions on a global level.

The chief medical officer for Zambezi region, Dr. Noel Siame gave a presentation about Malaria in the Zambezi region focusing on early season challenges to keep malaria cases down as being a barrier to malaria elimination in the region. Prof Roland Gosling, one of the principal Keynote speaker at Malaria Elimination Symposium, Dr Richard Kamwi concluding his presentation

Prof Roland Gosling, The head of Malaria Elimination Initiative at UCSF presenting on the use of primaquine in malaria elimination settings

5

Volume 7, 2017


investigators in NAMEP and the head of the Malaria Elimination Initiative at UCSF, gave a very informative talk about a new WHO recommendation to use primaquine as a partner drug in malaria treatment. Countries such as Namibia, which are in the pre-elimination stage of malaria control, should not only use Artemisin combination ACTs or Coartem but must also use primaquine which will kill parasites which are in the liver stage of malaria. He gave this talk because Namibia wants to be the second SADC country after Swaziland, to follow this recommendation. Dr. Lizette Koekermeyer from Wits University gave a presentation about malaria vector control.

South Africa has a similar malaria epidemiological profile as Namibia and she talked about some of the interventions they use to control mosquitoes and what they are doing in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Wits University and Dr. Koekermeyer’s team have actually held s training workshops for Unam and the MoHSS for vector control, anopheline mosquitoes that cause malaria. Dr. Jennifer Smith, another principal investigator in NAMEP from UCSF, presented an analysis of malaria risk

Zambezi Region chief medical officer receiving a token of appreciation for his presentation from MRC deputy Director Dr Kletus Likuwa

Group picture of participants of NAMEP bi-annual malaria elimination symposium

factors in Namibia based on research done in Ohangwena, Omusati and the Zambezi regions by the partnership. She looked at the risk factors of malaria under low transmission settings and

seeing how we can use knowledge of risk factors to target malaria interventions.

Interestingly there seems to be a shift in risk of malaria transmission from pregnant women and children under the age of five to young men under the age of 35. The last talk was a source of pride for Unam as one of our very own post graduate research fellow’s Ms. Lucille Dauseb gave a talk about drug resistance markers in malaria parasites in Namibia. The good news was that there is no imminent threat of drug resistance to malaria medicines in Namibia but stressed the importance of remaining vigilant. Ms. Dausab’s presentation was well received and she was invited to share her message by the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).

The diverse but topical presentations generated much discussion as all the talks were on issues the malaria community is grappling with, the best part of it was this all took place at the Unam library and the information was shared with the general public and the Unam community.

Volume 7, 2017


MRC attended a course on conflict resolution in environmental aspects. The course comes at a time when there is growing conflict worldwide on environmental matters hence a pro-active approach to build communities of practice in conflict and collaboration in universities.

As centres of excellence management universities are often favoured for their integrity in taking a lead in facilitating complex issues such as environmental conflicts since they are often perceived as neutral and objective. This is due to the fact that they not aligned to any form of affiliation be it political or communal and are likely to be facilitators of choice who can bring warring parties together.

The course was organised by the University of Eastern Finland at the Joensuu Campus and was attended mainly by practitioners working in the environmental field.

There is growing realisation that environmental conflicts are multifaceted

Course on conflict resolution in FinlandSelma Lendelvo

and are faced with different types of conflicts which need specific intervention to attain sustainable solutions.

The training used case studies on Mexico. It was noted that Mexico’s case studies could perhaps be contexutalised elsewhere in the world since it was well

documented and displayed generational conflicts on the use of natural resources.

Lessons from the training revealed that environmental conflicts are often caused by a number of factors which include but not limited to justice issues where some people feel they are not being

The University of Eastern Finland Campus in Joensuu

Conflict matters...participants during a training session

7

Volume 7, 2017


considered, moral factors which is related to lack of respect leading to retaliation. It can also be caused by rights, whereby some people feel that their rights are not being met as well as unmet human needs. Identity can also cause conflicts. Conflicts can also be caused by what is called the high stakes distributional issues which is the distribution of land, better jobs, social status, for example if others feel that there is no fair distribution it can cause a whole lot of conflicts.

The biggest take home message from the course was that there is a need for paradigm shift from conflict resolution to conflict collaboration. This entails the voluntarily engagement by people at different levels, instead of dictating how to resolve conflict to thme.

Such collaborations have been used a lot to solve a lot to resolve different problems in resource management, if it built-in at an early stage as it enables consensus building. This comes against the backdrop of asking and answering fundamental questions such as: what this thing is all about? What are the shares all about? Who is going to get what share?

Conflict resolution through collaboration is viewed across the continuum of where there is negotiation, facilitation, mediation, evaluation of issues on other side hand and arbitration and litigation on the extreme. As for the later it has to do with adjudication of issues while the former focuses on consensus building.

“That is what we want to build in environmental conflicts, because environmental cases affect livelihoods, affects the health of the environment, and also it affects the future function of the ecosystem area. We are saying that consensus through collaboration; by bringing stakeholders is what is key”, states Selma.

There are also different types of collaborations, but the bottom the overarching factor is that it should be an inclusive and transparent process. To be successful a consensus seeking effort should it be a neutral forum which should be done

through facilitators or mediators who are people of integrity to elicit everyone’s opinion. In many cases collaborations allow us to come up with acceptable decisions.

It will not always the case that it will be the ideal decision to suit everyone’s interest but the mere fact that it is the outcome of deliberations by different people that decision earns its credibility from there. Hence the call for members to view it as the best alternative solution which should be respected.

Values play a significant role within collaboration. Everyone must be valued equally; there must be appreciation for everyone at their level despite their level. It is the work of the mediator or convener

to handle such issues so that people can have that feeling of autonomy that they are at liberty to make their decisions without coercion.

This training is not a once off as efforts are in full force trying to build a community of practice on conflict management and collaboration. The course held in Finland was the first one and the second one will be in Denmark followed by the one to be held in Norway and then Swden.

It is expected that the same people should attend; in order to build this community of practice until all are equipped really address this issue. Plans are under way for UNAM researchers to establish research focusing on conflict resolution and collaborations.

Course organiser, Dr Antti Erkkila on a field trip with the participants

Selma Lendelvo Prof Nekongo-Nielsen

Volume 7, 2017


T he Southern African Society for Disaster Risk Reduction (SASDiR) recently held its 3rd Bi-annual

Conference in the resort town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The MRC through the University of Namibia is the co-founder of this organisation which was founded in 2012 in South Africa. Unam was appointed as the deputy chair of this society, the mandate of this society is to host a disaster risk management conference every second year.

In 2014, the 2nd SASDiR Conference was undertaken and was hosted by the University of Namibia. This conference third bi-annual conference was hosted by the University of Science and Technology (NUST). The next conference is slated for 2018 which will be hosted either by South Africa or Malawi.

