In 2010, the Centre for Property Studies (CPS) at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) launched the first of a three year program under the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) International Youth Internship Program (IYIP) in Malawi.
As part of the program, CPS/UNB has partnered with the Department of Land Management at Mzuzu University to aid in capacity building and to provide Canadian interns with valuable international development experience within the land management sector. The program provides 9-month positions in the fields of geomatics and urban and regional planning to complement and support the Department’s three streams: Surveying, Estates Management and Physical Planning.
As members of the first IYIP team, Don Brown (Urban and Rural Planning Specialist) and Merrill Mclean (GIS Specialist) have had the pleasure of working with the Department of Land Management since June 2010. Their responsibilities have included lecturing in GIS, remote sensing, research methods and urban development planning; conducting research on urban transportation systems and climate change adaptation; providing strategic planning support for the Centre of Excellence for Water and Sanitation; and assisting Mtafu A.Z. Manda on his curriculum development project, Embedding Employability into Planning Education.
Mr Manda is a lecturer in planning at the Department and is a member of the AAPS Steering Committee. Through their work with Mr Manda, Don and Merrill have been engaged in ongoing curriculum development workshops. Don also had the opportunity to represent the Department with Mr Manda at the AAPS bienniel conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania last November. The conference afforded Don the opportunity to explore and discuss the most pressing planning challenges facing 21st century cities in Africa with faculty members of planning schools from across the continent.
Through these experiences, the UNB/Mzuni partnership has been able to support the academic and professional development of Malawi’s future land management professionals while providing invaluable experience in the fields of urban development planning, geomatics, water and sanitation to all project participants. UNB is enthusiastic about the potential for future intern involvement with AAPS and joins Don and Merrill in expressing their appreciation for the opportunities provided through AAPS.
For more information on the University of New Brunswick and the CIDA International Youth Internship Program, please click here.
