Community Engagement Directirate

MESSAGE FROM COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DIRECTORATE

The Community Engagement Directorate Office (CEDO) is one of the pillar offices under the vice president for Research, Community Engagement and Technology Transfer, Wolaita Sodo University. It has been restructured in 2024 to its current status which was formerly known as community services office. The current notion of restructured naming implies the paradigm shift in ideology of giving services as a donation to work with community in full participation of the community that helps to create sustainable mutual benefit for both parties. This is noble intention in the interventions of the university in the community with full participation in the development, consultancy, professional voluntarism and capacity building trainings that the office delivers for the community. In line with this, the office is mandated to execute community demanded and problem solving projects and service in its catchment area namely Wolaita and Dawro zones and beyond as per the nature of the project and funding sources.

The office currently is one of the three main directorates under the vice president for research and technology transfer, Wolaita Sodo University and mandated for four major duties and responsibilities with in the communities. These include but not only limited to execute development projects, provide consultancy services, professional voluntarism and capacity building training in diverse areas of profession in different faculties of the university.

The directorate now is functioning having two major officers that focus on different community services and green legacy development in one hand and free legal aid services on the other hand as its core components.

So far, the office has contributed its utmost potential to the community in areas of agriculture & veterinary medicine, engineering & technology, business and economics, social sciences and humanities, education and law, health, natural and computational sciences. Just to mention few among others, construction of pure water sources, traffic lights in Sodo town, construction of school building and various professional supports, construction of bridges, solar energies, green legacy development works, agricultural productivity improvement packages, natural resources conservations, capacity building trainings, different outreach programs, dairy, poultry and honey bee health and improvement works, and so on .

These all works have been accomplished by the participation of local communities and different stakeholders both nationally and internationally. Thus, the office acknowledges those who have been working with us. We welcome any individuals from the society, organizations, private and government institutions etc … to work for community with the community.

Abrham Shumbulo Ganta (PhD, Associate professor)

Director, Community Engagement Directorate

Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia

E-mail: abrhamshumbulo@gmail.com, abrham.shumbulo@wus.edu.et