April 4, 2026 (Bahir Dar University)

Bahir Dar University (BDU) yesterday hosted the Third Stakeholders’ Platform Workshop of the LINK-351 Project, titled “Establishing Transformative Learning, Research and Community Outreach and Capacities in Agro-ecology (LINK)”.

The workshop brought together representatives from academia, government institutions, civil society organizations, the private sector, partner institutions, and farming communities. Building on the success of the first and second stakeholder workshops, the third platform focused on evaluating the overall effectiveness of the LINK project implementation so far and collecting qualitative research inputs for the PhD study affiliated with the project. It also reviewed the progress of the MSc Agroforestry curriculum revision, strengthened the stakeholder platform, and outlined a concrete action plan for the remaining project period.

In his welcoming remarks, Prof. Melkamu Alemayehu, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, emphasized that the project effectively integrates the university’s three core missions—teaching, research, and community service. He particularly commended the establishment of a “Living Lab” with community farmers, the revised MSc Agroforestry training, and the PhD opportunity created for staff development through international collaboration.

Presenting the project’s two-year performance report, Dr. Zerihun Yohannes, Project Coordinator, stated that the project which is funded by APPEAR (Austrian Partnership Programme in Higher Education and Research for Development) and jointly implemented by Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia, and the University College for Agrarian and Environmental Pedagogy (HAUP), Austria, has successfully completed two-thirds of its planned three-year duration. 

He highlighted major achievements including the establishment of an agroecological research and demonstration site, the establishment, training and support of Farmer Family Learning Groups (FFLGs), support for PhD training, significant progress in the revision of the MSc Agroforestry curriculum and capacitating the staff of Agroforestry, Natural Resource Management departments of the university through multiple capacity building trainings.

Dr. Zerihun further noted that the successful implementation of activities during the first two years has built strong confidence among the project team and beneficiaries to accomplish the remaining tasks in the final year, including strengthening agroecological practices at the demonstration site and within FFLGs, promoting agroecological principles among stakeholders, preparing contextualized policy briefs, and developing selected curriculum modules.

Following the presentations and plenary reflections on achievements and the way forward, participants were divided into three discussion groups—academia, practitioners, and project beneficiaries (community members)—through which rich qualitative data and stakeholder insights were collected to inform the ongoing PhD participatory action research.

The workshop concluded with renewed stakeholder commitment, strengthened collaboration, and a shared vision for sustaining the project’s impact on agroecological education, research, policy, and community livelihoods.