Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) and VLIR-UOS collaboration was initiated through a proposal submitted to VLIR-UOS on 15th October, 2019 for funding consideration. Upon review, JOOUST was among five (5) Universities approved to host Institutional University Cooperation (IUC) 2022 programme. This will be a long-term (12 years) institutional cooperation project between JOOUST and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). The Programme will promote sustainable (inter-institutional) global partnerships and cooperation aimed at empowering JOOUST in its mission and more in particular to better fulfil its role as development actor in the society.
The partnership with VUB will strengthen capacity building, research and outreach in five strategic areas, namely: natural resource management, agriculture and food security, human health, ICT and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The programme objectives are to:
1) build capacity for high quality research and training in natural resources management, food security, health, ICT and climate change;
2) promote sustainable use of LVB resources;
3) improve the health and well-being of LVB populations;
4) create synergies in transformative knowledge, technologies and innovations in collaboration with stakeholders; and
5) build the capacity of government agencies in service delivery and sector-wide regulations.
These objectives will be implemented through the following five (5) projects:
1) Management of the Lake Victoria Basin Natural Resources;
2) Transformative Agri-food Systems for Resilience in the Lake Victoria Basin;
3) Management and Control of Communicable and Non-communicable Diseases;
4) Information Communication Technology; and
5) Climate change Resilience among Communities and Ecosystems in the Lake Victoria Basin.