The AUDA-NEPAD Network of Water Centres of Excellence was established in 2006, through a joint decision of the African Ministers’ Council on Water, and the African Ministers’ Council for Science and Technology (AMCOST).
Based on this decision, the mandate is the following:
- Facilitate and, where applicable, conduct selective research on water issues;
- Serve as a Higher Education (PhD; Post-Doc; Staff-Exchange) soundboard to the Regional Economic Communities on regional water matters;
- Collaborate with other networks and institutions in specialised areas;
- Setting the African-Regional water research agenda;
- Establish an African continental water research agenda that is populated from the African-regional water agendas.
Ministerial Decisions
During the 11th General Assembly of AMCOW of 2013 in Cairo, Egypt, the AU/NEPAD Centres of Excellence were also mandated “to develop a Human Capacity Development Programme aimed at addressing junior professional and technician level capacity challenges in the water sector”. Decision: EXCO/11/2013/CAIRO/17. To view the decisions of this meeting click here (Refer to point 12 in the document on page 5).
In 2018/2019, a further decision was adopted by the AMCOW General Assembly which “directs the [AMCOW] Secretariat to work with the AUC and NEPAD Centres of Excellence to support the understanding of patterns of knowledge and skills demand and migration in order to both strengthen the resilience of the Africa’s Water Resources Sector at national and transboundary level; and promote Youth Employment.” Decision: GA/11/2018/LBV/7. To view the decisions of this meeting, click here. (Refer to point 7 in the document on page 5).
This can be achieved, amongst other means, through one-on-one engagement with AMCOW and AMCOST through the SADC Technical Advisory Committee to observe political direction; engage in order to provide evidence-based research.
SADC Regional Institutionalisation.
During the annual meeting of the SADC Water Resource Technical Committee, held in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2013, it was recommended and subsequently adopted by the SADC Ministers of Water that:
- Approve the AU/NEPAD SANWATCE Business Plan (Section 5.2.9.7);
- Approve the proposal for AU/NEPAD SANWATCE to be the implementing agent for the Water Research Fund for Southern Africa (WARFSA 2.0), a programme of SADC Water Division (Section 5.2.9.8)
- Collaborate with WaterNet
To view an extract of the record of the meeting, click here.
To further institutionalise the AU/NEPAD SANWATCE in the SADC region, the SADC Ministers responsible for Science, Technology, and Innovation, Education, and Training, held in Maputo, Mozambique (June 2014), noted and supported the activities of the AU/NEPAD SANWATCE and called upon Member States to nominate institutions to form part of the Regional Network.
Co-operation with the European Commission
As a flagship programme of the AU/NEPAD, the Networks of Water Centres of Excellence have also been identified as key partners in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES), which provides a high-level cooperation platform for the EU and African partners. To read more about the JAES, click here.
The cooperation with the European Commission has led to direct support of the ACEWATER I, ACEWATER II and most recently, the ACEWATER III project.
Read more on where we get our mandate from