What we are saying is that Southern African countries namely: Malawi, South Africa,

Disaster Conference in ZimbabweMr. Gertze Van Rooy

Namibia and Zimbabwe are part and parcel of this conference and hence each one has the opportunity to host this conference. Disaster risk management is both crucial and imperative.

Namibia in 2010, became the signatory of the Hyogo frame work, Unam in supporting government efforts by hosting these conferences to discuss and debate disaster risk reduction and possible intervention strategies. It is a UN framework and countries will be assessed according to that frame work.

In 1992, Namibia experienced a devastating drought and the country never recovered from it. Every year, we experience either droughts or seasonal flooding. We are saying as an institution, how can we support the government? We are doing this through training people and building capacity in disaster risk reduction thus complementing government’s efforts which focus on

disaster risk management. In addition to that, we felt that lets us not do that only but rather, let’s do it with our partners in the region. That is how we joined hands with other countries and said let us join hands and work on this as collaboration.

This year’s conference theme was: “Positioning Southern Africa in Reduction in the face of Climate Change.” We are saying that countries are negatively affected by climate change which is why this conference has different theme on how do we discuss disaster risk reduction in the face of climate change.

Consequently, papers were looking at climate change and what contributions can be made towards disaster risk reduction in the face of climate change. Even though it was an academic undertaking local communities and the governments were given the platform to address the conference.

SASDiR Conference delegates pose for a group picture

9

Volume 7, 2017


The conference had various themes such as the natural resources management in disaster risk reduction, Risk investment and partnerships for sustainable development, gender and disaster and policy, legislation and disaster risk reduction. Whereas climate change and El Niño, community participation and indigenous knowledge systems and risk assessment, education and training awareness were all sub-themes.

Papers for each of themes were presented in plenary sessions in four different venues. It was up to an individual to choose which session they wanted to go to.

Sadly, only 50% of the papers were physically presented. Most people did not turn up or did not arrive for the conference for various reasons. The only thing which was missing is that we did not have a session on academic publication; previously we did have students who presented their papers, masters and PhD, proposal and papers. I am not sure whether it was a sign of not being invited or whatever it is, whereas previous conferences had presentations on students.

Unfortunately, I was the only one who made a presentation from Namibia, others namely Nguza Siyambango, Dr. Kletus Likuwa and Victoria Shamula did not attend but they all submitted their abstracts. I must say my paper was well received and people kept on saying, “Here comes the water,” every time they saw me.

people had they turned up. It was a learning process. As hosts, the people from NUST took ownership of the conference and even had the highest number of papers presented.

Now that the conference is over, as SASDIR we are reviewing the conference papers and soon a conference publication will be available in the Jamba Journal in the next two to three months.

We will also have another excecutive conference in March 2017 to discuss the implementation of the 2018 conference. The local Government of EThekwini in Durban has expressed interest in organising the 2018 conference on our behalf.

The papers presented were indeed quality ones. If you look at the abstracts it would have been wonderful to engage with those

The majestic Victoria Falls

Conference venue: Elephant Hills Hotel in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Volume 7, 2017


T he Unam Research Day is fast becoming an event not to be missed. This day aims to give

academics from all over Unam a chance to share the information about the research that they are involved in through oral and poster presentations as well as through displaying the different types of materials and prototypes that are a result of their work.

The Multidisciplinary Research Centre (MRC) was well represented and made their presence felt. The centre had one of the biggest stalls where all sorts of materials such as the MRC newsletters (Research Matters), brochures and posters with information about different programs and projects. The ZERI division exhibited some mushrooms that they grow as well as prototypes of some of their mushroom-based products such as soups.

MRC participation in the UNAM Research DayDr. Earl Lewis

Delegates swamped the MRC stand

Dr. Davis Mumbengegwi and Dr. Earl Lewis at the MRC stand

11

Volume 7, 2017


The Science and Technology Division prepared posters on the indigenous food and beverages programme, the drug discovery and development programme as well as the malaria operational research programme which also displayed T-shirts and mosquito nets from the programme. “It was well accepted, our stall was one of the biggest and it generated much interest from all the material, we, had many people asking for more information,” says Dr. Earl Lewis.

MRC postgraduate students presented posters and oral presentations about their research work in such an exemplary manner that they were recognised as being among the best presenters for the day. Mr. Munyaradzi Tambo, a PhD student was the best oral presenter whilst Ms. Iwanette Du Preez also a PhD student had the best poster presentation, both from the Science and Technology Division. Ms. Hatago an MSc student from the Social Sciences Division scooped the second prize for her oral presentation whilst Ms. Albertina Iikasha also an MSc student from the Science and Technology Division was third in the poster competition.

According to Dr. Lewis, this day is important as it allows researchers to show what value they have brought or added from their research. It also allows Unam to showcase not only to Unam staff, but other stakeholders including government, non-government organizations, institutes and the private sector. This is because Unam is being funded by external funders on a number of projects. This gives them opportunity to see that indeed research is being conducted and how it contributes to addressing national challenges or attaining national goals.

Unam Research is conducted simultaneously at different Unam campuses; the MRC was also represented at the Katima Mulilo campus where a presentation on malaria epidemiology in the Zambezi region was made by Mr. Flavian Libita a team member of the malaria operational research program. The MRC team also set up a stall and raised awareness about malaria, how it is prevented, diagnosed and treated, and

team nurses also did malaria tests on people who volunteered to talk the test. As much as the Unam Research Day is in its infancy, and started four years ago, it was well attended by Unam staff and management. There is hope that efforts will be made to ensure that it reaches its full potential.

Dr. Lewis stated that through this day, the university is also aiming at uniting the institution by creating a platform whereby researchers and students can come and showcase their work because there are times that you are so involved in your own

division so much that you do not have time to focus on other divisions. As such, this day allows you to see what others are doing.

On its part, the MRC was highly involved in this day and this was evidenced by the attendance rate of its staff which was as high as 80 per cent. “Being the main research centre at Unam, we felt that we have a responsibility into showing up and putting effort into what we have done,” said Dr. Lewis.

“As an insider at MRC, I felt very united, we all had the same Unam T-shirts on that day there was a spirit of helpfulness and pride and everywhere you looked you could see MRC members which is something wonderful,” he prided.

According to Dr. Lewis, from the MRC perspective, whenever they are doing research, they have it at the back of their minds that the Unam Research Day is coming and hence they will be actively preparing reports and posters towards the day.

“Research and development is the only way a country can progress. It’s something we need to work on together. Unam is trying to unite Namibia as a whole and to move the country forward. Let’s work together no matter what your capacity is and let’s make Namibia a great country through research, development and innovation,” he urges.

