Empowering African Universities: EO AFRICA R&D Facility and AUC Launch Curricula Development Initiative on Water and Food Security
The EO AFRICA R&D Facility, in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), has announced the selection of five African universities to develop specialised university curricula under the EO AFRICA umbrella.
The chosen institutions—Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), University of Douala (Cameroon), Garissa University (Kenya), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Nigeria), and Université Nationale des Sciences, Technologies, Ingénierie et Mathématiques (UNSTIM Abomey, Benin)—will focus on creating training materials on water management and food security. These materials will be integrated into their existing academic programs and partially accessible through the EO AFRICA R&D Facility’s Moodle platform.
As part of the initiative, instructors from these universities will attend a curriculum development workshop hosted by the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Scheduled for December 2024, this workshop will allow collaboration with education specialists, drawing on their extensive geoinformation science and capacity-building expertise.
According to the Call for Proposals announced in July 2024, each selected institution will receive a budget of up to EUR 5,000 for project-related activities, including personnel costs, fieldwork, and data collection, over a maximum 12-month period. The ITC will provide ongoing scientific and technical support, and participating universities will also gain access to the EO AFRICA Space Academy and its Digital Campus. In addition, this platform includes online courses, webinars, and training events on EO, cloud computing, and sustainable development topics.
Furthermore, the finalised training kits will be incorporated into the EO AFRICA R&D Facility Digital Campus and feature copyright-free materials, including videos, data, worksheets, and reading lists. These comprehensive resources are designed to be self-contained and integrated into MSc-level programs at African universities, with the first implementation of the courses targeting university students.
About the Programme
The EO AFRICA Framework for Research, Innovation, Communities, and Applications is an ESA initiative that fosters long-term partnerships between African and European research communities to advance Earth Observation (EO) and related space technologies. Through an African-driven approach, the programme aims to build sustainable EO capabilities in alignment with regional needs in collaboration with the AUC and the GMES & Africa initiative.
The EO AFRICA R&D Facility, the programme’s flagship initiative, enables active research communities, fosters innovation, and promotes capacity development. Furthermore, it offers a range of resources, including a cloud computing platform (Innovation Lab), collaborative African–European research tandems, and educational initiatives such as the Space Academy. In addition, the call for proposals specifically targeted creating training materials to bolster EO curricula in African universities.