International Projects at NREM
NREM's staff has successfully competed for and obtained funding to conduct several strong, vital international programs within the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Our staff come to us from across the globe, bringing valuable international expertise, enriching and strengthening our global vision. Many international students come to NREM to take advantage of our unique opportunities for graduate level education and experience.
AHEED
Albania Hawaii Higher Education and Economic Development
Principal Investigator: Catherine Chan-Halbrendt
Project Website: http://www.manoa.hawaii.edu/ctahr/aheed/index.html
The University of Hawaii (UH) and the Agricultural University of Tirana (AUT) are partnering to permanently increase Albania’s agricultural higher education institution’s contribution to economic development and social prosperity by empowering the faculty and enhancing its capacity to educate, consult, and advise.
The overall project objective is to strengthen the Agricultural University in Tirana/Faculty of Economy and Agribusinesses (FEA) faculty’s capacity to provide quality graduate education and to build capacity for effective training, consulting and advising to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), extension agencies, and producer associations. This will be done through the Agricultural University in Tirana and University of Hawaii (UH) partnership with collaboration from the Ministry of Agriculture.
FUNDING: The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Higher Education for Development (HED) program.
Project Instructors - United States
- Richard L. Bowen, NREM
- Catherine Chan-Halbrendt, NREM
- Quentin W. Dombro
- Samir A. El-Swaify, NREM
- Carl Evensen, NREM
- Ekhlass A. Jarjees, NREM
- Ping Sun Leung, NREM
- Pauline Sullivan
- John F. Yanagida, NREM
Project Instructors - Albania
- Bahri Musabelliu
- Engjell Skreli
Evaluation and Validation of Vegetation Index Products from Japanese Satellite Sensor, Greenhouse Gasses Observing Satellite "IBUKI" (GOSAT)
Principal Investigator: Tomoaki Miura
Greenhouse Gasses Observing Satellite “IBUKI” (GOSAT) is a satellite project administered jointly by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE). The GOSAT project provides the world’s first and only satellite that measures greenhouse gasses repeatedly in the global scale from space. The observations made by GOSAT will be used to improve our understanding of the current status of the Earth concerning global warming.
The NREM contribution to the project is to evaluate and validate the performance of one of the GOSAT satellite products, Level 3 Global Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) product from GOSAT Cloud Aerosol Imager (CAI) in depicting seasonal evolutions and their spatial variability of vegetation vigor or photosynthetic activities in the tropical Hawaii and continental U.S. environments.
KAHEAD
Hawaii Kurdistan Partnership for Revitalizing Agricultural Higher Education and Development
Principal Investigator: Samir El-Swaify
Project Website: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/kahead/index.htm
The long-term goal of the Hawaii-Kurdistan Partnership for Revitalizing Agricultural Higher Education and Development is to energize the economy, protect the environment and strengthen food security of the region through introducing cutting-edge agricultural science and technology in Iraqi-Kurdistan.
This goal will be accomplished by:
- Engaging the administrators, faculty, students, staff, and other clients of MOA, CA/USAL, CA/USUL, CA/UD, CA/UK and ATI/FTI in gaining stat-of-the-art benefits from regional and international expertise
- Establishing a comprehensive agricultural extension program
- Invigorating agricultural research and educational programs
- Restoring and modernizing research and teaching facilities and infrastructure in partnership with the University of Hawaii and other selected cooperating institutions.
Moreover, the highly trained agricultural extension personnel, researchers and administrators generated by the project will be capable of leading Iraqi Kurdistan to achieving the stated long-term goal. While the focus on revitalizing human capital is the highest priority; it will necessarily require investments for state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure. Such investments will maximize the efficiency of personnel in carrying out their respective responsibilities. Establishing Centers of Excellence in agricultural research education and training within the MOA and University systems within the MOHE&SR network is critical for the region’s economic recovery. Established Centers of Excellence will serve as lightning rods to rebuild and strengthen the overall agricultural sector in Iraqi-Kurdistan
Project Leadership - United States of America
- Samir El-Swaify, NREM
- Ekhlass Jarjees, NREM
- Catherine Chan-Halbrendt, NREM
- Ali Fares, NREM
Project Leadership - Kurdistan
- Amjad Booya Soulaka
- Sardar Sami
- Tariq Hama Karim
Portal program for Iraq and Afghanistan Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT)
Principal Investigator: Ekhlass Jarjees
Rapid response program for addressing the information needs of Provincial Reconstruction Teams in both Iraq and Afghanistan (PRT-Portal program is a Cooperative Agreement with USDA, August 1st 2007 to June 30, 2010.