Hive of activity at the MRC stand

Research and development

is the only way a country can progress

Volume 7, 2017


T he Science and Technology Division at the MRC have a drug discovery and development programme

focusing on natural products, especially medicinal indigenous knowledge systems (IKS). The program has been working

Clinical trials and traditional herbal medicines-UNAM-SABINA WorkshopDr. Davis Mumbengegwi

on different projects on drug discovery development from medicinal plants and has formed linkages within the Southern African Biochemistry and Informatics for Natural Products Network (SABINA, which focuses on capacity building in Southern Africa in the area of natural products research. Two of our postgraduate students, Sanette Walter (PhD) and Hatago Stuurmann who has just completed her MSc are recipients of SABINA scholarships under the supervision of Dr. Davis Mumbengegwi.

As part of capacity building, SABINA, in collaboration with the MRC and the University of Western Cape conducted a training workshop at Unam on clinical trials for traditional herbal medicines. The workshop which was facilitated by Prof Gail Hughes from UWC, was attended by Unam staff and postgraduate students from the MRC, department of biological sciences, department of chemistry and biochemistry, department of veterinary medicine, school of medicine, the centre of

postgraduate studies, centre for research and publication as well as representatives from two SMEs.

The workshop was important because much research at Unam and in Namibia has been done in the lab on medicinal plants but to take these medicines to the next level where a prototype can be developed and marketed as a medicine, clinical evaluation has to be conducted.

This workshop was the first step in this process as it focused on when and how you would plan a clinical trial to show these medicines are safe and that they are effective. Prof Hughes has a wealth of experience spanning three decades spent in academia and in the pharmaceutical industry in South Africa, the USA and in Europe, she is a former director of SASHMI and participated in the first clinical trial (Phase 1) of a medicinal plant product (Sutherlandia frutescens, kankerboos) as an immune modulator for HIV patients.

Prof Gail Hughes, Facilitator for UNAM/SABINA/UWC Clinical Trials for Herbal

Medicine Workshop

Group picture of participants in Clinical Trials for Herbal Medicine Workshop

13

Volume 7, 2017


The workshop was held to capacitate participants to plan for a clinical trial and they were taught several skills from how to do a systematic review to see how much information is available about the medicinal plants , because as much information as possible should be collected before clinical trials is conducted. In the drug discovery and development process, there is pre-clinical work which is lab based to evaluate whether medicines work and whether they are safe enough before they are studied further. These are some of these things we have already been doing at MRC.

The next phase will be for clinical trials. Clinical trials involve people so you need as much information as possible before you go forward. This is why you need a critical appraisal before you do a systematic review for all the information that is available and how to come up with different study designs on how to conduct it. These are some of the things that Professor Hughes focused on in the workshop. This workshop was on empowering participants with critical skills to assess whether a clinical trial is justifiable. A follow-up workshop is planned in e future to actually develop a protocol for a clinical trial, to tick all the boxes so as to get the clinical trial application approved.

One of the issues that is heavily debated and was discussed at the workshop is that traditional herbal medicines have been used for generations and possibly centuries and yet the approach to determining safety is a very western approach which is used for drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry focusing on new entities, is very expensive and takes a long time of up to 15 years.

There is a wealth of information on traditional medicines, because we already have a lot of information about safety and efficacy. There is some process of screening. You can imagine if a plant has been used for 100 years there must be something right about it. And those that don’t work or have side effects are usually eliminated from use. The question is how you incorporate reverse pharmacology into clinical trials for herbal medicines. One way this could be done is when there is a group of people who have been treated for a disease with this plant and Workshop participants following the proceedings

it was documented that they did use this plant and it was safe. This can be used as it has some degree of safety and other tests can be done as opposed to starting along the same pipeline used for chemicals.

Thus, one issue is that the model we use and the thinking, is very European. Perhaps we need to be more radical and use our own approach but the only catch is that usually

with herbal medicine is self-medicating because you decide as an individual to take the medicine. But, if you want it to be in the shops to be sold to the people, then you become liable to prove its safety because besides me wanting to use it, you are putting it out there and physicians have to recommend it and hence the need for some form of safety before you go in that direction.

Volume 7, 2017


W hen the Angolan Ministry of Science and Technology found out that the University

of Namibia is involved in mushroom cultivation and research, they wasted no time, and immediately contacted Unam to discuss the possibility of growing mushrooms in Angola. Plans and schedules were set up and Unam staff crossed borders to train Angolans in Kwanza Sul Province in mushroom production.

Initially, the Angolan Government sent two people to undergo the Training of Trainers on mushroom cultivation to Namibia in June 2016. Mr. Gomes and Mrs. Mateus Pires were joined by the translator from the Angolan Embassy in Windhoek who translated communication from English to Portuguese.

After successful completion of the training, the Angolan Ministry decided to train communities on how to grow mushrooms.

Training on Mushrooms in AngolaPauline Kadhila

They organised more than 30 people from four different groups and the training took place at Escola Técnica Agrária de Catofe in Quibala, in Kwanza Sul Province from the 14 to 19 August 2016. Mrs. Fimanekeni Shivute and Ms. Nailoke Pauline Kadhila

assisted Mr. Gomes and Mrs. Mateus Pires in facilitating the training.

According to Pauline, Kwanza Sul Province is rich in materials that can be used as substrate for growing mushrooms. The Province has a

High publiciity...trainees and workshop facilitators pose for a group picture

workshop participants receive certficates after the trainng

15

Volume 7, 2017


good humid climate characterised by high rainfall which is favorable for mushroom production.

Most of the people who underwent the training are community members and mostly men. While it was not clear why they wanted this training, it was evident that most of them want to venture into the business of growing and selling mushrooms for income generation.

Pauline emphasised that mushrooms are an easy crops to grow due to their short cropping cycle. They are nutritious and can bring high financial returns in a short period of time. She further stated that the post-harvest of oyster mushrooms is not complicated as they can be dried and ground into powder of which the price is higher than that of fresh mushrooms. In addition, mushroom growers do not need vast land as they are not grown on the land. Instead, they are grown in mushroom houses that are built in a special way to meet the optimal conditions of high humidity and optimal temperatures.

Way forward, Unam gave the Angolan Ministry of Science and Technology a period of three months to report on the progress made by the trained community groups. Plans are in progress for Unam officials to assist the Angolan ministry in setting up the mushroom house and laboratory in Ruanda in 2017. The availability of a mushroom laboratory will enable them to produce mushroom tissue cultures and spawn (mushroom seed) for distribution to the trained farmers. The mushroom house at the ministry will serve as a demonstration facility where most of the research is done before it is rolled out to the communities.

For Pauline, the said training was more than just the MRC mandate to carry out research and community serves. She stated that she grew up in exile and Angola was one of the countries she has been to. It made her feel proud that she went to give back to the people who looked after her.

