First batch of PhD Students graduated at Climate Change Economics School in Dakar
April 17, 2015. Six PhD students from six different West African countries celebrated their graduation in Dakar, Senegal. The official ceremony was attended by high-ranking Senegalese officials and the German Ambassador and broadcast on national tv. The students are part of the WASCAL Graduate Research Program in Climate Change Economics at the University Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (<link http: www.ucad.sn external-link-new-window external link in new>UCAD) Dakar, Senegal.
The following six students defended their theses successfully in front of an academic committee on April 13-15, 2015:
Pilo Mikeminafrom Togo. His doctoral thesis was about Collective action and farmers' private climate change adaptation strategies in the Savanna region in Togo.
Elhadji Iro Illa from Niger wrote his thesis on Integrated assessment of vulnerability of rural households to climate stress across regional levels in Niger.
Yameogo Bindayaboa Thomas from Burkina Faso did his doctoral research on Social capital and farmers’ adaptations strategies to climate change in Burkina Faso.
John Appah from Ghana wrote hisdoctoral thesis about Psycho-socioeconomic analysis of rural farm communities’ risk perception and adaptive behavioural responses to climate change and variability in the Atankwidi River Basin of Northern Ghana.
Boris Lokonon from Benin wrote his thesis about Vulnérabilité des agriculteurs et des communautés, résilience aux chocs climatiques et stratégies d’adaptation dans le Bassin du Niger au Bénin.
Raymond Jatta from The Gambia graduated about Climate risk management strategies for rural communities in The Gambia and Senegal. Assessing the usefulness of cereal banking.
The ceremony in Dakar on April 17 was attended by the following officials:
- Professor Ahmadou Aly Mbaye, Director of the WASCAL-UCAD program;
- Dr. Mamadou Ouattara, Director of the PhD WASCAL program;
- Dr. Laurent Sedogo, WASCAL Executive Director and Prof. Moudibo Aidara, Head of Administration of WASCAL;
- Dr. Tobias Wünscher, Senior Researcher at ZEF and lecturerer at WASCAL-UCAD, representing ZEF-Director Professor von Braun;
- Bernhard Kampmann, Ambassador of Germany in Senegal;
- Abdoulaye Balde, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Senegal.
The ceremony was broadcast on RTS1 (Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise) on April 22, 2015. You can watch the tv-report below.
Background on the WASCAL graduate programs:
WASCAL runs six doctoral research programs in five West African countries (Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire) and four master's research programs in four West African countries (Togo, Nigeria, Niger and The Gambia). For a short overview read the <link https: icg4wascal.icg.kfa-juelich.de downloads wascal_gsp_flyer_2013_en.pdf external-link-new-window external link in new>WASCAL Graduate Studies Program flyer.
Ninety-eight doctoral and 60 master students have been enrolled in the complete WASCAL program to date (see <link https: icg4wascal.icg.kfa-juelich.de project-overview graduate-schools the-graduate-studies-program external-link-new-window external link in new>www.wascal.org). Twenty of the master students and 16 of the doctoral students (including the six in Senegal) have completed their studies.
The <link http: www.wascal.org external-link-new-window external link in new>WASCAL research and capacity building program is financed by the <link http: www.bmbf.de external-link-new-window external link in new>German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF).
