The primary objective of the project is to develop a CSA department at Patuakhali Science and Technology University for strengthening CSA education and research and building resilience in agriculture of coastal Bangladesh. As part of this centre a Master Programme will be developed. The department aspires to offer MSc and PhD degrees together with CSA research and training.
The training of staff of the Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU) faculty of agricultural will focus on three different activities: Two PhD students will be supported by the project, Post-doctoral training for the PSTU senior staff and short courses in Bangladesh for the more Junior staff.
Within this project a gender strategie is developed. The gender policy document is
prepared based on the gender need assessment and staff’s views regarding implementation
strategies. A local consultant has identified the gender needs and policy document preparation. The gender strategy has the aim to increase and improve the involvement of Women in the CSA institute specifically and more in General within the Faculty of Agriculture at Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU).
To support management of the needs assessment and purchase of investments, the project will
employ a local consultant for assessing the investment needs of the proposed CSA institute at Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU). These needs may be in line with room, furniture, laboratory, books on gender and CSA, computers, software, access to journals and low-cost vehicle for field visit. The project team will also visit different CSA related laboratories and experts’ offices at national levels to get insight on laboratory needs and consultant available in this area. The major expectation in this part is refurbishing class rooms, laboratory rooms, office rooms and developing CSA laboratory
especially in areas of salinity and meteorological research under the institute.
To realize the projects’ aim to conduct focussed and problem-oriented research on climate-smart agriculture in Bangladesh, it provides funding for collaborative research projects. The content of the collaborative research will have to fall within a common research agenda (set by main partners of the RECSA project) and will be connected to other research executed within the project, by post-docs and PhD candidates. The research agenda will consist of multiple research lines and in general will be aimed to fill identified knowledge gaps.
Bangladesh is a country facing substantial shortage of skilled professionals to address the challenge of feeding 192 million people by 2050 while being one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change including adverse changes in weather patterns, salinity intrusion due to sea level rise and increasing frequency of extreme events like flood, cyclone and drought. The skill shortage act as a binding constraint to climate resilient growth of agricultural sector in the country.
The goal is to link the project activities to the private and public sector and reach
out to farmers. The activities and goals will be linked to the other work packages in the form of
internships, case studies, training and collaborative research.
