AQUAHUB II - Education and Research Hubs for the Sustainable Management of Freshwater Ecosystems in Eastern Africa

The overall project objective is to foster the sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems and to contribute towards the achievement of the SDG’s. Established are education and research hubs in Eastern Africa, which educate professionals, carry-out relevant research/extension activities, contribute to the development of evidence-based policies and enhance regional and international networking. At least 60 young water/environmental professionals (36 females & 34 males) from primarily Eastern Africa participate in the Master’s programmes and at least 34 MSc research projects are carried-out. Implemented is the international joint degree Master’s programme LWM by BOKU, EGU and IHE-DELFT with 34 participants. The Eastern African joint degree Master's programme AEEM, by AAU, BDU, EIAR-NFALRC and EGU is implemented with 26 participants. At least 40 Eastern African experts from at least 10 different institutions contribute to the LWM and AEEM programmes. Both Master’s programme curricula put special emphasis on skill-orientated courses, student centred teaching approaches and contain inter- and transdisciplinary course elements to enhance the relevance of the programmes. At least 40 scientific publications are produced, as MSc theses and scientific- & professional articles. Extended is the AQUAHUB platform and a workshop & dissemination event is implemented to position the AQUAHUB platform as the leading knowledge & networking platform towards the conservation and sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems in Eastern Africa and to develop at least two new collaborative project proposals. The platform connects at least 350 registered network members who interact and share scientific publications & tools, training programmes, project funding opportunities, job & fellowship opportunities and conferences & workshops. Implemented is a study by an independent team of experts, which assesses the impact of 45 years of collaboration in limnology between Austria and Eastern Africa and identifying the key processes and mechanisms producing change and impact. The impact assessment is based on the input of at least 20 stakeholder institutions and at least 150 Eastern African programme alumni. The impact assessment report is providing a comprehensive chapter on recommendations to improve the impact and further development of AQUAHUB, a scientific publication is published and a concept-paper on the further development of the AQUAHUB II project design and outline is produced.