Front row, far right: Dr Paul Chabeda, United Nations Environment Programme; second from right: Dr. Phillip Grubb, Head of patent Office, Novartis, Basel, Switzerland; third from right: Dr. Khama Rogo, Chairman, Kenya Medical Association. Second from left: Mrs. Grace Tbitai, Chief Science Secretary, Kenyan National Council for Science and Technology.
Testimonials: East Africa

"This course could not have come at any better time! Given the activities in bio-prospecting and the emerging importance of intellectual property rights under WTO, and considering the level of awareness over these issues, this training was very crucial. The composition of the trainees covered a wide spectrum of stakeholders, which made it even more interesting and useful. The caliber of the resource personnel was high and from a wide representation of various regions and experience. They gave a very good feel of the subject area. The course in overall was useful and educational. The issue would be a follow up with the purpose of putting the knowledge to good use, creating awareness for the rest of the stakeholders and creating a central working group to coordinate bioprospecting issues within the region."

— Dr. Evans Olonyi Sikinyi, Registrar, Plant Breeders' Rights Office;
Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services. Participant in GBDI's Nairobi (Kenya) training course, July 1999.

"For Tanzania, it would be very beneficial if such a GBDI course (Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Law) which just concluded could target, in particular, decision makers and some politicians. The problem with [Tanzania] is that biotechnology, biodiversity and IPR issues are not well coordinated; generally there is lack of awareness. GBDI could now think of targeting individual countries that are lagging behind."

— Dr. Masoud H. S. Muruke, Lecturer, Applied Microbiology Unit,
Department of Botany, University of Dar es Salaam. Participant in GBDI's Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) training course, July 2001.

"The Global Biodiversity Institute Training Course for the East African region was a well thought out idea. The four modules provided provide insights into the needs of the region and what the region has been missing. It's my proposal that the policy and politicians should be the ones to be targeted next."

— Paul Nteze, Programme Assistant, UNDP-GEF/ Small Grants
Programme (SGP), Kampala, Uganda. Participant in GBDI's Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) training course, July 2001.