Considering the findings of the various Numbers & Needs studies among other research documents, the London-based Royal Academy of Engineering has launched many capacity building initiatives in Africa. The main initiatives supported are:
- HEP SSA: The Higher Education Partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa Programme which is aimed at strengthening academic capacity and resources to ensure that tertiary education institutions can produce engineers with the skills needed for local challenges
- Africa Prize: The African Prize which is aimed at recognising and rewarding young engineers who have developed innovations that will benefit Africans
- Africa Catalyst: The Africa Catalyst which is aimed at strengthening professional engineering bodies in sub-Saharan Africa so that they can effectively promote the profession, share best practice and increase local engineering capacity, to help drive development.
African Engineering Professions Portal (AEPPortal)
As part of the Africa Catalyst programme, SAICE-PDP was appointed to identify as many professional engineering institutions (PEIs) and voluntary associations in sub-Saharan Africa as possible and identify any who required support to build websites and increase their visibility and service to their members.
Institutions in Botswana, the DRC, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia and Tanzania have been identified to date and are currently receiving support. Many sites have been developed, registration processes have been enhanced and information shared.
Part of the brief was for SAICE-PDP to develop a toolkit containing appropriate page contents, application forms and information documents for fledging engineering bodies to use as templates to get going. When complete, these will be made available through the portal.
For details of engineering institutions in sub-Saharan Africa and details of this project, visit https://aepportal.com