Place students in communities
Every field programme the university runs is coordinated here, from allocation to supervision.
About DCROP
The university’s front door to the community
DCROP is the directorate through which the University for Development Studies meets, works with and learns from the communities around it.
Our Mandate
Why the directorate exists
The University for Development Studies was established to blend academic work with the practical needs of rural communities in northern Ghana. DCROP is the part of the university that makes that more than a sentence in a charter.
The directorate coordinates every programme that places students in communities, holds the university’s relationships with district assemblies, traditional authorities, schools, clinics and employers, and carries research findings out of the university and into the places they were meant for.
It works in both directions. Communities are not only where the university sends students; they are where a great many of its research questions come from.
Our Vision
Communities across northern Ghana with the knowledge, skills and partnerships to shape their own development — and a university that learns as much from them as it teaches.
Our Mission
To connect the University for Development Studies with communities through student field work, applied research, enterprise support and durable partnerships that leave something behind.
What We Do
Six things the directorate does
Hold the community relationships
Agreements with district assemblies, traditional authorities, schools and clinics sit with the directorate, not with individual lecturers.
Move research into practice
Turning findings into something a farmer group, a clinic or an assembly can actually use.
Support rural enterprise
Costing, quality, packaging and market access for producer and women’s groups.
Build partnerships
With government, NGOs, funders, industry and other institutions.
Record what changed
Keeping track of outcomes so the university can say what its presence actually did.
How We Are Organised
The units of the directorate
The directorate is organised around the work rather than around the schools, so that a community deals with one office regardless of which faculty a student comes from.
Field Programmes Unit
Allocation, placement and supervision for TTFPP, COBES, Teaching Practice and Industrial Placement.
Community Relations Unit
Agreements and day-to-day relationships with communities, assemblies and traditional authorities.
Research and Innovation Unit
Carrying research into practice, and carrying community questions back into the university.
Partnerships and Outreach Unit
Partner organisations, funders, employers and public engagement.
Leadership
Who leads the directorate
PROF. ABDUL-HALIM ABUBAKARI
Director
DCROP
PROF. ABDUL-HALIM ABUBAKARI
Director 2
DCROP
DR. MUBARIK SALIFU
Deputy Director
TTFPP, COBES
DR. YAA NYARKO ADJESO
Deputy Director
Documentation & Resource Mobilisation
MR. MAJEED SAEED
Deputy Director
Teaching Practice, Industrial Attachments and Practicum
Partner With Us
Let’s work together to create sustainable communities through teaching, research and innovation.