wfn.org | UMNS Story #216 -- Title: Africa University to launch disaster ma na

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Africa University to launch disaster management project

April 8, 1998  Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
(10-21-31-71B){216}

By Andra Stevens*

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) -- United Methodist-related Africa University
has partnered with two worldwide church relief organizations to
establish the first training program in emergency response and
management in Africa.

The initiative, to be launched at the university in June, is in response
to the human and natural disasters that have plagued the continent.
Established in cooperation with the United Methodist Committee on Relief
(UMCOR), and the Geneva-based ecumenical organization Action by Churches
Together (ACT), the  program will bring together people from throughout
Africa.

"The importance of this disaster management project lies in the fact
that it is designed to address an urgent, practical need on the Africa
continent," said university President Rukudzo Murapa. "Many countries in
Africa have witnessed extreme disasters - both natural and, in some
cases, man-made. The program is being launched in response to these
situations, which have caused much misery."

The project is generating "tremendous" enthusiasm and excitement on the
university campus, and in churches and church agencies all over Africa,
said Fanuel Tagwira, a soil sciences expert in the Faculty of
Agriculture and Natural Resources.  "I can't think of anything that
Africa University can do for the continent that would supersede this
program."

Tagwira, who will serve as the program's liaison at Africa University,
described the initiative as "a window to the society."

Already, churches and church agencies from more than 18 African
countries want to have people trained in the program. Those countries
include Uganda, Mozambique, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Mauritania,
South Africa, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Zimbabwe. The first
session will be June 22-July 31 at the university's campus in Mutare.
One more session will be held this year, and another will follow in
1999.

"Africa University welcomes this program not simply because of its
relevance to an urgent need, but also because it enables the university
as an Africa-wide international institution to advance its mission by
providing training on a sub-regional basis where the real needs are,"
Murapa said. "The people who will be trained under the
Training-of-Trainers component of the program will, in the future,
(create) . . . programs for disaster management in their respective
countries."

Increasing Africa's ability to prepare for and manage emergencies is
crucial for UMCOR/ACT, said Lloyd Rollins, an executive in UMCOR's
Office of Emergency Services. "This program is a wide open door to any
institution looking for a gateway into the local community. . . .
UMCOR/ACT want the gateway to be filled by Africans, for Africans to
determine what the program needs to be and how it will be implemented
rather than the usual -- with it being imposed by outsiders who supply
the funding." 

"We could never conceive and implement this program in the same light
and with the same insight as African people," Rollins said. "UMCOR and
ACT's intent is to partner with Africa University in the establishment
of the project and have it ultimately belong to the institution in
total."

Africa University will contribute the facilities and develop the
curriculum for the program. UMCOR and ACT will finance the initiative.

The school, opened in 1992, is the first fully accredited private
institution of higher learning in Zimbabwe. The only United
Methodist-related, degree-granting university on the continent, it seeks
to serve the educational and developmental needs of all of Africa and
nurture new leaders in a Christian environment.

UMCOR was born out of the United Methodist Church's concern for refugees
in the 1940s. It works with the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, churches, and other
relief, rehabilitation and development agencies.

ACT grew out of a union between the World Council of Churches and the
Lutheran World Federation. It comprises the council's member
denominations and agencies, and focuses on  humanitarian outreach work.

# # #

*Stevens is Africa University's director of information.

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