The Higher Education for Conservation Activity (“HECA”) is a five-year (2022-2027) Activity funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the University of Georgia as a prime partner. The Activity is implemented in Liberia and brings into partnership a constellation of U.S. and Liberia Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to positively strengthen capacity within the Liberian Forestry, Biodiversity, and Conservation (FBC) workforce education sector. These institutions include: The University of Georgia (UGA), Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), a gender research institute at Wellesley College; The University of Liberia (UL); Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College (AAMU), a public HBCU based in Huntsville, Alabama; Tuskegee University (TU); the Forestry Training Institute (FTI), University Consortium for Liberia (UCL) and Resilient Africa Network (RAN). RAN is in charge of the monitoring, evaluation as well as the collaborating, learning and adapting activities for the HECA project.  

HECA seeks to establish a Center of Excellence for Forestry, Biodiversity, and Conservation Leadership and Green Enterprise Development (“the FBC Center”) that will link the University of Liberia with Liberia’s one-of-a-kind TVET, the Forestry Training Institute. Activities coordinated through the FBC Center will include curriculum design, faculty and institutional capacity strengthening, student soft skills development and development of experiential learning opportunities, a faculty fellowship exchange program, youth engagement activities, gender equity initiatives, community inclusion initiatives, green enterprise development related to community engagement and workforce development, and other areas of activity as determined by Liberian HEI partners. As the Activity matures and the FBC Center is established, it will extend involvement to other Liberian HEIs offering FBC instruction.