Milestone 4: Network Strengthen and Stakeholders
Active and broader engagement of stakeholders is realized for the sustainability and impact of the Network project
Realization of the project vision requires a close cooperation and an active engagement with the different project partners and stakeholders. The midterm evaluation has shown that the engagement of the partners and stakeholders was a key area for future improvement for the performance of the Network program. While the global COVID19 pandemic and political instability in Ethiopia have taken toll on the performance of the project during Phase 1, the evaluation has also shown that engagement of partners and stakeholders is a key area where program management can take the necessary measures in future to achieve better results. During this Phase, the involved partner universities will actively participate in the project planning, implementation and evaluation based on principles of balanced and equitable partnership. Stakeholders will be involved in the project governance, receive information about the project, and are consulted where appropriate (e.g. gender offices to mobilize female students/staff). Conferences and workshops will be organized to share the experiences, good practices and challenges of the Network project at both the national and the regional. Efforts will also be made to document the research results and to prepare advocacy materials in a user-friendly way to disseminate results and evidences to policy makers, sector ministries and community services offices.
Interuniversity actions are revitalized and intensified for transformation of postgraduate education and research collaboration in partner universities and beyond
Interuniversity actions were not a key strength of the Network program during previous five years. There was a tendency to focus on capacity building, particularly capitalizing on PhD scholarship and the associated research mobility. This was picked by external evaluators and strong recommendations were forwarded in the final report. Therefore, interuniversity collaboration receives due emphasis in the second phase. Nearly all activities are carried out in an interuniversity team setting with a broader and more inclusive participation of all universities involved. Interuniversity teams are established for all the four sub-projects. Similarly, assignments are given to interuniversity teams for issues such as grant writing, identification of interventions for uptake, development of policies and guidelines, and so on. Besides, regular meetings of project governance, steering and management bodies with the adequate attendance of the participants is vital for success of the project. The project coordinators will also engage in soft diplomacy by paying courtesy visits and regularly discussing with the leadership of partner universities and key stakeholder institutions updating them on the progress and the needs of the project. Last but important, the project will closely work with MoE to seek policies and guidelines that will support and legitimize interuniversity collaboration in areas of teaching, research and resource sharing.
Institutional and sectoral policies, guidelines and systems are developed and/or revised in favor of postgraduate education and interuniversity research collaboration
To revitalize the Network, the current MoU signed between the partner universities will be updated and endorsed by the universities. The revised MoU is expected to include provisions that would demonstrate more commitment and mutual accountability by the involved universities. Likewise, the organization structure of the Network project is revised to strengthen the roles and contribution of the project. The project will have an office in each partner university headed by a focal person. There is a steering committee at each PU level to attend to the network project and ensure active participation of the partner university. Moreover, the management manual of the project will be revised to reflect the revitalization of the Network project, and the new roles of partners and stakeholders.
Gender is a key issue in the second phase of the project. VLIR has given a due attention to gender mainstreaming in projects its funds. As a result, gender policy and guideline will be developed for the network project with the view of mainstreaming gender considerations in every decision taken in the Network project.