On April 25, 2019, the Japanese and Ethiopian researcher team held the MNGD project kickoff workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In Ethiopia, numerous rural communities remain inaccessible because of poorly maintained roads. Furthermore, their access to markets, healthcare, and education are highly constrained. Leveraging the development of soil-stabilizing additives from local plants, the project aims to develop a rural road construction and maintenance model to address problems attributable to expansive soils (i.e., black cotton soil). Funded by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the international joint research team was formed by Japanese researchers from Kyoto University, University of Miyazaki, Ehime University, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Ethiopian researchers and practitioners from Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Jinka University, and Ethiopian Roads Authority. The project started in April 2019 and continues for the next 5 years.
The kickoff workshop was organized by Prof. Makoto Kimura (Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University) and Prof. Masayoshi Shigeta (Director of the Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University). Ethiopian researchers and other stakeholders joined the workshop.
At the beginning of the workshop, Prof. Nurelegne Tefera (President, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University) and Prof. Gebre Yntiso Deko (President, Jinka University) disclosed their hopes about research capacity strengthening and human capital development through the international joint research, as both universities are new research institutes established late 2010.
Prof. Makoto Kimura explained that the abbreviated project name MNGD came from the Amharic word mengedi (literally “road”), and he remarked that the international joint research should open new roads for bilateral academic collaboration.
H.E. Ambassador Daisuke Matsunaga stated his expectation that the research outputs should contribute to Ethiopian society.
