Advancing Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) Education Across Africa

15 – 17 July 2026. Entebbe. The Open-Source NUS Curriculum – Developing Course Assets for Asynchronous Online Courses Workshop is a three-day curriculum development workshop jointly organized by RUFORUM, GFAiR, and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. The workshop aims to transform the competency-based curriculum on Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) into a complete set of high-quality, open-source digital learning resources that can be delivered asynchronously by universities across Africa. Participants work collaboratively to develop standardized course assets, including course overviews, lesson notes, multimedia resources, readings, assignments, knowledge checks, and documentation of remaining curriculum gaps.

The workshop follows a structured Curriculum Asset Completion Process (CACP) built around seven registers that guide participants from curriculum mapping to final handover. Emphasis is placed on ensuring that the curriculum aligns with labour market needs, competency-based education principles, and quality standards for online learning. 

By the end of the workshop, participating universities are expected to have completed and peer-reviewed the core digital assets required to build an open-access Bachelor's and Master's curriculum on Neglected and Underutilized Species, supporting wider adoption of NUS education across the RUFORUM network and beyond.

• Dr. Florence Nakayiwa Opening remarks; closing remarks; overall workshop leadership.
• Dr. Mary Kulabako Participant introductions and team assignments.
• Dr. Peter Kigwilu Workshop flow, roles and expectations; Curriculum Asset Completion Process (CACP); online lesson note development; daily debriefs; curriculum finalization; formal handover of curriculum assets.
• Emmanuel Okalany Aligning the NUS curriculum with labour market needs and employability.
• Dr. Bernadette Kiarie Developing quality course assets for asynchronous learning; competency-based online pedagogy; assessment design; workshop coordination; post-workshop action planning.
• Block Leads with Subject Matter Expert (SME) Teams - Review of course mapping, competencies and learning outcomes; validation of modules; development of course assets.
• Block Teams and Instructional Designers (IDs) - Preparation of course overviews, reading lists, multimedia resources, lesson notes, assignments and knowledge checks.
• Lead SMEs- Team presentations showcasing completed curriculum assets, identifying remaining gaps, and signing off curriculum packages.

Upcoming:

 Africa launch webinar and consolidation of results for global synthesis and reporting (October)

Obituary

Remembering the late Dr Cris Muyunda (CEO, Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa - ACTESA):  Dr Muyunda’s interests stretched beyond conventional value chains. He championed the role of wild and indigenous foods — such as tamarind — in African food security, arguing that trees and forests are vital not only as food sources but for the ecosystem services they provide to agriculture locally and globally.