“I was actually surprised when I learnt that the training was going to happen in Kwanza Sul. I was in Kwanza when I was a young

girl and it never crossed my mind that one day I would come back as an official from the University of Namibia to share my knowledge and skills with the people of Angola. I am happy it happened. I love what I do, I like sharing what I know, I would always want to empower people with what I know,” she concludes.

Participants going through the paces on mushroom production

Facilitators taking time to share progress This how it goes...as facilitators get down to serious business

mushrooms are an easy crops to grow due to their short

cropping cycle. They are nutritious and can bring high

financial returns in a short period of time.

Volume 7, 2017


P rofessor Nelago Indongo is a scholar in Social Statistics and Demography and is currently the Director of the

Multidisciplinary Research Centre (MRC) of the University of Namibia (UNAM). As a result of her vast experience and

CRACKING ACADEMIC GLASS CEILINGS

institutions globally. I do not however want to go too much in details about the process, it is well known and those in academia understand very well what it means. I am very passionate about teaching and research. One always learns something new every day in the academic environment. I enjoy interacting with students and it feels good to see them appreciating the knowledge being generated in this manner and especially when they use it to advance their careers in academia, the public sector and even the private sector,” explained Prof Indongo.

She adds: “The UNAM management has trusted me to be at the helm of the Multidisciplinary Research Centre, an honour for which I am grateful because of my passion for research. As a research centre of the university, we promote and conduct research in many different scientific disciplines. There are those at the MRC who research our country’s history; some interrogate social and economic facts by seeking perceptions and societal views to inform policy makers. In my view, this ensures that policies and programmes are informed and decisions made are evidence-based. Some of our researchers are lab-based investigating and developing new medicinal and food products, especially from indigenous resources. What is great about our research activities is that they all contribute to national development and none is regarded as above the

contribution in the teaching and research fields, she recently got promoted to the position of Associate Professor in Social Statistics and Demography.

Research Matters caught up with her in her office and it was inspiring to learn how motivated she is about her career in academia and how passionate she is about the University of Namibia.

“I climbed the ladder in an academic environment at the University of Namibia starting off as a Staff Development Fellow in the then Department of Statistics. I moved up the ranks serving as a lecturer, senior lecturer and now an associate professor in the same department. I therefore feel right at home in this new role,” she says.

She however explained that climbing the ladder is not a stroll in the park nor a quick fix. She says there is a call on an individual to be fully committed and be fully accountable as well as be industrious in what they have set out to do in order to make milestone achievements.

“Promotions in academia do not come automatically and they are awarded to ensure they are deserved. One has to work for it and when ready, the accumulated value is weighted to justify promotion to the next rank. It requires someone to contribute to research publications that are peer reviewed by “gurus” in your area of expertise not only at UNAM but at similar

Newly promoted...Prof. Nelago Indongo

Director, MRC

MRC notice board for published papers

17

Volume 7, 2017


her family is her most important support system which cannot be paralleled with anything else.

“I dedicate quality time to my family as I regard it as the most precious and valuable gift I received from God,” she adds emphasising the importance of family.

Prof. Indongo is a first born in a family of eight siblings. She grew up in a rural village with her parents. She attended secondary education at Oshigambo High School in Oshikoto Region, and completed it at Broadway Secondary School in Ndola, Zambia. She is an Alumni of the University of Namibia, the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom and the University of Pretoria, in the Republic of South Africa.

Despite her busy and pressing schedule, she is adamant she still has a lot to offer, “I have loads of stamina and I am ready to continue serving, not only the University of Namibia but also the nation at large. I feel there is no greater calling than that of serving one’s nation. At the moment, I feel I am enjoying what I am doing which includes teaching, research and interacting with communities. As a way of ploughing back, I offer to provide advice on matters falling in my field of expertise,” she said.

“I wish to pledge my commitment to serve UNAM to the best of my abilities. I further believe there is no success without commitment and as such, I wish to live by this principle. I wish to see more young people successfully graduating and attaining the highest qualifications in their areas of choice. It is therefore my conviction that education and research are indispensable to our dream of attaining a prosperous and knowledge based economy,” she concludes.

MRC’s Science, Technology and Innovation Division

MRC’s Social Sciences Division

other. We value the fact that all research areas are important and in most cases are interrelated.”

Prof. Indongo is a firm believer in family and its invaluable role it plays in an individual as well as societal development. She is married to a loving, supportive and hardworking husband and they are blessed with four children.

Asked how she balances her busy work schedule and her role as a wife and mother, with a smile, she said

Volume 7, 2017


A s per a Collaborative Agreement signed between the Office of the First Lady (OFL) and the University

of Namibia (UNAM), dated 18 April 2016, the Multidisciplinary Research Centre (MRC), conducted a Needs Assessment to assist the OFL to identify the needs at 32 selected Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in eight selected regions in Namibia. The regions are: Hardap, Kavango West, Kavango East, Omusati, Ohangwena, Kunene, Otjozondjupa, and Zambezi.

The main objective was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of factors affecting the growth and development of children between the ages of 0 to 8 years, with regard to health and hygiene, the physical, emotional and social environment at home, at ECD centres and within the rural based communities. The assessment sought to inform initiatives to improve the status of

nutrition, health, hygiene and environment; to look into the availability of basic amenities at the ECD centres and communities and to understand the availability and quality of resources, training and capacity building, and needs for learning support materials. The outcome of the needs assessment was meant to inform the Office of the First Lady, Ministry of Gender, Equality and Child Welfare (MGECW) and the Ministry of Education Arts and Culture (MoEAC) about the level and magnitude of quality improvement measures that need to be put in place through the OFL, towards access to quality Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) in Namibia.

The researchers (Dr. Ngololo Kamara, Dr. Frindt, Mr. Van Rooy and Prof. Kasanda conducted the study. Extra staff members from the satellite campuses and Ministry of Education officials were hired to

expedite the data collection process. A mixed method was used to collect information from the 32 caregivers and community members in the centres. A questionnaire, interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect the data from the participants. The preliminary findings from the needs assessment are outlined below.

Physical infrastructure, facilities, security and water availability

All the centres were poorly constructed with structures made of substandard materials with no concrete floors, no storage space, and no space for gross motor play, and no proper fences around the centres. Such structures posed a danger to the children during the year, affected by heat, wind and rains. This affects the learning environment negatively and hence the quality of the ECD service. Further, the lack of fences posed a danger to the safety and welfare of the children because this allowed unauthorised entry of undesirable people within the community and stray animals.

Two centres had small vegetable gardens which were adversely affected by the lack

ECD Project in collaboration with the Office of First Lady Dr. Elizabeth Ngololo

In the open...an ECD teacher hard at work against all odds

19

Volume 7, 2017


of water. Where it was expected to have established gardens for example, centres in the Kavango East and West and Zambezi regions, no gardens existed due to lack of water, fences and poor soils which are sandy.

