Control of soil transmitted helminths (STH) and Schistosomiasis (SCH) has been part of routine programmes for many years, yet, the efficacy and effectiveness of these programmes is challenged by low and failing drug efficacy and growing concerns of anthelmintic resistance, calling for a revision of the MDA-drug strategies. In this regard, the novel fixed-dose co-formulation (FDC) including albendazole and ivermectin has proven to be safe and to overcome most of the challenges in drug efficacy for STH. For T. solium the situation is very different from STH and SCH as currently there are no countries routinely implementing control. 3SI-CONTROL will assess the safety and cost-effectiveness of the FDC co-administration with praziquantel in reducing the prevalence of T. solium, STH and SCH, in a randomised controlled trial embedded in solid implementation research. Results from 3SI-CONTROL will thereby provide a scientific evidence base on the safety and effectiveness of integration of T. solium control with STH and SCH, considering the One Health approach. Beyond this, the substantial implementation research component will enable bridging the gap between the evidence-based practice (results on safety and effectiveness) and the actual implementation in the routine, real-world setting. These results, joined by a comprehensive dissemination and advocacy plan, will provide leverage to stimulate uptake of T. solium in the existing routine NTD control programmes, enabling the implementation of a safe and integrated control strategy with a higher effectiveness, tackling three top ranking NTDs. By harnessing advanced concepts in One Health, implementation research, and pharmacovigilance, our project aims to deliver transformative impacts in NTD control, reducing the individual, social and economic burdens of resource poor rural populations.

Groundwater resources in the coastal zone of EA are at risk. Increased demand, linked to rapid population growth in the coastal margins, has led to unsustainable and ill-planned well drilling and abstraction. Sea water intrusion into formerly freshwater aquifers frequently occurs as recharge from rainfall is insufficient to support the rate at which water is extracted. Wells supplying domestic, industrial and agricultural needs have, in many areas, become too saline for use. Climate change is expected to exacerbate this problem. Rising sea levels in the Indian Ocean region are projected to cause inundation of saltwater along the coastal zone, which is dominated by highly-permeable rock, while altered precipitation patterns and temperature change will affect the amount of water replenishing the aquifer through infiltration and recharge. Local communities across the region are already reporting changing tidal and rainfall patterns. The multiplicity of hydrological and demographic driving factors makes this a very challenging issue for management. At present the state of coastal aquifers in the EA region is not well constrained and past practices which may have exacerbated the problem have not been clearly identified. This project will bring together teams from Kenya, Tanzania and the Comoros Islands to address this knowledge gap; collaborating and working towards achieving water security in their respective areas. An integrative approach, combining the expertise of hydrogeologists, hydrologists and social scientists, will target selected sites along the coastal zone in each country. Hydrogeologic observatories will be developed where focussed research will identify the current condition of the coastal aquifers and identify future threats based on projected demographic and climate change scenarios. Water supply and monitoring needs will be identified through consultations with end-users and local authorities and optimum strategies for addressing these sought. An initial step will be to survey and bring together all existing data on well installations, abstraction, groundwater gradients and the salinity of existing wells at each pilot site. Understanding where wells are located, how deep they are, how much water is abstracted, what the flow directions are and what the salinity is, provides an overview of the state of the aquifer. Local data on hydraulic properties, such as the permeability, porosity, and storativity of the aquifer will be investigated and synthesised. Targeted electrical geophysical surveys, which provide relevant spatial information on both the aquifer structure and the saltwater distribution, will be undertaken. Similarly data is needed on the hydrological drivers in the system; to understand how much of annual rainfall infiltrates to replenish groundwater reserves (compared to the amount abstracted for human use) and how this might be impacted by changes in rainfall intensity or frequency. Land use and land use change is also important; controlling the proportion of incident rainfall which reaches the soil and subsequently groundwater. Recharge modelling will be an important tool for investigating different scenarios for climate and land use change and evaluating groundwater vulnerability. The social and political aspects of water use and development will be incorporated to assess the compatibility between the evolution of the availability of coastal freshwater resources and those of society and water politics. Researchers will engage with local community and stakeholder groups in each area and work together towards understanding the issues most affecting the communities with regards accessibility to water supply. A two-way exchange of knowledge between researchers and community members is essential in working towards feasible solutions to existing problems and ensuring preparedness for the changes in demographics and environment in the future.

The aim of UMEME capacity building project is to enhance the university education system for Tanzanian electrical/energy engineers, to enable universal access to electricity and energy transition in Tanzania, within the framework of the UN-SDGs. Tanzania has a population of 60 million, expected to double up by 2040, and 1 million young people entering the job market every year, of which 3% university graduates, to be compared to about 50,000 new jobs created every year. Green deal and electrification are crucial to address this issue. Only 37% of the population has access to electricity, while the renewable energy potential is huge and could dramatically accelerate Tanzanian energy transition to a renewable electrical system, carbon neutral and accessible to all the population. A major obstacle to such goals is a lack of skilled electrical/energy engineers. It is estimated that the number of engineers should at least double-up and a huge gap of skills required by the energy job market should be bridged. The UMEME project aims to increase the quality of electrical engineering education, through: deeply modernizing the curricula, making them less theoretical and more practical, energy-transition-oriented, based on SDGs, integrated by soft-skills and interdisciplinary elements, strongly addressed by stakeholders, capable of responding to the needs of the labor market; b) creating 6 new innovative laboratories (3 for power system modelling, 1 wind+solar+storage, 1 electrical vehicles, 1 EV re-charging); c) innovating teaching methodologies; d) training academic staffs adequately, also through mobility. The partnership involves 5 major universities, the Tanzanian national electrical system owner/operator, the Tanzanian Engineers Registration Board and 2 innovative SMEs operating in Tanzania. The partnership is supported pro bono by international scientific, industrial and NGO organizations, (i.e. CIGRE, Magaldi group, F.Iliceto association).

In the current era of unprecedented biodiversity crisis, which is disproportionally acute in the tropics, many ACP countries have embraced international commitments to ensure green growth through conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. In Tanzania, the project Partner Country, the National Biodiversity Strategy identified in the lack of capacity and inadequate curricula by its Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) major barriers to mainstream biodiversity conservation in the country’s development. Meanwhile, the EU recognizes that actions to avert the environmental crisis need to be taken within the EU but also at global level. Applicants targeted Tanzania because of its outstanding biodiversity importance and the long-standing presence in biodiversity conservation by EU proponents. The project aims at building a network of HEIs and natural science museums in the EU and the 3 major Partner Country HEIs to implement state‐of‐the‐art HE training so to boost capacity and curricula in biodiversity science, hence improving the country’s HE offer. Activities will (1) strengthen the academic scientific knowledge and improve the HE offer by delivering modern training approaches, through introducing e‐learning courses and facilitating the upgrading of formal curricula; (2) build the capacity of HEI’s lecturers and technicians on biodiversity approaches so to deliver effective training, by targeting trainers for capacity building, producing a toolkit and providing adequate equipment; (3) boost skills of students, and update the capacity of professionals, to implement standardised biodiversity monitoring techniques in the field by organizing field training courses. Impacts generated will include the activation of new course programmes to shape an increased number of future competitive biodiversity experts for relevant professional positions, increased research, scientific production, and biodiversity programmes that adopts international standards.