In Ethiopia, higher education institutions are established to accomplish three major inter-related missions: teaching, research, and community service (CS). CS is perfectly aligned with university’s mission to impact the livelihood of the surrounding community that it is further corroborated by legislations.
The duties and responsibilities are framed in the Higher Education Proclamation No. 650/2009 clearly outlining the objectives that are particularly relevant to university community service.
In this regard, seating at the heart of West Oromiya, Ethiopia, Wollega University is making a difference in the lives of not only students but also the surrounding community.
From health to education, the university is setting its mark in the lives of the nearby community which are worth sharing.
The university has been extensively engaged in the providing wide array of community services to the nearby community. The university has accomplished productive community services so far.
Each activity have been taking place within the context of its unique and innovative feature that lead the university to be one of leading institution in executing community services. The efforts had brought national and international recognitions.
Wollega University President Dr. Hassan Yusuf said that currently the university has great commitment to serve the local community through institutionalization and better coordination of the practice of community services,
He stressed that in order to provide different services to local, the university has been undertaking problem solving research approaches and investigations in different sectors like education, energy, infrastructure, health, and entrepreneurship, agricultural productivity among others.
As to him the University hired well experienced researchers, who are exclusively in charge of research and investigation.
Apart from its intervention in the economic sphere, the university is working to hand over working places to unemployed youth in Nekemte town. The university is also as a means of compensation undertaking community services to help people who were evacuated due to expansion. Free scholarship opportunities are awarded to family members who meet the required criteria each year.
Deputy President of Research and Community Service sector, Dr. Beshatu Ferede on her part said that since its inception , the university has been providing different services to the local community through identifying the problem in scientific way.
University has also been working in transferring technology to the community in different technique mentioning that the university selected talented students from the four zones of wollega high schools to provide them with practical training. Last summer only, 500 high school students received training on technology.
The university supports these students in providing supportive materials and assigning professional trainers to train them and there are students who won technology award among those who obtained training on technology at national level.
The university develops business proposal and supply consultancy to entrepreneurs for free. According to the market, an entrepreneur should pay ten thousand Birr for business plan. Many are benefited from the services and the university will keep on in executing its duties and responsibilities accordingly she said.
She noted also the university has been working to help the community access digital information which is the initiative of the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.).
“We have been working to make the university the center of innovation and we achieved different success. The university created a machine which enables to drink seedling at the absence of people”.
She stressed that as part of environmental protection, the university helps the community to adopt new source of energy mentioning that the university enables the community to end the utilization of charcoal by substituting it with biogas energy. And community has been using 35 biogases ovens at household in different woredas.
She underscored that the community has been using biogases both for power generation and electricity instead of fire wood and charcoal.
In addition to this, to protect the environment university distributes seedlings from its nursery center and in the last summer it distributed the seedling specie which is comfortable to grow in degraded lands.
The seeds were imported from Kenya and believe most of the seedlings are strong and healthy.
Following the call for tackle the effects of deforestation and climate change in the country by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.), the university community had planted nine hundred seventy five thousand seedlings in the surroundings of the community.
She indicated that also the university has been working to fill community knowledge gap with regard to rabies disease. To control the disease, the university is undertaking different awareness creation through enhancing vaccination culture while sending experts to the community to treat the disease.
She added that as it needs additional power to treat rabies disease, the university has been working in collaboration with National Veterinary Institute.
The Ethiopian Herald December25, 2019
BY TAMERU REGASA