Children’s physical, social-emotional and cognitive needs

The number of children with disabilities was relatively small. Unfortunately, these children were not professionally assessed to find out the extent of their disabilities and as such, the caregivers were not able to provide appropriate assistance to them.

Various mother tongues were used as mode of communication at each ECD centre. The use of mother tongue is important as it develops a child’s cognitive capabilities and helps them to easily transit into the second language of communication and tended to do better academically in school. There were no signs of violence, abuse and neglect amongst the children. It was also observed that at some centres, children were related to the caregivers and as such the observed interactions were warm and reflected mutual respect and love. As a result, these interactions culminated in the establishment of conducive learning environment.

Training and capacity building of caregivers

It was found that the majority of caregivers had no qualifications beyond Grade 10. In addition it was established that a total of 13 caregivers had attended the 7week ECD Basic Course Curriculum provided by MGECW.

Teaching, reference and learning materials

Most caregivers did not have either an ECD Policy (27 or 84%), or an ECD curriculum (20 or 62%). They taught from what they knew and or had learnt from the 7week training and compounded by the lack of the necessary learning materials tended to compromise the standard of quality ECD provision.

Health, hygiene and sanitation and nutritious food

The effects of lack of running water affected the entire operation of the ECD centres in terms of health, hygiene and sanitation. The caregivers and the children used the bush to defecate which has serious implication on their health and safety as they might be attacked by animals. In addition, the caregivers had to lock the centres and accompany the children to relieve themselves in the bush. This reduced the effective teaching time children had with caregivers.

At most of the centres, the health facilities were not easily accessible. In some cases, they were more than 30 km away from the health centres. Lack of transport to take their children to the nearest health centres

results in some communities making use of traditional medicine for minor illnesses. It is imperative that in such situations where there are community health workers, they should regularly visit the ECD centre for check-ups and vaccinations. However, parents were still responsible for the health of their children.

Thirty-nine centres did not provide food to the children. Where the centre was located within the primary school premises, children benefitted from the School Feeding Programme (SFP) out of sympathy of the school principals. The provision of food had a positive impact on ECD attendance amongst those communities. Lack of nutritious food may negatively impact the physical growth and cognitive development of the child. It is therefore, essential that the SFPs be extended to ECD centres.

Undeterred...learning goes despite challenges

Researchers interact with community, in the background the zinc structure used for ECD classes

Volume 7, 2017


Day one: SPSS Training

About 15 MRC members of staff went through a two-day training on the use of two softwares which they can use in their work for data analysis and map designing. The first day focused on what is commonly known “Statistical Software for Social Scientists (SPSS)” which is one of the commonly used tools used in data analysis in social sciences. This software enables one to enter their a data set, create data, sort and clean the data and then run the statistical analysis ranging from different models of statistics.

With that common ground having been created, participants were taken through the programme starting with the interface of the programme and what each icon means and how it should be used. The training entered the stage of designing a data set or of transforming a questionnaire into the data set. From there some dummy data were entered into the programme.

After that some statistical analysis was run using the software and also preparing the output to be exported into the final paper.

At the end of the day everyone was able to create a data set or template for his or her data, enter some data and run some statistical analysis on their outlined data. Staff members were also enlightened on various statistical models that they can possibly use for their various research papers such as ANOVA, regression, Chisquare and logistics models.

Day two: Quantum GIS

The second day focused on the use of Geographical Information System (GIS) for software basic mapping. This is basically an aspect of geography that has a combination of spatial, applied spatial and remote sensing and it involves aspects of mapping. The focus was on the issue of mapping, designing and displaying man made structures such as roads and households. They also wanted to know about basic mapping and displaying of information spatially. Mapping is very important and as they say: “A picture is worth a thousand words,” meaning if you have a map with all the displays it makes reading exciting. For researchers for example, if you are presenting your paper to international audiences, not everyone knows where Namibia is or in Namibia, no one knows where Omusati region is. Hence, it is imperative to have a map to show the locations.

The software which used for training is called quantum GIS, it is freely available and it is user friendly and is usually used in ministries and other agencies when they are doing their surveys.

In order to use that software, you need to have shape files that one can down load for free or request from the Namibian Statistical Agency or the ministry. However, for this training, shape files were obtained from the Geography Department at Unam as well as NSA.

Software Training in SPSS and Quantum GISSackaria

The process started off by ensuring that each participant had an SPSS version 24 software installed on their computers though the Computer Centre of the University of Namibia. After that, there was some basic orientation on fundamental statistical principles since not everyone has a good understanding of statistics although many researchers know how to design questionnaires which can then be used in the SPSS.

21

Volume 7, 2017


It is quite a cumbersome process because, it being technological, one needs to be computer literate. It was hard at the beginning because you had to tell people where to click and in the process, some were lost but at the end of the day, everyone managed to produce a map of interest, putting the legend, the title and the scale and all else.

I think of the issue of research, data manipulation and data analysis is always best if we combine the two softwares just to get the good results in the sense that at some point you have your results in tables and all that but you also need to display your results cartographically. Because some people are good with images while some are good with numbers and just to see the collaboration between the two, I am sure you will have a good result at the end of the day.

data manipulation

and data analysis is

always best if we combine

the two softwares just

to get the good results

Volume 7, 2017


T he world population is likely to grow from the 6.9 billion recorded in 2010 to somewhere between 8.0 and

10.5 billion by 2050. In addition to growth, the distribution of the world’s population by country, urban/rural residence, household size and age, are also connected to the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.

The majority of population growth is occurring in areas that are already highly vulnerable to climate change, posing additional challenges to society’s ability to adapt. The path of future population growth is uncertain and can be affected by critical development initiatives related to gender equity and access to health services, including reproductive health care. Whether future population growth follows the low, medium, or high variant, will have important implications for society’s ability to address the climate crisis. The pressing question is: why a four degree Celsius warmer world must be avoided.

New scientific analyses have examined the likely impacts of present day, two degree Celsius and four degree Celsius warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability for affected populations. It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and in some cases multiple threats of increasingly extreme heat waves, sea level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest.

Research from the United Kingdom’s MET Officer suggests the next two years could be the hottest on record globally. The research shows that a major El Nino event is in play in the Pacific, which is expected to heat the world overall. Prof Sutton warned: “If greenhouse gas-driven warming continues unabated, the long-term effects on global and regional climate will dwarf

Climate Change and food securityDr. Moses Amweelo

those of short-term fluctuations El Nino.’’ Climate related extreme events could push households below the poverty trap threshold.

High temperature extremes are likely to affect yields of rice, wheat, maize, mahangu and other important crops, thus adversely affecting food security. Climate change and agricultural are interrelated processes, which take place on a global scale. Climate change affects agriculture in a number of ways, including changes in average temperatures, rainfall, and climate extremes (heat waves), changes in pests and diseases, changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and ground level ozone concentrations, changes in the nutritional quality of some foods, and changes in sea level.

