President Lazarus Chakwera has been installed as the champion of Higher Education in Africa at an event held at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe. Speaking after the
Daily Monitor
Wednesday January 13 2021
Global inter-connectedness: The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that we need each other.
What happens in one part of the world has repercussions beyond the immediate borders. It also showed vividly the need for good governance and preparedness.
Countries with sound systems and capacity quickly re-engineered themselves and put in place containment measures even though not 100 per cent effective. Wageningen University and Research in Netherlands and University of Free State in South Africa, for example, quickly put in responsive measures to reposition their universities to respond to education challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Others were not in position to do so or only responded slowly.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the need for EU-African collaboration is more important than ever in the drive to strengthen and transform food systems, but care must be taken to make it an equitable partnership, experts have stressed.
Speaking during a recent event on the potential role of a sustainable Europe-Africa research and innovation (R&I) platform in addressing food systems resilience, Lindiwe Sibanda, head of mission of the food, agriculture and natural resources policy analysis network (FANRPAN), stressed that Africa and Europe are both “facing unprecedented challenges with COVID-19, which has negatively affected our food systems for which our collaborative role is very much needed”.