Perspectives on University-Community Engagement Opportunities to Address Climate Change Issues in African Context. A Case of Ndejje University, Uganda

Abstract

Climate change is exacerbating extreme weather across the globe. While university-community engagement has emerged as a top priority at universities to collaborate and facilitate the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources on climate change action, in some African setups, such practices are not commonly followed and not prioritized but, rather, done as an add-on or afterthought. The main objective on this study was to explore views and perspectives of community leaders, university staff and students regarding the opportunities that universities can engage communities to address issues of climate change (knowledge, mitigation and adaptation practices), particularly in an African context. A qualitative case study design was adopted to generate data from 22 purposively selected community leaders, university staff and students of climate change related programmes at Ndejje University. Data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with the university staff and community leaders and focus group discussion with students. Data was analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis with the help of MAXQDA software. Ubuntu theory guided this study. The findings of the study revealed numerous prospects for university climate action. These include: institutionalization of community engagement programs towards climate change mitigation and adaptation; collaborative approach to planning and implementation of engagement programmes and; adopting a community engagement Baraza as an alleyway for sensitization. Others were: incorporation of climate change indigenous knowledge in mainstream academic; extensive capacity building and engagement programmes as well as community empowerment and income diversification strategies. Findings revealed that University-Community engagement towards climate change action remains marginally institutionalized at the case university. It was clear from study participants that university community engagement offers African universities contextualised opportunities that are necessary and can accelerate climate action. The findings may thus be handy in enhancing the integration of climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning especially in African higher institutions of learning.