KU establishes agreement with Ghanaian university

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has signed a memorandum of understanding for cultural, educational and scientific cooperation with a Ghanaian university, the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale Campus. 

Representing KU, Stephen Fawcett, director of the Work Group for Community Health and Development, an affiliated center of KU’s Life Span Institute, and KU’s World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, said that the agreement reflects a shared interest in preparing students and community members to take action to address health and development issues in local communities.

UDS has been adapting the training curriculum of the Work Group’s Community Tool Box for an African context as part of a master’s degree program in community health and development. With the MOA, KU and UDS will begin student and faculty exchange and training programs for study and research as well.

Fawcett was installed as development chief of the Binduri District in the upper northeast area of Ghana. The ceremony in Atuba Market Square on June 4 was witnessed by more than 1,000 people. The Binduri District is a very impoverished area where more than 70 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day, Fawcett said.

“We are honored to be working with our partners at UDS,” said Fawcett. “Together, we can learn with Ghanaian communities about how best to build capacity in that region.”

The MOA was signed for KU by Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco, associate vice provost for International Programs, and for UDS by Vice Chancellor Haruna Yakubu.