Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships Awarded

Two prestigious Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships awarded to two students

Hanifa Sango from Kenya and Chifundo Katanga from Malawi have been awarded Commonwealth Scholarships to allow them to pursue the MSc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management (RCDM), while living in their home countries. The scholarships have been awarded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom. These two Scholars beat off competition from over 500 applicants.

The MSc in RCDM is a specialised course suitable for professionals, practitioners and the like. The course bridges the traditional division between the management of technological, social and natural hazards by combining risk, communication, vulnerability and development theories. The course is aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Paris Protocol. 

Each scholarship covers course fees, two visits to attend the Masterclasses and bespoke research writing workshop at Leicester, and a laptop.

Hanifa Sango, Security Officer with the Africa Regional Office of International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent said: “I received the message about my Scholarship while I was in the midst of a refugee camp in eastern Chad on a risk assessment mission for an upcoming humanitarian aid operation. I initially read the subject and did not think much of it until me and my team returned to our base later in the day. I was elated when I read the whole message confirming that I had actually received a scholarship. 

With a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies and work experience in mostly volatile regions such as the eastern DR Congo, eastern Chad and Beira in Mozambique following the hurricane I decided to take up the MSc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster management to further build on my theoretical knowledge and on what I have experienced and learnt on a practical level so that I can be better equipped to apply it in the work I do. I know this will be an amazing journey of learning, building relations with mutual minds aimed at developing Africa and making it a safer place for the future generation as a continent and the global village as whole.”.

Chifundo Katanga, lecturer in the University of Malawi’s Faculty of Commerce, said: “I have been privileged to be one of the recipients of the Commonwealth Scholarships at the School of Business. The University of Leicester’s MSc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster management will equip me with the necessary skills to confidently lecture modules that cover risk, crisis and disaster related topics. This prestigious Scholarship will also equip me with the necessary skills and capability to provide the much-needed research and advisory services as my country continues to face the Covid-19 pandemic among other risks, crises and disasters.”

Dr Nibedita Ray-Bennett, Associate Professor in Risk Management, Founder and President of the Avoidable Deaths Network from the University of Leicester’s School of Business who won the scholarships for the University said: “I am thrilled to win the bid third time from the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK. For the academic term 2020/21, we have been awarded eight Scholarships, six of the Scholars started their course in October 2020 and two in February 2021. I am extremely thankful to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission for the Scholarships. Commonwealth Scholarships are very special because they give opportunities to meritorious individuals from the Commonwealth nations. Scholars are able to read the MSc in RCDM without leaving their home country which maximises their potential to enhance the development of their home countries with the knowledge and leadership skills they acquire from Leicester”.

2 thoughts on “Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships Awarded

  1. I am very much interested to attend this scholarship opportunity in the near future and will be happy to see the opportunities

  2. I would like to request for a possibility of scholarship for a PhD in Disaster Management under the common wealth scholarship.Am a apparently a registered PhD student working a related research work of Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change in one of the Universities in Uganda but with funding challenges.

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