Robbie Kingdon in Malawi

(Continued from here.)

In a 1993 referendum, the people of Malawi ended thirty years of government under a single-party post-colonial regime in favour of a vibrant multi-party democracy. A former British colony, the official language of Malawi is English while Chichewa is the predominant national language.

UNB students Erin Riley (LL. B. III) and Robert Kingdon (M.Sc in Geodesy and Geomatics) along with Professor John McEvoy (Law) travelled to Malawi in June 2007 to finalize a cooperation and exchange agreement between UNB and Mzuzu University in northern Malawi. For the students, the trip also commenced a twelve week internship experience under the auspices of the UNB Centre for Property Studies through the efforts of Dr. Ian Methven, Director and Veronica McGinn, Project Manager. The internships are funded by the Government of Canada through a CIDA program, Students for Development, administered by the AUCC and at UNB through the International Relations Office with Professor Ted Robak, Director, and Silke Klenk, Coordinator.

Established on the site of a former teachers' college in the northern city of Mzuzu, a four hours drive from Lilongwe, the capital, Mzuzu University is a new institution which saw its first intake of students in 1999. Since then it has steadily expanded its academic programs and now hosts approximately 2000 students with the goal of a student population of 3500 by 2010. The Department of Land Management in the Faculty of Environmental Sciences commenced its program in 2006-07 with an intake of 13 students in the first semester and 25 in the second. According to its chair, Mavuto Tembo, the Department of four full-time faculty members and six part-time lecturers aims to train students as true physical planners with strong survey skills as well as competence in land management and land administration and a future focus on environmental management systems. The importance of this program is evidenced by the real need for qualified surveyors in a country which saw their number reduced at one point to ten due, in part, to the scourge of HIV/AIDS in the country and region.

On Monday 12 June, Professor McEvoy and the two UNB students met with Professor Peter Mwanza, Vice Chancellor of Mzuzu University to finalize the cooperation agreements between the two universities by collecting Professor Mwanza's signature on the student exchange agreement. During this meeting, Professor Mwanza spoke of his vision for the University and of the challenges it faces to implement that vision which includes a new law faculty in three to five years.

Erin Riley is working on a housing and governance project with Department of Land Management faculty member Lucky Kabanga. After analyzing the legal and social frameworks, Erin will meet with various government officials and non-governmental agencies involved in housing issues to develop a working document on goals and policies relating to housing and the poor. She will then visit communities with Mr. Kabanga to meet with housing project residents and administrators to complete her gap analysis with the goal of identifying best practices applicable not only to land management but to ensuring empowerment of the voices of poor women in relation to housing issues. Her report, comparing challenges in Mzuzu with the situations in Lilongwe and Blantyre (the other two cities of Malawi) is to be presented as a departmental seminar and to local municipal officials.

Robert Kingdon is to focus on geodesy and geomatics matters in his work with the Department of Land Management with a specific focus on curriculum development. After reviewing land surveying policies, legislation and practices, Robert is to meet with various stakeholders including the Surveyors' Institute of Malawi, individual rural and urban surveyors, local communities and officials from all levels of government. He is assisting with the teaching of current courses and is to make recommendations for the upgrading of course content and the establishment of new courses. In these efforts, Robert is morally and materially supported by the UNB Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering through its chair, Associate Professor Peter Dare and others including Professor Sue Nichols and Associate Professor Marcelo Santos.

One highlight of the first two weeks came on Monday, 18 June when the UNB team combined with the Mzuzu Department of Land Management faculty to meet with D.O.C. Gondwe, the Surveyor General of Malawi, on the occasion of his first visit to the University. This meeting proved productive as the Surveyor General agreed to the creation of a GPS survey observation point on the grounds of the University; to cooperate with the Department in developing its program and by sharing surveying equipment; to work with the Department to establish a modern surveying standard for Malawi to replace the dated national system which at present results in an error of approximately 300 metres in measurements taken in northern Malawi; and to promote training of regional staff in the offices of the Surveyor General through short upgrading courses to be offered by the Department. Mr. Gondwe, a graduate of East London University in England, praised UNB for its geodesy and geomatics program which he described as having an excellent reputation for competence and quality. He expressed the wish for future cooperative endeavours which will prove beneficial to the industry and to the university ("practice and theory").

 

The UNB team brought with them four boxes of books and related materials for the use of the Department of Land Management and its students. Resources being in short supply, Robert Kingdon spent each afternoon after his arrival giving instruction to groups of students on the T2 survey instrument - which, because of the lack of an available tripod, the students used lying on the ground outside the Department offices.

A village close to Mzuzu University.

Some of Robbie and Erin's new friends.