The evolution of the Sustainable City Year Program - the “Oregon Model” - continues. At the end of November’s training workshop in South Africa, a new network formally launched among the university-community partners in attendance. During the first ever EPIC-Network workshop in Africa, the 26 participants established EPIC Africa as a regional support network. Together, they are committed to creating value for communities, municipalities, and universities through innovation and collaboration. The network is open to all Africa-based universities and local authorities interested in applying the EPIC Model in their communities.

Workshop attendees selected Dr. Gilbert Siame of the University of Zambia and Sean O’Donoghue of the City of Durban, South Africa to chair the EPIC Africa network. These leaders, along with Edna Odhiambo (UO LLM ‘16) of the University of Nairobi, launched the first three EPIC programs in Africa following the Resilient Cities workshop in Bonn, Germany in May 2017. Their progress shows how the EPIC Model can work for communities with vastly different systems, scales, and needs.

The EPIC Africa network will develop as the November workshop participants build out their programs across sub-Saharan Africa over the next year. As their pilot programs advance, the EPIC-Africa leaders are growing a knowledge base for identifying and connecting university resources to community projects. At the same time, the U.S.-based EPIC-Network is providing materials and information to support the new programs. The next workshop in Africa will be a led in equal parts by EPIC Africa and EPIC-Network, and in 2020, the effort will be fully turned over to EPIC Africa.

To learn more about the EPIC Africa network, visit http://naturalsciences.unza.zm/epic/

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