Progress and Accomplishments
Implementation is progressing quite well, as received PRT inquiries continue to mount and our responses are meeting the required schedules. We are pleased that the flow of questions now includes a steady stream from Afghanistan. We expect that the benefits of the project will increase accordingly.
New supporting activities:
- Interact regularly with the deployed Army's 25th Infantry Division (Tropic Lightning) responsible for the provinces of Tikrit, Mosul, Kirkuk and Diyala. These interactions are continuing with their replacements upon their return. Specific project proposals are provided for them to promote agribusiness investments.
- Develop a system for institutional partnerships between the University of Hawaii and Kirkuk University at the request of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, US Army.
- Work closely with the PRTs in Anbar, Muthanna and Kirkuk provinces to equip their universities with thousands of textbooks and an electronic agricultural library.
- Prepare a suggested agricultural development strategic plan and priority scheme to enhance economic growth in Karbala at the request of their PRT.
- Provide Arabic translation from English of voluminous instructional documents required for teaching Iraqi farmers and ranchers at the request of PRTs in Muthanna province (as an example).
- Contribute to two conferences on Academic and Economic Development Issues in Iraq on March 2008 and 2009 at the invitation of the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) Brochure
Agricultural Higher Education And Development (AHEAD)
Principal Investigator: Samir El-Swaify
Project Website: http://www.hawaii.edu/ahead/
Our CTAHR team secured partnership commitments from the universities of Mosul and Dohuk in northern Iraq, and was awarded a USAID AHEAD grant in 2003 to revitalize agriculture, with an allocation of $3,770,724.00. AHEAD ended in December 2005. The AHEAD project addressed two objectives:
Objective 1: "To strengthen academic programs and extension training in agricultural sciences at the UM College of Agriculture and Forestry (CAF) and the UD College of Agriculture." Our POW identified the following activities for achieving this objective, all of which were conducted on a competitive basis:
- Graduate degree training in high priority agricultural sciences and technologies,
- Graduate research fellowships for ongoing UM/CAF and UD/CA graduate students to allow completing thesis/dissertation research in well-equipped environments (GRF),
- Visiting scholarships for faculty to undertake "mini-sabbatical" leaves with counterparts at prestigious institutions (VSP),
- Professional travel to international or regional scientific meetings (PCT),
- Professional development and strategic planning workshops for faculty and academic program leaders,
- Mini-grants, provided as in-residence funds to stimulate faculty research in high priority areas (RFP), and
- Intensive language training to increase English proficiency among Iraqi faculty
- As the project progressed, we also identified an increasing need to address women development issues. Several initiatives were undertaken in this area as well.
Objective 2: "To rehabilitate the research infrastructure and agricultural research programs at both colleges." The POW identified the following activities for achieving this objective:
- Enhancing communication capabilities,
- Rehabilitating research and instructional laboratories and facilities,
- Enhancing library collections, literature availability and retrieval capabilities, and
- Reactivating the publication the Iraq Journal of Agricultural Sciences (Mesopotamia Agriculture)
AHEAD's Accomplishments and Benefits: The AHEAD project made substantive progress in meeting many vital objectives. Details are available in detailed reports.
Project Leadership - United States of America
- Samir El-Swaify, NREM
- Ekhlass Jarjees, NREM
- Zahar Zaghloul, HNFAS
- Catherine Chan-Halbrendt, NREM
- Ali Fares, NREM
- Theodore Radovich, TPSS
Project Leadership - Iraq
- Abduljabbar Salman
- Radhwan J. Badi
Timor-Leste Agricultural Rehabilitation, Economic Growth, and Sustainable Natural Resources Management Project
Principal Investigator: Goro Uehara, TPSS
Project Website: http://tpss.hawaii.edu/tl/
Timor-Leste Agroforestry Program Website
Timor Leste (East Timor) is one of the world's newest nations and one of Asia's poorest. The colonial legacy and post-independence conflicts have greatly damaged the productivity of the traditional agricultural and natural resource management systems at the same time that a growing population increased demands. From 2003 through 2006 the University of Hawaii teamed with the Timor-Leste Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries in a project designed to:
- Increase agricultural productivity and food security.
- Increase household incomes and create new employment opportunities.
- Adopt farming practices that protect and preserve the environment for future generations.
NREM contributions to the project included economic analyses of farming and fisheries systems and development of culturally-appropriate sustainable agroforestry systems.
Project Leadership
- Goro Uehara, TPSS, Principal Investigator
- Richard Bowen, NREM
- Catherine Chan-Halbrendt, NREM
- Kent Fleming, TPSS
- J. B. Friday, NREM
- Harold McArthur, UH Chancellor's Office
- Richard Ogoshi, TPSS
- Gordon Tsuji, TPSS
Project funding was from the United States Agency for International Development (US AID).