Athens, Ga.
– A competition to award grants to small-scale development initiatives has selected
a University of Georgia project as one of 22 winners of
the 2008 Global Development Marketplace on Sustainable Agriculture. UGA engineering professor William Kisaalita has
received the $200,000 award in Washington, D.C. for his project in Uganda to field-test a renewable
energy-powered milk cooler in the hands of smallholder dairy farmers.
This year’s competition was focused on agriculture as a
potential pathway out of poverty for the 75 per cent of the world’s poor who
live in rural areas. The grant will allow Kisaalita to field-test the cooler he
developed with undergraduate students in a rural community with approximately
100 farmers to reduce post-harvest losses and increase farm income. Videos of
Kisaalita and other winners discussing their projects are posted on the World
Bank Development Marketplace 2008 website at http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21915914~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html
One hundred finalists were selected from 1,800 proposals to
attend the three-day award ceremony, sponsored by the World Bank, Global
Environment Facility, International Finance Corporation, Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and GTZ. Twenty-two winners were then selected for innovative
projects linking farmers to markets, improving access to land and tenure and
addressing climate change and biodiversity.
“Interacting with the 100 finalists in Washington, D.C.,
was one of the most uplifting experiences of my life. It was a gathering of
individuals passionate about and dedicating their lives to improving lives at
the bottom of the economic pyramid through sustainable income-generating
activities,” Kisaalita said. A native of Uganda and recipient of the inaugural Scholarship
of Engagement Award from the Office of the Vice President of Public Service and
Outreach, Kisaalita has been instrumental in initiating sustainable development
projects in Morocco, Burkina Faso and China, as well. Central to his work is
providing undergraduate students with meaningful global service-learning
experiences.
“It is crucial that our university continues to find ways to
work with international institutions to cement the inroads made by our
collaborative initiatives,” said Dale Threadgill, director of the UGA Faculty
of Engineering. “We are extremely honored by this recognition from the World
Bank, as it affirms the approach that develops human scale solutions to the
global issues of poverty and sustainable agriculture.”
“The work by Professor Kisaalita represents the best of what
the land-grant system has to offer,” said J. Scott Angle, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“He and his students have reduced complicated scientific principles down the
level where practical application will help improve people’s lives.”
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