Two Harare Institute of Technology staff members, Mr Dinga Njini Moyo and Mr Charles Kanyunga recently put the institution on the national map, when they won awards at commemorations to mark World Standards Day held at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare on 14 October.
The World Standards Day Commemorations were held under the theme, "Levelling the Playing Field." The day honours the efforts of the thousands of experts who develop voluntary standards within standards development organizations.
The awards to Moyo and Kanyunga were in recognition of "Outstanding Contribution to SAZ National Standardization Work."
Moyo, Chairperson of the Food Processing Technology Department at HIT serves as the Chairperson of the Technical Committee on Fruits and Vegetables at the Standards Association of Zimbabwe. He is also a member of the Milk and Milk Products Committee.
"I believe this award is recognition of leadership, teamwork and the contribution of my expertise to the Committee which ultimately contributes to the growth and development of regulatory standards in Zimbabwe in the food industry," said Moyo.
"I have a keen interest in the development of standards because it benefits our students, as they are able to draw from my experiences; and translate and interpret the process and benefits of standardisation from my wide experiences in the field," said Moyo.
Mr Moyo described the award as an honour.
"It is an honour, a great honour and it is recognition of my participation and role in standards development in Zimbabwe. It part of my community service efforts and definitely worth the while," he said. "It was also prestigious for two representatives from the same institution to win awards at this event. We definitely shone at these awards,"
Chairperson of the Electronic Engineering Department at HIT, Charles Kanyunga also received an award for his role in chairing the Technical Committee on Petroleum and Petroleum Products. He is also a Committee Member of Photovoltaic Systems and Installations.
"This award was in recognition of the work that I have put in the committee for the past two years, and I feel motivated to work even harder. I believe I got this award because of my knowledge, expertise and personal traits," he said. "As the chair of a technical committee, you have to be well versed in your subject, you need to read a lot of relevant literature and you need to be well versed in your particular study area."
"The role of technical committees is to develop and implement standards for products and services. This committee is made up of several stakeholders from the private, public sector and government. My contribution has largely been in the issues of providing leadership and expertise in facilitating, moderating, and ensuring the development of these standards and guidelines according to international best practice," said Kanyunga.
"Overall, I am quite happy about the work of the Technical Committee because we are able to come up with standards, after taking into consideration the immense input from between 20-30 stakeholders with different views, perspectives. Our job is to ensure that all these views and perspectives are harmonised as we facilitate the production and adoption of a standard for a particular sector."
Dean in the School of Industrial Sciences and Technology, Mr Perkins Muredzi said he was gratified and upbeat about the awards given to the two gentlemen.
"I heartily congratulate the two academics who excelled and received the awards. Harare Institute of Technology values the issue of standards in all the engineering and technology work that we do and for me, the rewards represent achievement, and to an extent, they show more about who we are as an institution though I must say "an achievement award is not the end goal; but rather, a symbolic confirmation of the School’s potential future success," he said.