Twenty US universities and 20 institutions in 15 African countries have won Africa-US Higher Education Initiative Planning Grants of US$50,000 each for capacity-building partnerships. There were nearly 300 applications for the grants that pair US and African higher education institutions and are supported by USAID and the US-based Higher Education for Development.

The African countries with one or more university grant winners are Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The 20 partnerships, each involving a sub-Saharan African university and a US university or college, will use the grants to develop plans to tackle regional and national economic development priorities in areas such as engineering, health, agriculture, the environment and natural resources, science and technology, education, business, management and economics.

The Africa-US Higher Education Initiative - a collaboration between various groups in the US led by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities - was proposed during the Higher Education Summit for Global Development and taken further at a regional summit in Rwanda last year.

USAID is funding the grants, and the competition was managed by HED, an organisation founded by six major US higher education associations to engage US colleges and universities in international development.

"It is our belief that if funding is found to implement these plans, we will see tangible, measurable and sustainable impact made in these African countries," said Dr Tully Cornick, Executive Director of HED, when the winners were announced in April.

Last week, Kenya's Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister, Dr Sally Kosgei, signed HED grants for two institutions - Moi University and the University of Nairobi - and urged them to use the funds prudently to implement the planned activities.

Moi University will collaborate with George Washington University in advancing the rigour and relevance of public health education. The partnership targets collaboration in public health through programmes in community-based learning and international shared learning.

Vice-chancellor of Moi University, Professor Richard K Mibey, said his institution would use the grant to develop a curriculum for public health that was relevant and addressed problems such as cholera. There would be a focus on training postgraduate students, and conducting joint research with US universities, he added.

The University of Nairobi will partner Colorado State University to develop a Regional Dry lands Centre based at the Nairobi institution. The Centre will not only link the two partners but also universities elsewhere in Kenya and in Malawi and Tanzania, the International Livestock Research Institute, local community groups and African scientists in the diaspora.

US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger said the grants reflected the strong relationship between the two countries: "Educational exchanges are an important element of this relationship. Kenyans and Americans share a common value about the importance of education. At the moment there are about 8,000 Kenyans studying in the US," he said.

*To see the list of grant-winning institutions click here

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