Visit to Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana
We just rounded up the formulation week for the newly starting Institutional University Cooperation (IUC) between Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía (UNAP) and several Flemish higher education institutions. This week served to prepare the implementation of the IUC partnership and to co-develop the first five-year plan. A delegation of 20 Flemish academics (University of Antwerp, Ghent University, KU Leuven, HOGENT) and VLIRUOS representatives Mathieu Lanin and Sylvia Hoens, worked together with the UNAP team and local stakeholders to further develop the five-year plan.
The week started with the opening of the IUC partnership Raiza by the UNAP rector, Academic Vice-Rector and Research Vice-Rector. We were pleased to also host the Belgian Ambassador in Peru during this opening’s day and discuss together the realities of UNAP and the surrounding communities.
The Raiza IUC coordinators, Dr. Viviana Pinedo Cancino, representing UNAP, and Prof. Dr. Christopher Delgado Ratto, from the University of Antwerp, stressed the objective to develop the academic hub in the Amazon, promote research with impact on communities, foster inclusive quality education, and generate evidence-based public policies. The Raiza IUC will focus on health equity, food sovereignty and nutrition, environmental governance and gender equality, while at the same time ensuring institutional resilience.
Through this international partnership, the Amazonian communities of Loreto will benefit from sustainable and inclusive development. It is supported by a strengthened UNAP serving as a bridge between ancestral knowledge and global science.
