The 9th African Centres of Excellence (ACE) project workshop was held at the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from May 8-9, 2018.
Leading up to the workshop, the World Bank Project Team and the African Association of Universities (AAU) organised a day-long exhibition, dubbed the Higher Education Fair, on May 7, 2018 at 2iE, where participating ACEs showcased scientific equipment, laboratory chemicals, samples of innovative processed foods, and posters.
The WACCBIP team at the ACE higher education fair
WACCBIP PhD student explaining his research project to Mr. Andreas Blom of the World Bank
The workshop participants included representatives from the World Bank, Association of African Universities (AAU), and the 22 ACEs in West and Central Africa. The delegation from the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) included Prof. Gordon Awandare (Centre Leader), Prof. Kwadwo Koram (Deputy Centre Leader), Dr. Mamadou Cisse (Regional Partners representative), Mr. Collins Amofah (Financial Manager), Ms. Sika Menka (M & E focal person) and Mr. Nicholas Amoako (PhD Student).
Welcome addresses were delivered by the Director General of 2iE, Professor Mady Koanda, the Secretary General of the Association of African Universities, Prof. Etienne Ehile, and the World Bank Co-Task Team Leader, Mrs. Himdat Bayusuf. Opening addresses were delivered by the ECOWAS Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Leopoldo Amado, a representative of the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Burkina Faso, and a representative of the World Bank Country Manager for Burkina Faso.
Progress reports on the status of the ACE projects including aggregate M&E results, disbursement, fund utilization and DLR achievement were presented by the AAU and World Bank representatives. During break-out sessions, Centres extensively discussed the fundamental issue of sustainability after the ACE projects. ACE operations helpdesks on M&E verification and DLI 2.8 and safeguards were also held.
On the last day of the workshop, Dr. Ekua Bentil from the World Bank took the teams through benchmarking, graduate tracer studies, and the modalities for ACE for Development Impact. The workshop wrapped up with an evaluation survey.
The tenth ACE project workshop will take place in February 2019 in Djibouti together with the launch for ACE for Development Impact.
The University of Ghana team (WACCBIP and WACCI) at the workshop
The WACCBIP team at the 9th ACE workshop
