The three year program which secured a grant of 200,000 USD from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is said to help Bahir Dar University create a regional institute of excellence on disaster risk management and sustainable development with support from the University of Arizona.

Speaking at the occasion USAID Mission Director, Glenn Anders said “USAID strongly believes that institutionalizing disaster risk management skills and capacity will, in the end, save millions of Ethiopian lives,”

Anders said “we pledge to continue to support programs like this one … to promote a culture of preparedness and community planning to minimize the impact of disasters on Ethiopians”.

The partnership between the universities will provide graduate training for faculty of Bahir Dar University through a combination of face-to face interaction with University of Arizona counterpart faculty as well as distance-learning through a web-based portal.

The partners will develop a graduate curriculum and establish a distance-learning platform that is complemented by faculty exchange between the two universities.

The University of Arizona will provide major capacity-building support for the newly established Department of Disaster Risk Management and sustainable Development At Bahir Dar University.

The project is said to help develop the ability of Bahir Dar University to offer a range of short-courses for community leaders and for disaster management specialists from government and NGOs.

The university of Arizona staff is to travel to Bahir Dar later this week for a needs assessment and collaborative talks.

R: 1:00-1:46

E--3:20-3:40

---END---

---END---