Malawi, South Africa and Norway mobility programme in Sustainable Community Development and Eco-Social Change

The aim of this five year project is to develop a sustainable network for cooperation in master education in community development and eco-social change studies between VID Specialized University, University of Malawi (UNIMA), and University of Western Cape (UWC) through mobility of students and staff. In addition to travel exchanges at the different universities, the project will also base its activities on different forms of ICT contact that also aims at transferring e-learning and digitalization knowledge through guest lecturing and staff mobility.

Fotografi av to par hender som holder en klode sammen.

The project is mainly established to work on the following goals:

Short term goals:

Increase student mobility (physical, virtual and blended) between VID, UNIMA and UWC at masterlevel
Increase staff mobility and collaboration between the three institutions (12 academic staff and administrative staff from e-learning)
Increase collaboration through joint supervision of master students to improve the quality of master thesis work
Develop master thesis forum for the three partners in the form of workshops and flexible learning approaches online
Perform knowledge transfer on e-learning approaches through workshops. VID and UWC e-learning teams will share their knowledge about producing learning materials and other forms of teaching usingICT to UNIMA.
Improve curricula of existing master programmes through a jointly developed course on community development and eco-social change that will be offered online to master students in the three partner institutions
Establish mutual understanding of administrative and academic requirements for mutual accreditation, and to support further cooperation in education and work placements
Students and staff on exchange will share their new experiences thereby enhancing intercultural skills that can be transferred back to home countries.
Partners will host workshops and seminars to enhance knowledge sharing for improvement of community development and eco-social change.
Student mobility to Malawi & South Africa will enhance practice experience and allow for the opportunity to conduct research projects in collaboration with civil society organizations who have partnered with UNIMA & UWC.

Long-term goals:

Establish a long-term sustainable relationship between UNIMA, VID and UWC that extends beyond the NORPART funding period, to enable ongoing collaboration on education and research.
Development of high-quality master programmes at UNIMA, VID and UWC informed by increased and professionalized student mobility for coursework and work placements.
VID and UWC will continue to support UNIMA in order to facilitate e-learning in Malawi by exploring potentials within the current ICT context and strength areas at VID and UWC.
Sharing existing academic networks of the partners to extend academic reach for improved research and education.
Equipping UNIMA master students with course work that is currently non-existent has the goal of producing ripple effects to wider society through an empowered workforce.’
Contribute towards capacity building and expertise of the involved faculties and supplying new knowledge and skills in community development and eco-social change as a field of study.
Establish a long-term relationship with civil society organizations that can provide the much-needed practical experience for VID students.
Explore long term possibilities for UNIMA staff to pursue PhD studies at VID or UWC through research stays and participation in research seminars and PhD-programs.

Main activities of the project

The mobility program project will perform the following main activities to meet the end goals of the project:

Develop a Joint online course on community development and eco-social change
Develop master thesis forum for the three partners in the form of workshops and flexible learning approaches online
Student mobility of master students, between Norway, Malawi and SA.
Staff mobility of academic and administrative staffs between Norway, Malawi and SA.
Jointly publish articles in open access peer-reviewed journals
E-learning materials developed to facilitate teaching and learning
Conference "'Sustainable community development and eco-social change: perspectives from the global north and global South" to be held in Stavanger
Publication of conference proceedings in form of anthology book.

Project meetings

Kick off meeting in Malawi

All three partners met for a joint kick off in Zomba, Malawi April 21-22, 2022.

The agenda mainly involved setting the pace for the first activities, which is the mobility of Students and the mobility of staff and the planned activities.

We met with potential students from Malawi, and had several fruitful discussions on possibilities for joint research as well as the development of the common topic in eco-social change.

We also used the registration to get to know each other and Malawi.

The meeting ended in good spirit and we look forward to the continuation.

Representatives from UWC, VID and University of Malawi on campus tour in Zomba.

Introducing the program to potential candidates from Malawi

Beautiful nature at the Zomba plateau
Norpart meeting in Stavanger

In the second week of October, FTDL Stavanger hosted the second physical meeting in the Norpart project Malawi, South Africa and Norway mobility program in Sustainable Community Development and Eco-Social Change.

The guests came from the University of Malawi and from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.Among other things, the guests were able to participate in the farewell seminar for associate professor Gerd Marie Ådna, as well as a seminar with the research group with focus on Migration and religion.

But most important of all were the working meetings on two of the project's deliverables, an online course on social sustainability and the creation of a master's thesis forum. The latt

er is prepared together with UiS and their Norpart partner university in Havana, Cuba.
Project meeting in Malawi

All three partners met again in Zomba, Malawi for a project meeting, where a workshop on digital teaching and further development of a joint course where on the agenda. We also interviewed 8 students and nominated four of them for the second cohort of students to VID August 24. Some of us also enjoyed a hike in the Zomba mointains after the final workshop.
Project Meeting in South Africa

An extended group from VID went together with representatives from UNIMA to UWC for the Project meeting at UWC in South Africa, for the annual project meeting 2024.

We carried out evaluations of the project's status, discussed options for the developed Master Theis forum, and looked at opportunities to offer subjects in Community Development and eco social change to other study programs in VID and to our partners. We also conducted interviews with current candidates from UWC to Stavanger in the autumn, and discussed possibilities for joint research and dissemination of project activities.