Many of the countries likely to experience net loss are those with populations directly dependent on agriculture and forests for livelihoods, many of whom are already food insecure due to poverty, environmental degradation, land scarcity,

and other factors. Rapid population growth will amplify these challenges: under the medium variant projection of population growth, agricultural production loss and an increase in the prices of crops due to climate change will put an additional 90 to 125 million people at risk of hunger in the developing world by 2080. The growth of greenhouse gas emissions is linked to a range of factors, including economic growth, technological change, and human population trends.

Despite technological advances, such as improved varieties, genetically modified organisms, and irrigation systems, weather is still a key factor in agricultural productivity, as well as soil properties and natural communities. The effect of climate on agriculture is related to variability in local climates rather than in global climate patterns. The earth’s average surface temperature has increased by 1.5 °F (0.83 °C) since 1880. Consequently, agronomists consider any assessment has to individually consider each local area.

23

Volume 7, 2017


On the other hand, agricultural trade has grown in recent years, and now provides significant amounts of food, on a national level to major importing countries, as well as comfortable income to exporting ones. The international aspect of trade and security in terms of food implies the need to also consider the effects of climate change on a global scale.

A study published in Science suggests that, due to climate change, “southern African could lose more than 30 % of its main crop, maize, by 2030. In South Asia losses of many regional staples, such as rice, millet and maize could top 10%”. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has produced several reports that have assessed the scientific literature on climate change. The IPCC third assessment report, published in 2001, concluded that the poorest countries would be hardest hit, with reductions in crop yields in most tropical and sub-tropical regions due to decreased water availability, and new or changed insect pest incidence.

Climate projections by the IPCC indicate that due to dry and hot climate blowing over sub-Saharan Africa, some of the countries, including Namibia, could see agricultural yields decrease by 50% by 2050. This would lead to over 50% of population of these countries going hungry. An increasingly dry and hot climate will make sub-Saharan Africa less suitable for agriculture, reducing the length of growing seasons, lowering yields, and shrinking revenue. Also, researchers studying the Indian Ocean have conluded that human-caused warming will make rainfall in the Horn of Africa even more erratic and severe drought more frequent.

The volatile, warmer, and more extreme weather will lead to more crop failures, and, on current modes of production, to less agricultural output in all regions, according to the IPCC climate projections. The other IPCC’S fourth assessment report, Schneider et al. (2007) projected the potential future effects of climate change on agriculture. With low to medium confidence, they conluded that for about a 1 to 3 degree Celsius global mean

temperature increase (by 2100, relative to the 1990-2000 average level) there would be productivity decreases for some cereals in low latitudes, and productivity increases in high latitudes.

In Africa and Latin America, many rain fed crops are near their maximum temperature tolerance, so that yields are likely to fall sharply for even small climate changes; falls in agricultural productivity of up to 30 % over the 21st century are projected. Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (2007) projected that climate variability and change would severely compromise agricultural production and access to food in Africa. Africa’s geography makes it particularly vulnerable to climate change, and 70% of the population rely on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods.

Some scientists think agriculture could be affected by any decrease in stratospheric ozone, which could increase biologically dangerous ultraviolet radiation B. Excess ultraviolet radiation B can directly affect plant physiology and cause massive amounts of mutations, and indirectly through changed pollinator behaviour.

In addition, a possible effect of rising temperatures is significantly high levels of ground-level ozone, which would

substantially lower yields. What can we do with respect to mitigation and adaptation in our countries (developing countries)? I would like to suggest that innovative agricultural practices and technologies can play a role in climate mitigation and adaptation. Let’s try to create the necessary agricultural technologies and harness them to enable developing countries to adapt their agricultural systems.

Changing climate will require innovations in policy and institutions. In this context, institutions and policies are important at multiple scales. We must also think about the investments that improve infrastructure to enhance food and water security, together with investments in education, health, and gender equity can help build the resilience and adaptive capacity of vulnerable populations.

Pope Francis on his visit at the White House in United States of America (USA) on 23 September 2015, said: “Climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.” When it comes to the care of our common home, we are living at a critical moment of history. We still have time to make the changes needed to bring about a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.

The volatile, warmer, and more extreme weather will lead to more crop failures, and, on current modes of

production, to less agricultural output in all regions

Volume 7, 2017


T he Sam Nujoma Marine Research Centre (SANUMARC) which is one of the University of Namibia’s

Research Centres held its first Annual Research Conference. The aim of the conference was to show case the ongoing research undertaken by students, lecturers and stakeholders. Presentations were mainly focused on marinea research.

The Multidisciplinary Research Centre (MRC) was invited as a sister centre to grace the occasion and to give words of encouragement and support regarding the importance of research and also share what the MRC is doing in terms of research output. Both MRC and SANUMARC fall under the PVC for Research, Innovation and Development, Prof. Kenneth Matengu.

In his remarks Dr. Kletus Likuwa stressed the centrality of research for the contributions of knowledge to pertinent issues that require national redress. He stressed this vitality in line with the country’ national priority goals and the realisation that it is the duty of researchers to promote the linkages.

Dr. Likuwa inferred that the image of the university at international level as well as its visibility is enhanced through research outputs in terms of peer reviewed publications.

He also underscored the need to do more collaboration with other stakeholders. “You will find that there are situations where we want to do research as centers but we do not have funding, on the other hand stakeholders have funding but they do not have enough human capacity so that is why collaboration is important,” he says.

He encouraged SANUMARC to embrace and promote capacity building by among others; recruiting best students as staff development Fellows. He said that staff development Fellows initiatives will enable students to be become fully fledged researchers at the end of the day.

According to Dr. Likuwa, it is staff development Fellows initiative which has enabled MRC to grow its own timber by creating a pool of researchers who are doing MRC and UNAM proud. Even if some have moved on they are playing the role of MRC ambassadors such as the director of SANUMARC, Dr. Mafwila, who was a student intern at MRC, years back.

MRC Participation at SANUMARC ConferenceDr. Kletus Likuwa

Dr. Likuwa was impressed by the energy and passion from the presentations made by the students and their lecturers saying it is a sign of great things lying ahead. He however noted that there is a need to support students who are facing a number of challenges due to a lack of resource or who have limitations accessing resources to test samples. He called upon companies who have some of the equipment needed to allow student to use them.

The conference also presented SANUMARC with opportunities for research funding through Namibia Commission for Research Science and Technology (NCRST).

“People should continue to engage in research and platforms such as the one hosted by SANUMARC because these are the platforms where they can share their knowledge with the outside world. Therefore, SANUMARC should strengthen networking so as to attract financial support in order to push the research agenda,” Likuwa concluded.

