Swedish support to forestry education in Ethiopia – what was the outcome?

• Sweden and other Nordic countries have invested a large sum of aid-money to build up forest academic education in Africa. The Norwegian support to Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania and the Swedish investment in Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources in Ethiopia are the foremost examples. The purpose was to build forestry competence in order to strengthen the country's forestry sector. In recent years there has been an increased emphasis on institutional development and integration in the national university system. The number of students attending the various courses at Wondo Genet has increased in line with educational policy initiatives, but the competition for available places in the forestry programmes has decreased in recent years. The forestry competence has increased at all academic levels in the country as a result of the Sida/SLU support programme. The proportion of female graduated students, which was previously very small, has increased but it is still rather low. Increased globalisation, integration of the College into the educational system of the country and the phasing out of the Swedish bilateral aid-programme has shifted the focus from large-scale production forestry towards other values of the forest, and increased the emphasis on a sustainable management of natural resources. The landscape around Wondo Genet has been drastically transformed. A new insight, that trends in society influence forest status and living conditions, has been created as a result of various factors such as deforestation, increased population pressure, land use conflicts, changing farming systems, urbanization and climate change. As a consequence, the research direction has partially changed.

Ämnesord

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske -- Skogsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries -- Forest Science (hsv//eng)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

pop (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)