African Water and Sanitation Association Research Grants for Young Professionals
African Water and Sanitation Association is announcing the Young Water and Sanitation Professionals Research grants Competition, in the ambit of its capacity building program for the African actors in water-sanitation-hygiene – Africap – funded by USAID. These grants target master level students and pending engineers, meaning those whose training is almost finishing. With a value up to $1,000 (USD), every grant supports a research that will culminate in a scientific report, also called final thesis on a theme in the Water, Hygiene and Sanitation sector.
From the academic year 2016-2017 to 2018-2019, AAEA has granted sixty scholarships to students of eleven countries in West and Central Africa. The new scholarships will be awarded in the three next years to students in many African countries . For the 2021-2022 academic year, fifteen scholarships were granted to students of 13 countries . For the 2022-2023 academic year, an additional twenty scholarships will be granted to students of 16 countries . Among the selected students, 15 were awarded by USAID as part of the Africap grants and the other 5 were awarded to young women by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through SAO CWIS due to the existing disparities between male and female students in the section. In the third and last year 2023-2024, 15 scholarships will be awarded to students around Africa.
Table of Contents
Research Themes
For the 2023-2024 academic year, the following themes have been chosen for the scholarship program:
- Approaches to reducing Unrevenue Water in water companies
- Improvement of Water Quality
- Water services in low-income urban areas
- Improvement of urban & peri-urban sanitation
- Use of ICT (digital tools) in water and sanitation services
- Water Resource Management
- Water, Sanitation, and Gender
- Circular economy
- Climate change
Benefits
As part of this scholarship, each beneficiary is eligible for a maximum amount of 1,000 US Dollars.
- Sixty percent (60%) of this amount will be disbursed to the beneficiary upon finalization and approval of the detailed research project plan by the research supervisor and receipt by the AAEA Research and Capacity Building Program.
- The remaining forty percent (40%) will be paid once the recipient submits the electronic copy of their final research report.
Application Process
Candidates interested in the scholarship must meet the following criteria:
- Citizenship of a sub-Saharan African country eligible for USAID funding.
- Good academic standing with their institution.
- Submission of an application file including:
- Copy of student card or registration receipt for the current year (Master 2).
- The Bachelor’s degree.
- Curriculum vitae (maximum 3 pages).
- Three letters of recommendation (one from the academic supervisor) certifying the student’s enrollment in Master 2.
- The project sheet (available for download).
During the selection process, priority will be given to students and young water professionals who are members of the AAEA.
Application Deadline:
The Deadline of the Application is April 15, 2024