This year, 2017, the African Water Association, through its Training and Capacity Building Department, will award 20 research fellowships to students from several academic institutions in West Africa. This is the first round of selection of candidates. This is expected to be repeated for the next two years on the basis of 20 research scholarships per year, that is, until 2019. The choice for restricting the selection to West Africa as a coverage area is supported by the recommendations of the funding agency, US AID West Africa. The candidates are Master 2 or doctoral students, nationals of West African countries.

Each fellowship amounts to US$ 1,000. The research should focus on topical issues related to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector. The call for applications was issued in January 2017. Originally scheduled for the end of February 2017, the deadline for the call was postponed by an additional month, in line with the suggestions of the Scientific and Technical Council meeting held in Rabat. This phase enabled the collection of 50 applications sent by email to the Executive Office of the African Water Association by the end of the deadline of March 28, 2017. The list of the first 20 beneficiaries will be published in the coming weeks after selection by a jury established for this purpose.

It should be noted that these grants for the Young Water and Sanitation Professionals (YWSP) program in the West Africa sub-region are from the AfriCap program implemented by the African Water Association. The topics covered by the call for proposals are (1) Non-Revenue Water, (2) Water quality, (3) Water services in low-income urban areas, (4) Fecal sludge management (5) Urban and peri-urban sanitation, (6) Use of ICTs in water and sanitation services.