Dr. Ebenezer Owusu-Addo has been appointed as the new director for the Bureau of Integrated Rural Development (BIRD) of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
The new director who is the Winner of the 2020 Pittu Laungani best paper prize from the International Journal of Health Promotion and Education succeeds, Prof. Mrs. Ernestina Fredua Antoh, and his appointment took effect from Monday, January 10, 2022.
A brief handing-over ceremony was held at the Bureau’s premises on Monday, January 10, 2022, to usher the new director into office.
At the Handing over ceremony, the new director first gave thanks and praises to the God Almighty and further expressed appreciation and gratitude to the immediate past Director for the progress and face she’s given the Bureau and extended the appreciation to the co-workers and entire staff for their level of support as he happily accepted his new position.
Prof. Mrs. Ernestina Fredua Antoh, Immediate Past Director of the Bureau, urged the entire staff of the Bureau to give their maximum support to the new Director, Dr. Ebenezer Owusu-Addo.  She further called on the entire staff to strengthen the unity that exists among them as a new Director takes up the position to continue the tremendous progress of works of the Bureau. Prof. Fredua Antoh in her final words expressed appreciation to the entire staff for their wonderful support and cooperation during her directorship and further urged them to strengthen them for the continuous progress of the Bureau.
New Director share Vision with Bureau Members
In a presentation made on January 13, 2022, to all the Staff and Senior Members of the Bureau, Dr. Owusu-Addo highlighted his vision. He emphasized that through consultative ideas, he was able to put up what he termed as a ‘Shared Vision’, and that every staff member should be guided by the vision.
He explained that his vision is in tandem with the University’s vision as well as those of the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of KNUST, the Provost of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) and BIRD. Dr. Ebenezer Owusu-Addo outlined eight priority areas that would drive his vision during his tenure. These areas are human resource development and Staff welfare; Impactful research, teaching, innovation, and publication; Service and community engagement/impact; Entrepreneurship drive for students; Infrastructure development; Partnerships; Resource generation and management; and Increasing visibility of BIRD.
In view of this, he outlined his plans of assigning members to the various priority areas of the vision as a means of collective or shared responsibility towards the achievement of the vision. He later allowed for members to offer their views, suggestions, and inputs into the vision for actualization. In his concluding remarks, the Director encouraged the staff to work assiduously to achieve a common goal.
About Dr. Ebenezer Owusu-Addo
Dr. Ebenezer Owusu-Addo is currently Senior Research Fellow at the Bureau of Integrated Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. Dr. Owusu-Addo holds a Ph.D. in Public Health-Health Promotion (Programme Evaluation) from Monash University, Australia, MSc in Public Health-Health Promotion from Leeds Beckett University, UK, Graduate Certificate of Agricultural Health and Medicine from Deakin University, Australia, and BSc. (Hons) in Planning from KNUST. He is the Co-Principal Investigator for the USAID Analytical Support Services and Evaluations for Sustainable Systems (ASSESS) Project in West Africa at KNUST.
He is a leading figure in health promotion research and programme evaluation, more specifically through his work on the role of public policies and intersectoral action in addressing the social determinants of health and health inequality. His research interests are in the social determinants of health, cash transfers, health equity, social protection, rural health systems, and the interface between public health and town planning.
Dr. Owusu-Addo is a Technical Advisor to the Health Promotion Division of the Ghana Health Service. He serves as a peer reviewer for 35 reputable international journals including Health Policy and Planning, BMJ Global Health, BMJ Open, Global Health Promotion, Maternal & Child Nutrition, Plus One, Archives of Disease in Childhood, BMC Public Health and Development in Practice.
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