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Announcing 2018’s funded projects for the LIRA 2030 programme

11 projects led by African early career scientists will be supported as part of the second LIRA 2030 Africa call on Advancing the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 11 on cities in Africa.

In 2017, ICSU together with NASAC and the ISSC launched the second call for pre-proposals to identify research projects in Africa that explore the development of new approaches and strategies towards the innovative re-thinking of urban futures in the region – in partnership with local authorities, industry, communities, and government.

Following the call, over 130 collaborative pre-proposals were submitted, of which 31 were selected to attend a 5-day training workshop on trans-disciplinary research (28 August – 1 September 2017, Kampala, Uganda). Two and half months following the training, the participants submitted full proposals, which were reviewed by external experts and the LIRA Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). In February 2018, the members of the LIRA SAC met at the National Commission for Science and Technology of Malawi and selected 11 collaborative projects for funding, which are listed below. Each project will receive 90,000 EUR over two years and will become part of the LIRA scientific community. The project is supported generously by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

More detailed description of projects can be found here. If you are interested in contacting any of the projects, please e-mail [email protected].


The 11 projects receiving support in 2018

Principal InvestigatorProject Title
Tolu Oni

University of Cape Town, South Africa
Integration of housing and health policies for inclusive, sustainable African cities

Participating countries: South Africa, Cameroon
Simiyu Sheillah

Great Lakes University of Kisumu, Kenya
Management of shared sanitation facilities in informal settlements of Kisumu, Kenya and Kumasi, Ghana

Participating countries: Kenya, Ghana
Justin Visagie

Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa
Realising the potential of urban density to create more prosperous and liveable informal settlements in Africa

Participating countries: South Africa, Angola
Peter Elias

University of Lagos, Nigeria
Standardising City-Level Data-Gathering towards Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11 in Africa (SCiLeD)

Participating countries: Nigeria, Ghana
Safiétou Sanfo

WASCAL, Burkina Faso
Green Spaces and Repurposing Waste: Building Capacities for Resilience in Urban and Periurban West Africa

Participating countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana
Phumlani Stanley Nkontwana

Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Bridging Decentralized Energy Planning with Neighbourhood-level Innovations in Cities of Africa: Case Studies from Ghana and South Africa

Participating countries: South Africa, Ghana
Madelein Stoffberg

Namibia University of Science and Technology, Namibia
Community led upgrading of informal settlements

Participating countries: Namibia, Zambia
Buyana Kareem

Makerere University, Uganda
Co-Creating an Urban Framework for Localised Norms on Sustainable Energy

Participating countries: Kenya, Uganda
Alice McClure

Climate Systems Analysis Group, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Transforming southern African cities in a changing climate

Participating countries: South Africa, Zimbabwe
Lwetoijera Dickson Wilson

Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania
Integrating sustainable water and sanitation solutions to create safer, more inclusive and climate resilient cities in Tanzania and South Africa

Participating countries: Tanzania, South Africa
Sylvia Croese

University of Cape Town, South Africa
Co-producing urban knowledge in Angola and Mozambique through community-led data collection: towards meeting SDG 11

Participating countries: Angola, Mozambique
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