WASCAL and the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation of Burkina Faso(MESRSI), have signed a memorandum of understanding that will see the Government of Burkina Faso supporting the construction and sustainable maintenance of the WASCAL Competence Centre in Ouagadougou.
The short ceremony which took place in Bonn, Germany, was put under the high authority of the State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of High Education and Research, Dr. Schutte and the Minister of High Education and Research of Burkina Faso, Prof. Sawadogo Michel Filiga. It was attended by Mr. Wilfried Kraus from German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) surrounded by other high officials of the Division in charge of innovation at BMBF and staff from Pt-DLR and by the Board Chair, Mr. Peter Justice Dery and the Executive Director of WASCAL, Dr. Laurent Sedogo.
By the MoU, MESRSI will provide competent staff by means of secondment as well as support WASCAL in its fundraising strategies with regional and international donors. The ministry, through the University Ouaga, will also make available plots of land of about 3 and half hectares amounting to about EUROS 305,343.5 near University Ouaga as site for the construction of the building complex of the Competence Centre which will serve as the scientific and academic centre of excellence for WASCAL.
WASCAL, will in turn allow for the use of its auditorium and classes by the University Ouaga to run the international Master’s programme on Climate Change and Informatics which is already subject to an agreement between WASCAL and the university.
In his speech, the Board Chairman Mr. Peter Dery, stated on behalf of WASCAL the importance of the signing which marks a take-off of the construction of Competence Centre.
“We at WASCAL have been looking forward to this very important milestone. And so today is a very remarkable day for us, and we hope that the journey of greater relationship between the Competence Centre and the Scientific Community of Burkina Faso and particularly the University of Ouagadougou has just began”.
He also thanked BMBF for their continuous support, citing the numerous financial support in carrying out the regional vision of becoming a think-tank in climate research and capacity building in West Africa.
Prof. Sawadogo, on behalf of the government for Burkina Faso reassured his full commitment to support the Competence Centre in its future development.
The Competence Centre of WASCAL is the scientific wing of the organization, responsible for research programmes and climate service provision for improving the resilience of land use systems in the face of climate change; securing the flows of key ecosystem services like food productions; and securing and improving human livelihoods.
