Almost time for Wetskills!

Lindsey Schwidder (Netherlands Water Partnership)

It’s almost time for already the ninth edition of Wetskills, which will be held in Mozambique in the last week of August! It is for the first time that a Wetskills challenge will be organised in Mozambique and everyone can follow us with our daily blog written by one of the participants, supervisors or other interested people! I have the privilege to write the first blog ;)

During the last years, a good relationship has been built up between the Dutch water sector and the Mozambican water sector leading to many successful projects and events. In the light of this fruitful cooperation an event will be organised in Mozambique in order to involve and inspire the younger generation in both countries. For two weeks Dutch students and young professionals will be in Maputo to work together with Mozambican students and young professionals to come up with innovative solutions to solve current water challenges in Mozambique! During these weeks the group will work on a poster and prepare their final presentation. On the 6th of September the groups will present the results during the official launch of the Mozambican Water Partnership (PLAMA) where an expert panel will review the results and announce the winner of Wetskills Mozambique.

In May the kick-off meeting of Wetskills has been held in Maputo in which the participants established the first contact via a videoconference. I was in Maputo to set up the kick-off meeting together with two professors from the Eduardo Mondlane University (Dinis Juizo and Lario Zualo). During my visit I met the Mozambican students for the first time and I was inspired by their motivation and enthusiasm to participate in Wetskills and help their country to solve certain water challenges. The kick-off was hosted by SNV and opened by a representative of the Dutch embassy. After this promising kick-off we are now heading for a very promising event in Mozambique! Twenty enthusiastic students and young professionals will join the programme.  The programme will start on the 24^th of August with a welcome dinner after which we will go on a team-building trip near Maputo.

I am very happy to organise this event together with Johan Oost (World Water Academy) and Hugo Oosterkamp (SNV) and together with the Mozambican counterparts (Dinis Juizo and Lario Zualo) I am sure we will be able to create a fantastic event in Mozambique. I hope that all the participants will have an inspiring time and that they will come to creative and interesting solutions!

See you in Maputo!

Lindsey