21 universities to tackle Africa’s water, sanitation hurdles

The African Union is partnering with 21 African universities to tackle and provide sustainable solutions for Africa’s water challenges and climate resilience. Discussions are under way for a new African water vision and policy framework.

Representatives of these academic institutions joined over 1,500 participants, including political leaders, technical experts and civil society members at the 9th Africa Water Week Conference in Cairo, Egypt, earlier in October 2024.

The event, organised by the African Ministers’ Council on Water, was themed ‘Placing water and sanitation at the heart of achieving the African Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa we want’. Discussions at the conference form the foundation for the new African water vision and policy framework, emphasising inclusive water security.

Sustainable water commitment reiterated

A communiqué issued at the end of the conference reaffirmed Africa’s commitment to sustainable water management as a central driver for achieving the AU’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The conference called for enhanced partnerships, climate-resilient infrastructure, and innovative financing to take up Africa’s water and sanitation challenges.

Emphasising improved governance and collaboration between governments, regional bodies, and the private sector, participants stressed the importance of water security for future generations. In the communiqué, stakeholders issued a call for strengthened regional and global cooperation to ensure universal access to water and sanitation across Africa.

Stellenbosch University (SU) and the African Ministerial Council on Water host the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development Water Centres of Excellence (AUDA-NEPAD Water CoE) ACEWATER III project, in which the universities will participate.

“I am very proud of the incredible work done through our SDG-2063 Impact Hub here at SU. As much as it is important to focus on the SDGs, we, as African universities, also need to articulate our activities in terms of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 goals. This is a blind spot which we are addressing,” Dr Nico Elema told University World News. He is the director of the Centre for Collaboration in Africa at Stellenbosch University that will lead the ACEWATER III project.

Emerging scholars will benefit

SU’s presentation, on behalf of the participating universities, focused on water governance and institutions for managing water resources, cooperation on shared water resources and the ACEWATER III project’s contribution to research and capacity development for a post-Africa Water Vision 2025.

The ACEWATER III project, funded by the European Commission, will implement five main activities involving the water centres of excellence at the 21 universities, including research for science, technology and innovation for improved transboundary water resources management and decision-making.

Implementation will include human capacity development, and 40 short courses, reaching over 1,200 participants. ACEWATER III will provide short-term opportunities between partners and for 79 staff and 120 emerging scholars to undertake short-term research and skills exchanges between member institutions and the AUDA-NEPAD Water CoE.

The fourth activity is performance monitoring, evaluation and joint learning to further translate into real-life impact. ACEWATER III will guide communication, policy and stakeholder engagement and provide 152 opportunities for staff and 48 for post-graduate students to attend regional conferences, continental policy engagement and forums to engage with policymakers and stakeholders.

Partner universities

SU, along with the other 20 partner institutions in the AUDA-NEPAD Water CoE network and the European Union Delegation in South Africa, will implement the project.

The EU Commission's support of the AUDA-NEPAD Water CoE is framed within the AU partnership with the African Ministerial Council on Water. The pilot initiative of the ACEWATER III project aimed at fostering the development of African higher education, training, research, advocacy and consultancy communities in the field of water science.

Partners in the ACEWATER III project include Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal, 2iE-Institut International d’Ingeniere de l’Eau et de l’Environnement in Burkina Faso, the University of Benin, the National Water Resources Institute Kaduna in Nigeria, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana and Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique.

Other partners are the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the University of the Western Cape, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – all in South Africa, the University of Malawi, the University of Zambia, the University of Botswana, the National University of Science and Technology Namibia, the National University of Science and Technology Zimbabwe, the University of Mauritius, the University of Khartoum in Sudan, Makerere University in Uganda, and Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa University.

Report warns against wastage

The Africa Water Week coincided with the launch of a landmark report, The Economics of Water: Valuing the hydrological cycle as a common good. In the report, an international group of leaders and experts warns that, unless humanity acts with greater boldness and urgency, an increasingly out-of-balance water cycle will wreak havoc on economies and humanity worldwide.

Authored by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, the report says that the water crisis puts more than half the world’s food production at risk by 2050. It also threatens an 8% loss of GDP in countries around the world on average by 2050, with as much as a 15% loss in lower-income countries such as those in Africa, and even larger economic consequences beyond.

The report argues that existing approaches have led to the water crisis. They ignore the multiple values of water across economies and in preserving nature’s critical ecosystems. The widespread under-pricing of water today also encourages its profligate use across the economy and skews the locations of the most water-intensive crops and industries, such as data centres and coal-fired power plants, to areas most at risk of water stress.

Tragedy also an opportunity

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the World Trade Organisation and co-chair of the commission, said: “The global water crisis is a tragedy, but it is also an opportunity to transform the economics of water – and to start by valuing water properly so as to recognise its scarcity and the many benefits it delivers.”

The AU-EU cooperation in the ACEWATER III project is based on strategic priorities for cooperation and urgent actions in the water sector to ensure, through institutional strengthening, sustainable and efficient management of water resources, contributing to growth, peace and security.