Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources was established over four decades ago to train forest technicians. At the moment, it is serving as a center of excellence for education, training and research in forestry and other natural resource management areas. Its graduates are serving in natural resource management at all ladders of the government structure. Owing to its long-standing experience, it is also contributing in building capacities of other Universities working on education and research related to the disciplines in the College.
The College has a long history of collaborating with many universities across the globe. At the moment, it is working on capacity building and research with international partners such as Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU, Sweden), University of Life Sciences (NMBU, Norway), Korea University (South Korea), Hamburg University (Germany), Helsinki University (Finland), Colorado State University (USA), Dresden University (Germany), Czech University of Life Sciences (Czech) and Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania).
On top of the teaching, research and community service activities, the College is engaged with national partners (mainly Ethiopian Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission) in various capacity building areas. In this regard, the College has engaged in national capacity building on various activities of REDD+ during the preparedness phase and currently the College is serving as a national center for enhancing capacity in Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of greenhouse gasses. To achieve this, the College is delivering tailored MSc training on Forestry, Climate Smart Agriculture and Renewable Energy areas for experts drawn from all regions and the two city administrations. On top of that the College has signed memorandum of understating with various national actors that are engaged in implementing Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy of Ethiopia. The College has also recently successfully delivered many rounds of trainings on Geographic Information Science (GIS) and remote sensing, Cadastral surveying and Forest Resource Assessment for experts pooled from different sector offices in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS).
The College has also recently produced manuals on the management of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) for over thirty major cities in the country in collaboration with relevant ministry. A detailed assessment and preparation of management plan of the green infrastructures was conducted for Addis Ababa along with series of capacity building trainings for experts as well as management members of the city administration. The recent preparation of forest management plan for the upper catchment part of Addis Ababa was also among the fruitful collaboration the college experienced.
The College is closely working with national and international research centers and institutes such as Ethiopian Environment and Forest Research Institute (EEFRI), Ethiopian Institute of Biodiversity (EIB), Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA), Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) on various capacity building and research activities.
With all the experiences and capacities of the staff and research facilities built for over forty years, the College aspires to be a center of excellence not only at national level but also at regional level being an important hub for education and research in forestry as well as other natural resource areas and climate change.