Activities

An E-LEARNING PLATFORM has been developed after holding a FIRST ON-LINE WORKSHOP (June 2021) aiming at defining the contents of 3 MAIN SUBJECTS. 18 EU lecturers prepared and uploaded in the Moodle platform (February 2022) 89 lectures, divided in 4 to 5 Modules within 3 distinct courses.
* Course 1: Introduction to ecological monitoring and conservation biology in the tropics
* Course 2: Quantitative methods for ecological monitoring in the tropics
* Course 3: Methods in taxonomy and biodiversity inventorying in the tropics.

FORESEEN ACTIONS:
NEW COURSES ACCREDITATION, already and successfully achieved by one HEI, has started in all HEIs as envisaged by the guidelines of the two regulatory national authorities: NACTEVET and TCU.
The teaching will also be enabled by the DOTATION OF A SET OF PCs to ensure a minimum standard of IT infrastructure is in place.

Based on specific needs assessment by each HEIs, workshops and trainings have been organized bringing together experts from EU partners and lecturers from Tanzanian HEIs:
– 3 WORKSHOPS (June 2021) to define contents to feed the e-learning courses and enable EU lecturers to start preparing them Participants in UDSM (University of Dar Es Salaam) were 32 of which 17 European (8 women and 9 men) and 16 Tanzanians (7 women and 9 men); in SUA (Sokoine University of Agriculture) were 27 of which 15 European (6 women and 9 men) and 12 Tanzanians (5 women and 7 men); in MWEKA (College of African Wildlife Management Mweka) were 29 of which 13 European (5 women and 8 men) and 16 Tanzanians (3 women and 13 men).
–3 SHORT‐TERM JOINT STAFF TRAINING EVENTS (March 2022), acted to promoting the e-learning platform, giving detailed instructions to lecturers and scientific HEI staff to navigate the contents of the three subjects uploaded.

FORESEEN ACTIONS:
More FACE TO FACE TRAININGS on specific modules are foreseen to ensuring smooth adoption of the e-learning material.

FORESEEN ACTIONS:
Produce a TOOLKIT as a printed document to assist training of trainers, students and professionals, as this tool was identified as a lacking document in the current literature. The aim of this task is to produce a document that will elaborate on the relevant topics and will support both trainers and students applying biodiversity assessment and monitoring tools. The toolkit will bridge theory with real-world case studies from Tanzania. UNIFI with the other EU partners will coordinate the production of the toolkit, to which partner country HEIs will be invited to contribute. MUSE will then deal with production, printing and dissemination.

Based on the wide experience of EU Partners in field training, and aiming at facilitating the participation and co-teaching by Tanzania’s HEIs lecturers and technicians, 3 FIELD-BASED HE TRAININGS of 2-weeks each have been organized by EU lectures for students of each Tanzanian HEI (September and October 2022).
The Field-based HE training saw 89 Tanzanian students, moving from their respective HEI (UDSM: 29; SUA: 30; MWEKA: 30), to the 2 Tanzanian research stations: Nkweseko Scientific Station at Moshi and Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Center at Mang’ula. Students were selected among Bachelor (MWEKA) and Master (UDSM, SUA) students in agreement with the respective degrees for which the curricula are going to be upgraded. Selection was based on order of registration to the call, with a particular attention to gender status that has promoted women’s participation.
Moreover, a total of 28 Tanzanian lecturers and technicians (UDSM: 11; SUA: 6; MWEKA: 11) also participated to the field training. HEIs’ staff units were predominantly selected due to their field of expertise.
* The topics covered at the Nkweseko Scientific Station mainly focused on:
-Vegetation and climate measurements & Field map
-Biodiversity data publishing
-Entomology & Savanna habitat
-Plant taxonomy & Birds’ identification
* At UEMC, the activities focused on:
-Introduction and primate assessment methods
-Line transects and camera trapping methods
-Field methods in herpetology and entomology
-Bioacoustics and Citizen Science & Introduction to Afrotropical arthropods
-Identifying and sampling tropical arthropods & Identifications and species richness
A dedicated training on remote sensing, needing to be delivered in class, was also given in three successive days during July and August (2022) in each of the three HEIs by an expert from UBT.

FORESEEN ACTIONS:
A 2-days SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM on biodiversity and conservation will be carried out in Moshi, Kilimanjaro, and organized by UBT in close coordination with all Partners. The aims of the event, anticipated by a semi permanent exhibit which has already been drafted, will be to share scientific information on the relevant topics addressed by the CONTAN Project. It will include presentation of the toolkit and will serve to boost project visibility. The event will also be the occasion to disseminate the relevant results achieved during the project to local stakeholders and the local scientific community, as well as an occasion for public dissemination.Representatives from other Tanzanian and neighbouring countries HEIs, with which the project partners have ongoing collaborations, will also be invited to attend the Symposium in order to gauge their interest in replicating the project results.

Improved higher education offer of Tanzania’s HEIs in biodiversity science through the mainstreaming in their B.Sc. and M.Sc. curricula of state-of-the-art scientific knowledge for biodiversity assessment and monitoring

Updated knowledge, skills, reference material, and infrastructure of lecturers of Tanzania’s HEIs to deliver effective and field-based biodiversity monitoring training; updated practices and approaches to implement biodiversity monitoring aligned across HEIs’ staff and professionals from PAs and other relevant agencies

Improved capacities of students to apply on the ground the biodiversity knowledge and approaches acquired through R1, and strengthened the capacities of professionals to implement biodiversity monitoring according to national and international targets