Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DELPHE)
Funded and managed by:
UK Department for International Development
Association of Commonwealth Universities
British Council
The DFID and DelPHE Websites (2008) provide the following information about the rationale and funding of the DelPHE programme.
Greater investment is needed at all levels of education if we are to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (DFID and DelPHE Websites 2008). DFID gives priority to supporting primary education for all children - especially girls - in countries that are off-track for reaching the MDGs for education. It will continue to do so. But investment is also needed in secondary, tertiary and vocational education, lifelong learning and skills, in order to increase the ability of governments and the private sector, to deliver basic services, and to promote sustainable growth. The best way to do this is with a sector-wide approach, which means supporting the whole education system and using the contributions to education that other sectors make.
The UK has promised to spend £8.4 billion on education in developing countries over the next ten years. As part of this commitment we will support up to 300 partnerships through the Development Partnerships in Higher Education programme DELPHE (£15 million for 2006-13), which will help reduce poverty, promote science and technology and meet the MDGs.
Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE) supports partnerships between higher education institutions in the UK and overseas, finding new ways to fight global poverty. It will run from June 2006 to March 2013 and funding will be provided from the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID). Institutions in DFID's 25 bilateral focus countries will be eligible for funding.
The programme will provide funding for partnerships between HE institutions working on collaborative activity linked to development goals. DelPHE encourages projects aiming to promote science and technology in Africa and Asia, in addition to addressing core areas such as health, education and gender equality.
DelPHE Project.
Pakistan, United Kingdom, Australia.
Makran Coastal Zone, Pakistan.
"Developing Sustainable Livelihoods for Communities in a Ramsar Site: the Makran Coastal Wetlands Complex (MCWC), Pakistan."
Autumn 2007 - Autumn 2010
Project Background
The destruction of the natural resources and ecosystems of the World's coastal areas will be one of the most important environmental management problems for the foreseeable part of the future. A vast majority of humanity already lives in the coastal areas and human migration will increase these numbers further in the coming years.
The wetlands of Pakistan’s coastal zone are becoming degraded by a broad spectrum of anthropogenic threats most of which are a direct product of poverty, and human ignorance and mismanagement makes the situation worse.
All of this increases the degradation of coastal environments due to over harvesting of resources, pollution, waterlogging and erosion. The most important threat will be a loss in food sources for the poorest of rural communities.
In addition, the Makran Coastal Wetland Complex (MCWC) in Balochistan, is a 1,635 km2 area of outstanding biodiversity value.
Project Goal
The project's goal is to assess the potential for the establishment of a conservation economy within the MCWC, which will achieve both sustainable livelihoods for the local people and the protection of the Ramsar site and adjacent coastal habitats. It will be a collaborative program of research and implementation involving the following institutions.
Institutions in Pakistan
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore. (Lead organisation)
University of the Punjab, Lahore.
WWF Pakistan.
Institutions in the United Kingdom and Australia
University of Glasgow, United Kingdom.
CSIRO at James Cook University, Australia.
Partners
Pakistan
Zulfiquar Ali. (Lead Partner)
Department of Wildlife and Ecosystems, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.
Richard Garstang
National Programme Manager, Pakistan Wetlands Project, WWF, Islamabad. Pakistan.
Ali Hassan Habib
Chief Executive Officer and Director General, WWF Pakistan HQ, Lahore, Pakistan.
Muhammad Naeem Khan
Zoology Department, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
Australia
James Butler
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Division, Faculty of Science, Engineering & IT, James Cook University, Australia.
United Kingdom
Azra Meadows
Biosedimentology Unit, Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
Peter Meadows
Biosedimentology Unit, Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
© Photograph Copyright Azra and Peter Meadows
Sonmiani fishermen, Makran Coast, Balochistan, Pakistan. 1997.