AFRICA

Africa is gaining increasingly importance worldwide. The continent, rich in nature, culture, landscape and mineral resources, is still underestimated. Valuable political developments are taking place, increasing the chances for stronger cooperation projects in the water, waste and energy area. Since its foundation, the FiW has a tradition of cooperation with Tunisia, which has been extended to Morocco and Algeria as years go by. In this respect, there is intensive cooperation with the KfW Entwicklungsbank and GIZ as well as with ONAS in Tunisia in the field of training and further education, but also in advisory services on sewage and sludge treatment and recycling.

In 2019, the German BMBF project "awaregio" was launched: modular wastewater treatment processes for the reuse of water, nutrients and energy as an opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises in regional structural change". Through the project "WaterReTUNe - Desalination, nutrient recovery and diversified recycling techniques NBS ("nature based solutions") - treated wastewater" it will be possible to install selected process steps in the north of Tunis and do research on further adaptation steps. The project is coordinated by the FiW and gives the possibility for cooperation between research institutes and companies from Tunisia and Germany.

The FiW has carried out training measures for many African countries, especially with an increasing focus on English-speaking countries. The projects mainly took place in Germany.  After initial projects, e.g. for energy optimisation of sewage treatment plants in South Africa and for the construction of drinking water plants in Congo and Tanzania, the FiW initially won a start-up funding for new projects and was able to place itself in the most recent BMBF competition for multi-annual funding projects.

The FiW has a broad range of technical expertise that covers almost the entire water cycle. The focus on wastewater and sewage sludge treatment supposed to maintained and developed, and further expertise in water reuse, water management and monitoring, climate change adaptation, flood risk management and waste management should be added. Additionally, there is an increasing demand for training courses for waste management professionals. In 2015 three groups of experts from Ghana visited Germany for the first time to be trained in waste treatment and recycling. In 2019 a delegation of technical and political decision-makers from municipalities also came to Germany to receive training in inter-municipal cooperation in waste management for medium-sized municipalities.

In addition to training and consulting, research projects are also carried out with university and practice partners in Africa. The focus is on applied research that takes into account all local conditions, framework conditions and problems in order to develop suitable solutions for target countries. Knowledge transfer and German know-how play an important role, especially the joint development of solutions with local partners. The integration of local experts and technicians and the creation of acceptance, also among the population, are essential components that contribute to sustainable cooperation and implementation of the project results.