Some of the participants who attended the first ever SANUMARC Conference

A SANUMARC dellegate giving a presentation

25

Volume 7, 2017


N amibia is going to host the Insaka 2017 Symposium. The position comes after Selma Lendelvo of

the University of Namibia took over as chairperson of the consortium. It follows that the host country is automatically bestowed the role of chair in order to lead the process, although Dr. Alfons Mosimane has been charing the consortium for the past two years

Insaka consortium is a community of practice made up of five universities: Monash University in South Africa, University of Namibia, University of Montana in United States, University of Kwazulu Natal (UKZN) in South Africa and Copper Belt University in Zambia. These five universities decided to come up with an African centered community of practice

Namibia takes over Insaka Chair for 2017Selma Lendelvo

to manage socio-ecological systems, which is a complex process of managing human interactions with nature.

The consortium started operating towards the end of 2010. From a governance perspective, Insaka is guided by a Memorandum of Understanding which is signed by the highest office which is the Vice-Chancellor’s Office. A five year strategic plan to facilitate activities of the community of practice is in place. The first strategic plan will end in 2016; while a new strategic plan will start in 2017 to the end of 2021.

One of the objectives of the consortium is to bring together universities to come and share knowledge and this is done by hosting the annual symposiums on a rotational

basis. The first symposium was held in 2011 and was hosted by the Copper Belt University in Livingstone, Zambia. Namibia hosted the 2012 symposium in Windhoek while Monash University hosted the 2013 symposium in Johannesburg, South Africa. The 2014 symposium was hosted by the University of Montana in Cape Town and UKZN hosted the 2015 event. After a full cycle, the Copper Belt University will host ed the 2016 syposium in Lusaka.

“What we really envisage is to improve the effectiveness of Insaka and broaden its scope to allow for more universities to partake and across disciplines. One of the things is to build competent professionals through capacity building to be able to sustain and grow socio-ecological systems research. That is mainly through making sure those

File Photo: The 2012 Windhoek Symposium graced by Prof. Lazarus Hangula and Prof. Oswald Mwandemele

Volume 7, 2017


different universities recruit masters and PhD students within the programme,” says Selma Lendelvo, Insaka Chairperson and Senior put missing info at the University of Namibia’s Multidisciplinary Research Centre (MRC).

Introducing staff exchange programme is another role the consortium would like to capitalise on so that capacities within universities can be shared. “We have since learnt we have different staff capacities within the consortium. For example, Namibia might not have lecturers who teach socio-ecological systems but might have quality materials on socio-ecological systems so, one could use that platform of Insaka to share those materials with students across universities.

“The other aim of this consortium is to leverage funding from donors that require partnerships among universities. There are calls for universities to collaborate regionally and internationally. We see that the Insaka consortium has a great opportunity and potential for funding. This is because the collaboration is already there and the working arrangements are already in place which makes life easier for universities to leverage funds. Such funding will allow for research that will impact SADC and build capacities across the globe,” she further says.

The foundation of the consortium is a formal MoU for the five universities. The MoU establishes the principles of collaboration, and how decisions are made and the involvement of the member

universities in making decisions on policy issues, management and operational activities.

There are two levels of committees, the executive committee and the management committee. The executive committee consists of the chief operating officer of each university and who in many cases are the Pro Vice Chancellors(PVCs) what is the acronym standing for? “When we started we had the PVC of academic affairs but now we have the PVC of research. When we started, we had Prof. Osmund Mwandemele, then the PVC for Academic Affairs and Research and during the new MoU we envisage to have Prof. Kenneth Matengu, the PVC for Research and Development,” Lendelvo explains.

The management committee is made up of faculty members of each participating institution. Namibia has three such members: Lendelvo, Dr. Mosimane and Prof. John Mufune. Their role is to represent Unam and to guide and implement operational matters, cultivate opportunities and initiative programmes that will develop competencies in natural resources management. The committee is also supposed to initiate and develop proposals for funding, hold meetings, conferences and workshops that are within the mission statements of the consortium and to ensure that there is the inter university communication.

It is the responsibility of the chairperson of the consortium to convene and bring together the management committee

and ensuring that the strategic plan is implemented accordingly. The chairperson also leads the symposium.

“So what we normally do is that we have a strategic plan and very soon we will be having a meeting to sell the strategic plan where we outline how many master’s students and PhD students we need to recruit, whether the consortiums are being conducted and how many articles are being published in the consortium, and that meetings are taking place at institutional or consortium level,” she stresses.

Selma is excited about the growth in the Insaka Consortium as a shown by new and emerging research presented annually at symposiums. According to Selma, another interesting aspect of the consortium is that the predecessors of the consortium such as Prof. Charles Breen and Prof. Steven McCool who are among the pioneers of the organisation but have since retired, are still part of the Insaka Consortium.

The 2017 symposium is going to be held in Windhoek in Namibia from 19-22 June at Daan Viljoen National Park. The Symposium will be held under the theme: Enhancing Social Ecological systems adaptive capacity to change: Focusing on sectors such as water, agriculture, forestry, wildlife, protected areas. At the time of writing a call for abstracts has already been sent out, the deadline for submitting abstracts is the 14th of April 2017, while that for Case Studies and that for the notification to publish is the 31st of May 2017 respectively .

File Photo: Insaka 2012 delegates in Windhoek leaving nothing to chance

27

Volume 7, 2017


T he Multidisciplinary Research Centre (MRC) earlier this year appointed Medried Muyongo

as a Technologist in the Department of Science and Technology Development, Drug Discovery and Development programme. Medried is a Unam alumnus who graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and physiological and molecular biology. After graduating, she worked in

New appointment for S&TDMeidred Muyongo

culturing of cell lines, and culturing of Plasmodium and bacterial strains. She also works with postgraduate and undergraduate students affiliated to the programme. She is also responsible for procurement of reagents, consumables and equipment in the Biomedical Research lab.

She also coordinates the booking of lab equipment by all users ensuring that all research work flows seamlessly. Medried says being at Unam and at MRC in particular, is like the proverbial home coming because it has always been her dream to work at Unam but unfortunately limited job opportunities result in one seizing whatever opportunities come their way after graduation.

“Now that I have got this opportunity to work at Unam, it has motivated me to become more involved in academics and study further to become someone I really want to become in life,” she says.

She is contemplating enrolling for a master’s degree and later a PhD and eventually become a fully-fledged researcher.

According to Medried, research is very important as it helps to uncover solutions which can be used to solve many challenges the world is facing. She cited an example of China which has tapped into of the use herbal medicines, a route Namibia can go given the resources the country has. Asked what excites her about MRC, she quickly responds: “It’s the whole team; it’s very diverse,” she laughs. She is also excited about the level of independence saying this instills self-discipline and motivation.

