The ESSA project funded by the development cooperation instrument of the European Union and coordinated by the University of Helsinki in 2020-2024 organized a one-day induction workshop for the cooperating associate organizations and local administrative officers in Bishoftu, Ethiopia on 16 September 2021 to discuss about the project objectives, research activities, and capacity building. The event was hosted by the two project partners, the Addis Ababa University which leads the remote sensing and GIS research component and organizes PhD and MSc degree training, and the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Council Secretariat which supports research and development activities in livestock, beekeeping and plant-based products and hydrology research components, provides access to data, links to woredas and other governmental entities, leads policy analysis and supports policy development from the project outputs through the national ministries.
The following organizations attended the workshop: Holeta Bee Research Center, Ethiopian Geospatial Information Institute, Yabello Agricultural Research Center, Borena Zone Livestock Research Development Office, Yabello Livestock Development Office, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute-Bore, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute-Adamitulu, Basin Development Authority, and National Soil Testing Center of Ethiopia.
Dr. Binyam Tesfaw Hailu from the Addis Ababa University and Dr. Birru Yitaferu from the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Council Secretariat first presented the general objectives and activities of the ESSA project to be implemented in agropastoral and pastoral areas of Munessa and Yebello in southern Ethiopia. The work plan, including the setting up of the state-of-the-art eddy covariance tower for quantifying system-scale CO2 and CH4 exchange from the rangeland system and other research equipment, was then discussed with the national and regional agricultural, livestock and water resources research organizations and administrative officers to facilitate co-design and co-management of different research and capacity building activities in the two targert areas. After the discussions, two PhD and four MSc students presented their specific research plans to the participants to increase awareness of the upcoming data collection in the field and to receive constructive feedback from different research organizations.
In the end of the succesful workshop, the associate organizations and administrative officers expressed their full support and cooperation with the ESSA project in data collection, training of pastoralist communities and maintenance of the installed research equipment in Munessa and Yebello.
Further information about the project:
Petri Pellikka, professor, phone: +358 50 415 4701, email: petri.pellikka@helsinki.fi
Earth Change Observation Laboratory
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