The Developing Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE) project supported partnerships between universities and other higher education institutions across the world. The aim of the programme was to contribute to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Supporting the Muzarabani community through successful partnerships
Zimbabwe’s Bindura University made great strides in their community through the DelPHE project. Having been involved with DelPHE since 2010, Bindura University partnered Northumbria University in London and BRAC University in Bangladesh. The three worked on a disaster management project which has changed the landscape and approach to disasters in Zimbabwe.
The Muzarabani community is hit by floods every year. Through the DelPHE project Bindura University developed strategies to mitigate and reduce the effects and risks of these floods. They helped to educate and build capacity within the community so that they are better able to respond to the perennial disaster. This has seen the community reduce the effects of floods, thereby saving property and lives.
Zimbabwe's first disaster management undergraduate programme
In 2011 Bindura University developed the Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Disaster Management which is the first and only undergraduate programme in Zimbabwe that focuses on disaster management. The University was invited by the Government to be part of a panel to review the Civil Protection Act which had been last revised in 1989.
A senior lecturer with Bindura University, Mr Mavhura, said:
“The various developments and achievements we have witnessed through DelPHE speak volumes of the need to keep abreast with international best practices learned from other parts of the world. It is unfortunate the project ended but we will continue to make use of knowledge and skills acquired.”