Capacity building in universities and research organisations in South Africa

Water issues are and will remain on the rise, requiring the development of holistic and sustainable solutions. DHI develops world-class software to aid decision making in water issues. However, it doesn’t only take the software to make the right decisions, but also the people. Therefore, following the first South African DHI user conference in 2011, we decided to invest in capacity building. As a result, DHI South Africa signed more than 20 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with local universities and research organisations. That number is planned to increase in the future.

“The DHI MOU network will raise our rate of information generation, and it will make a massive contribution to our absorptive capacity in southern Africa”, Dr. Mark Dent from the University of KwaZulu-Natal explains.

The benefits of the MOUs

The MOUs ensure that capacity building at universities and research organisations is unhampered by financial restrictions or lack of training. We supply universities with our software free of charge in a non-exclusive arrangement. The university only needs to provide the necessary computer hardware and make sure to purchase any third party software when required. Moreover, we provide our standard training materials and encourage students to attend regular training courses. We have also made an arrangement with the South African Water Research Commission (WRC), allowing their projects to use our software free of charge just as the universities.

Based on the MOUs, we hope to provide the necessary knowledge to allow for integrated and holistic solutions to meet the current and future water challenges. “People are absolutely essential”, Andrew Pott from DHI South Africa points out. “We see this as an asset to students, who can use their new knowledge to consult internationally. Moreover, businesses and the government in South Africa can now take their challenges to the universities and the optimal solution can be found.”

“It’s a great opportunity”, Joel Kabika, a Ph.D. student from the University of Zambia, adds, “I look forward to the cooperation and to the program.”