Introduction

VLIR-UOS (Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad – Universitaire Ontwikkelingssamenwerking), stands for Flemish Interuniversity Council, financed by the Belgian Government. IUC or Institutional University Cooperation is a VLIR UOS program that develops partnerships between universities in Flanders (Belgium) and universities in developing countries. The VLIR-IUC Mountains of the Moon University Partner Program is a 12-year program whose first phase of 6 years started in 2013 and ended in 2018 and in 2019, the program entered its second phase of operation that will run up to 2022. MMU principal partner for this VLIR-IUC Programme is the Ghent University (UGENT). Phase 2 of the IUC Programme with MMU is designed in such a way that it maintains themes general themes developed in phase 1

Programme Overview

General objective

To improve the standards of living of the agricultural community in the Rwenzori Region through strengthening, consolidating and internationalizing the capacity of Mountains of the Moon University to integrate innovative research, quality teaching and community engagement.

Projects in the Program

The program consists of two projects: Project 1: Action Research and Community Engagement for Development Project 2: Transversal institutional strengthening.

Project Objectives: Project 1:

The general objective for this project is to improve the standard of living of farmers in the Rwenzori region. Academic Objective MMU is able to develop and deliver innovative solutions in dairy nutrition, aquaculture, and water and soil fertility management to promote sustainable agriculture in the Rwenzori region. Development objective Farmers in the Rwenzori region are able to successfully improve their farming practices (i.e. dairy nutrition, dairy & aquaculture water management, soil fertility management) for increased productivity and income

Project 2:

The general objective for project 2 is that the capacity of MMU is enhanced to deliver quality services to the community. Academic objective Ensuring that MMU staff are more competent to effectively perform institutional roles of teaching, research and community outreach. Development Objective: The project aims at improved university-community engagement, particularly to promote adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.

Who is who at Programme Level? At MMU:

Programme Coordinator [UPC]: Dr. Edmond Kagambe Programme Manager [PM]: Ms. Christine Kobugabe Programme Accountant [PA]: Mr. Akankwatsa Wycliffe

At UGent:

Flemish Programme Coordinator [FPC]: Prof Dr Xavier Gellynck Flemish Deputy Programme Coordinator [DPC]: Wesana Joshua ICOS: Ms. Annick Verheylezoon

Who is who at Project level?

Project	Flemish Project Leader	Uganda Project Leader
Project 1:	Prof. Dr. Bart Van der Bruggen, KULeuven	Dr. Ronald Kabbiri
Project 2:	Prof. Dr. Chang Zhu, VUB, Brussel	Dr.  Kintu Mugenyi Justice.