Mission
Jimma University was selected by the Flemish Interuniversity Council – University Development Cooperation (VLIR-UOS) as a partner university to start an Institutional University Cooperation (IUC) programme on July 1, 2007. This IUC will run from 2007 to 2017 under the coordination of Ghent University. The objective of such an IUC is institutional capacity building, enabling the university to better fulfil its role in society in terms of education and applied research. The IUC with Jimma University will contribute substantially to human capacity building, which is currently strongly needed given the vast expansion of Jimma University in terms of number of students and number of study programmes.
The multidisciplinary research programme is focussed on the impact of Gilgel Gibe dam on the region. Needless to say that this vast dam brings important advantages in terms of providing electricity (184 Mwatt), but it has also led to serious disadvantages for the communities that are living in this region. Many people were displaced from their homes as their land was flooded. The research topics that are addressed in the different projects are related to the negative influences of the dam on human and animal health, agronomy, forestry and the environment in a broad sense. On the other hand, the project aims to extend the operational life of the hydro-electric dam by prevention of soil erosion. Because of erosion, tons of fertile topsoil are lost to the rivers and are carried to the dam which leads to silt formation. In the following pages the different research projects related to this multidisciplinary research topic are presented. All research projects create PhD and MSc opportunities, based on the research that will be undertaken.
The IUC-JU programme will also develop joint research projects and partnerships with the IUC programme at Mekele University (IUC-MU). The IUC-JU team acknowledges VLIR-UOS and DGDC (Directorate General for Belgian Development Cooperation) for the financial, technical and financial support.