| Timeline | From January 2016 to 31 December 2020 |
|---|---|
| Theme | Water management |
| Funded by | H2020 |
| More info | https://afrialliance.org/ |
A network of African-European water-related organizations initiated the AfriAlliance to prepare Africa for future climate change challenges by having African and European stakeholders work together in the areas of water innovation, research, policy, and capacity development. The ambitious five year project officially started with the kick-off meeting hosted by UNESCO-IHE in Delft on 2 and 3 March. ITC is one of the partners in the project.
16 consortium partners were present and set the scene for the project’s main objective: getting African and European stakeholders to work together on water innovation, research, policy and capacity development to increase the preparedness of Africa to address future climate change vulnerabilities.
The 2-day kick-off meeting gave EU and African AfriAlliance partners the opportunity to meet face-to-face, exchange ideas and to plan the first year of the project in detail. The topics that were discussed ranged from the thematic focus of the AfriAlliance Action Groups, the processes for identifying social innovations needs and innovative solutions, an innovative triple sensor approach to monitoring and forecasting, as well as the first AfriAlliance conference that will be held in Africa in 2017.
Monitoring and Forecasting Information Web Service
Within the AfriAlliance project , ITC will have the lead in building a Monitoring and Forecasting Information Web Service on Water Resources and Climate challenges across Africa. This service will use an innovative triple sensor approach, bringing together metadata and up-to-date information on satellite observations, in-situ surface monitoring networks and citizen-based water observations in an geospatially interactive and accessible manner. It will support policy makers and executive staff on the work floor in decision making processes at all levels.
Support existing networks
AfriAlliance will support the existing networks in identifying appropriate social innovation and technological solutions for key water and climate change challenges. The project is financed by the European Commission under its Horizon 2020 programme. The commission recently announced the grant together with 17 other new projects in the areas of raw materials, climate action, water and earth observation.
International Partnership
The AfriAlliance project will be coordinated by water education institute Unesco-IHE, and will run from 2016 to 2021. African partners include the African network of basin organizations (ANBO), African water association (AFWA),the West African science service center on climate change and adapted land use (WASCAL) and 2iE, an international university focusing on water and environmental studies, located in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Furthermore, the regional SADC based water expertise network Waternet, as well as the WRC (Water Resources Council) and CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) from South Africa participate in the network. European partners include French international office for water OIEau, European water technology platform Wsstp, a specialized foundation on open source internet and mobile services AKVO, and non-governmental organizations Both ends and WE&AB.
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