Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) Selected To Host Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology was selected by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program (CADFP) to host an African Diaspora scholar from the United States to work with on a collaborative project on capacity building to enhance disability inclusion and support for students with disabilities. Prof. Charles Makori Omoke will lead the Project, together with Prof. Beatrice Atieno Adera from West Chester University of Pennslyvania, West Chester, USA.
Disability inclusion is including individuals with disabilities in everyday activities alongside peers without disabilities. In the university setting, this requires that adequate policies and practices are in effect enabling students with disabilities to participate with non-disabled peers in the different activities. Disability inclusion at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology [JOOUST] requires that policies and practices are designed to eliminate the different barriers (physical, communication, and attitudinal) that hinder students with disabilities from full participation in the full educational and social experiences. JOOUST recently established the Disability Support Services Unit (DSSU) whose main responsibility is to create an inclusive university environment where students with disabilities can participate in all aspects of the university experience. We all face hardships and difficulties in life at one time or another, however, people with disabilities frequently face barriers that greatly impact different aspects of their everyday life. Examples of these barriers in everyday life that limit access and/or full functioning of individuals with disabilities include: inaccessibility of physical environments; lack of relevant assistive technology; negative stereotypes and poor attitudes towards disability; and, services, systems and/or policies that are either nonexistent or that hinder involvement of persons with a disability.
The CADFP fellow will collaborate with the DSSU to complete: a Needs assessment; Co-design professional development workshops/webinar addressing key findings from the need’s assessment; foster training opportunities, collaborative research, and resource sharing between Diaspora fellow, colleagues from her home institution and the host institution; and facilitate development of standard operational procedures to guide disability support services at JOOUST. Through this collaborative research and curriculum development, all participants will develop understanding of characteristics of different disabilities served in their college classrooms and best practices for disability inclusion. The mentoring activities will serve to inspire and motivate junior faculty and graduate students [Masters/Ph.D] to engage in research addressing disability inclusion related topics with a goal on expanding the body of knowledge in the field.
The JOOUST project is one of 43 projects that will pair African Diaspora scholars with higher education institutions and collaborators in Africa to work together on curriculum co-development, collaborative research, graduate training and mentoring activities in the coming months.
The CADFP, now in its eleventh year develops long-term, mutually-beneficial collaborations between universities in Africa and the United States and Canada. It is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in collaboration with the Association of African Universities (AAU). Nearly 750 African Diaspora Fellowships have now been awarded for scholars to travel to Africa since the program’s inception in 2013.
Fellowships match host universities with African-born scholars and cover the expenses for project visits of between 14 and 90 days, including transportation, a daily stipend, and the cost of obtaining visas and health insurance.
Please direct all questions related to the application process to AfricanDiaspora@iie.org.