“I am happy to have joined the MRC team and I wish to stay here and be an asset to MRC and Unam and to Namibia as a whole,” she said in conclusion.

the mining sector as a chemist and her last position was at Weatherly Mining as a laboratory chemist. She brings over nine years of laboratory experience.

Medried’s responsibilities include assisting researchers in the Drug Discovery and Development Programme with setting up and running experiments such as preparation and analysis of samples,

Meidred Muyongo doing what she is passionate about

Volume 7, 2017


A n MRC postgraduate research fellow Ms. Hatago Stuurmann has been selected as the first Southern

Africa Network for Biosciences (SANBio) student ambassador for Namibia following a highly competitive National selection process. SANBio is a shared biosciences research, development and innovation platform for working collaboratively to address some of Southern Africa’s key biosciences issues in health, nutrition and health-related intervention areas such as agriculture and environment. It was established in 2005 under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), as one of the five networks established under the African Biosciences Initiative (ABI), to cover the SADC region.

Ms. Stuurmann is twice a Unam graduate having just completed her MSc. by research on drug discovery from medicinal plants, her first degree is in micro-biology and chemistry. She entered the MRC as a research intern in the science and technology division in the final year of her BSc and this is where her fledging interest in research became cemented. She was accepted to

Hatago’s selection as SANBIO Ambassador for NamibiaHatago Stuurmann

areas and how researchers communicated their work in terms of outputs and findings to the scientific community and beyond. Ms. Stuurmann also attributes her selection as an ambassador to this wealth of experience because she had to communicate scientific articles with people within her ranks, masters and PhD students. She also had the opportunity to present her work in Morocco, which experience in presenting about science issues, in something that SANBio was interested in.

She recently visited SANBio’s headquarters in Pretoria for her induction where she learnt more about the network and her new role. SANBio does a lot of training and capacity building, training on proposal writing, it also focuses on how to help researchers and innovators within the SADC region to get commercial and end user products out there from the research that they are doing. SANBIO has three grants to achieve this, first the Flagship which is the funding which is the upscale funding where researchers or innovators with at least a prototype are supported to get it out onto the market. This type of funding requires partners in at least three SADC countries to collaborate. While in Pretoria, she attended a training workshop for recipients of this funding call. The second is seed funding which supports lab-based research or proof of concept which also supports research at master’s

do an MSc by research with a prestigious scholarship from the SABINA (Southern Africa Bioinformatics and Natural products) Network. This played an important role in her exposure in terms of what SANBio was looking for as she attended and presented at SABINA meetings in South Africa, and Tanzania. She spoke on the importance of research in the biosciences, topical research

Hatago Stuurmann (far right) wiith her fellow team members in Pretoria

The Namibian SANBiO Ambassador: Hatago Stuurmann

29

Volume 7, 2017


level or even undergraduate. This funding also requires partners in at least three SADC countries to be eligible for funding., The last funding support is mobility funding which is a vehicle for researchers in the region to move around on scientific visits and do research as well as to, attend conferences on bio-sciences. The main outputs are focused on improving the livelihoods of people in the SADC region. Ms. Stuurmann stressed that all information about SANBio and its calls and funding mechanisms are available on the networks website; http://www.nepadsanbio.org/, however she will do her best to inform the Namibian nation about such calls.

Ms. Stuurmann takes her new role very seriously and she feels that this appointment comes at a time when she has gathered enough information as well as quality skills which can benefit Namibia. “It is a great start to meet new challenges to carry out duties and responsibilities more especially the youth because the SANBIO ambassadorship is more focused on the youth,” she says.

Her work is cut out for her as she will have to interact with people at university level and tell them what bio-sciences and the importance and benefits associated with bio-sciences should they decide to go in the field or should they want to associate with the field.

For MRC, this is a good initiative focusing on Science and Technology Division (S&TD), since she was groomed here and being able to go out there and talk about networks and collaborations it will be a good platform to bring people from diverse backgrounds to work together.

“The Science and Technology Division is quite aligned with the SANBio objective, if you look at medicines, food security, energy and agriculture, all of these are related to the activities within the division. The issues and challenges of science, technology and innovation that the MRC is trying to address and those that Ms. Stuurmann will articulate as SANBio ambassador dovetail very nicely as she already feels she is an MRC ambassador. It is great that someone from UNAM and the MRC, especially an

Ms Hatago Stuurmann with team short-listed for Seed grant callin Pretoria at SANBio headquarters

upcoming young researcher has been identified at a national level for this role and it says something about the quality of the programmes we are carrying out and the pedigree of the young researchers we are training” says Dr. Davis Mumbengegwi who is Ms. Stuurmann’s mentor.

The term of office of the SANBio ambassador is open, as long as one is working in the biosciences and is available to roll out the activities of SANBio, the position includes a modest budget for local and international travel to promote SANBio goals. As for her personal goals as an ambassador, Ms. Stuurmann would like to help create a mindset that challenges people to have prototypes when they do research, innovation and development, be it at an undergraduate or postgraduate level. She would like see networks among students within the bio-sciences field across Namibia and not to be confined to Namibia but to the SADC region because they are partners in the network.

Dr. Mumbengegwi stressed that the SANBio network is important in partnering researchers in Namibia with other researchers within the SADC region. There are opportunities to apply for funding and that will be in partnership with these three member states, it is important for the collaboration side and technology transfer side of technology and in terms of sharing

ideas and research facilities because the entry level is very high financially. It is great that there is something like SANBIO to provide funding for translational research it’s not just bench research or proof-of-concept research. It’s teaming up with SMEs and other organisations for the developments of products that can become available. It’s a great opportunity for us at MRC and Namibia to apply for funding for the flagship or seed projects as well as the mobility grant to be able to go out and see what others are doing out there,” he adds.

For now Hatago is busy trying to refine the activities in order to roll out the promotion of bio-sciences research and why it is important because a lot of people do not know what SANBio is and young people stumble into biosciences when they get to university. Learners matriculating from high school do not plan on contributing to biosciences as they do in say engineering or medicine.

“It is an opportunity missed if people do not know about SANBio at various levels of government and at university level. I will work on activities to address that,” concludes Ms. Stuurmann.

At the time of going to press, Ms. Stuurmann has been accepted to study for her PhD at Unam and it is an opportunity she will pursue.

Volume 7, 2017


NOTES

31

Volume 7, 2017


NOTES

Volume 7, 2017


&PR

INTI

NG

CC

&PR

INTI

NG

CC

&PR

INTI

NG

CC

&PR

INTI

NG

CC

&PR

INTI

NG

CC

ContaCt Details

For further details, contact: Prof. Nelago Indongo

MRC

E-Block

University of Namibia

Tel: +264 61 206 3004/ 206 3052

mrc collaborates with the office of first lady on the ecd...

Documents