Germany pledges five years of scholarships for PhDs, Masters

By Prosper Makene

Prof Sylvia Temu

The government has signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Republic of German through the German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD) to award at least 30 Tanzanian Students with scholarships to study in Germany.

Speaking in an interview at the cerebrations of 40 years anniversary of DAAD Alumni Association in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Director of Higher Education, Prof. Sylvia Temu, said that MoU will assist about 20 PhD students and 10 Masters Degree students to undergo their studies in German.

Temu noted that about 1470 people have already benefited from the DAAD scholarships in the past 40 years, and the DAAD plans to assist 20 students every year.
DAAD Regional Office for Africa Director Christoph Hansert held that over the past 40 years DAAD has been the hub for science cooperation between East Africa and German through individual sponsorship and partnerships between universities.

The flagship of the cooperation is the Tanzanian German Centre for East Africa Legal Studies (TGCL). Set by the University of Bayreuth and the School of Law of the University of Dar es Salaam, the TGCL has been established as a think tank on the EAC-law.

In a different development, speaking at the anniversary themed: ‘Water Supply and Sanitation Services in Tanzania’ Counselor for Development Cooperation from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Lena Thiede said Germany has committed to provide at least 25 million people in Sub-Sahara Africa with sustainable access to drinking water and 5 million people with access to sanitation by 2015.

“In Tanzania, Germany has been supporting the water sector development programme focusing on urban water supply and sanitation as well as capacity building on national, regional and local levels. Our now bilateral development programme has a volume of Euro 45 Million in just 3 years” she said.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Portfolio Manager, Viktor Wetzel, said Tanzania faces serious challenges with regard to water supply and sanitation services (WSS) which arise from a high population growth and a declining availability of water resources.

Wetzel underscored that WSS in the country is also faced with an inadequate management and maintenance of existing infrastructure, and the failure to replace assets or extend infrastructure according to the needs, in particular with regard to un- or underserved urban areas.

“For about 20 Years now, GIZ (former GTZ) is active in the water sector in Tanzania. Our activities started in the Kilimanjaro Region. With the start of our current program (10 yrs. ago), GIZ works closely together with the Ministry of Water and provides support in basically 5 working areas including Direct Advisory to the Ministry of Welfare, Direct advisory to the regulatory body EWURA, Water Resource Management with focus on adaptation to climate changes, poor water supply and sanitation as well as Capacity Development,” he said.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN