18–31 October 2026 | Arusha, Tanzania
Wetskills is excited on its first-ever edition in East Africa! From 18 to 31 October 2026, participants from Tanzania, South Africa, and the Netherlands were in Arusha for a dynamic two-week programme focused on innovation, community building and real-world water challenges.
They worked in multidisciplinary and international teams on challenging cases, provided by leading organisations from the local and international water sector. Guided by experienced coaches, the teams developed innovative and practical solutions while strengthening their professional skills in teamwork, communication, intercultural collaboration and problem solving.
The programme combined inspiring workshops, field visits, networking events and intensive teamwork, offering participants a unique opportunity to expand their international network and gain valuable experience with complex water challenges.
The programme concluded with the Wetskills Finals and Award Ceremony during the 27th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWPSA Symposium, providing participants with an outstanding platform to present their solutions to an international audience of water professionals, researchers and decision-makers from across Southern and Eastern Africa.
Participants of Wetskills-Tanzania 2026
A unique learning experience where you will tackle real-life water challenges with your own team!
More information
For additional information regarding participation and other details, please contact Johan Oost, johan.oost@wetskills.com.
” Wetskills Tanzania has been a reminder that meaningful solutions emerge when people from different backgrounds come together, share knowledge, challenge assumptions, and work towards a common goal. “
” Looking back, the day of the Finals was more than just the end of a challenge. It was a celebration of ideas, shared experiences, new connections, and the collective commitment to finding innovative solutions to water challenges. “
Case owner: Department of Water and Sanitation of South Africa
Groundwater is rapidly becoming South Africa’s primary safety net for water security amid projected climate vulnerability. To safeguard aquifers and groundwater resources, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has drafted stricter regulatory frameworks, including a national groundwater database to track private and municipal boreholes. However, intense local groundwater abstraction in coastal communities and dry agricultural regions may be outstripping natural groundwater replenishment/recharge rates. This phenomenon creates steep cones of depression that may reverse natural hydraulic gradients or groundwater flow patterns. The result is saltwater intrusion—where denser marine water or deep underground ancient brine wedges migrate into freshwater zones. Once an aquifer is inundated by saltwater, restoring it to a potable state takes years of painstaking recovery.
Case owner: Water Research Commission
South Africa, among the driest countries globally, has over 61 million people, largely youth. Its climate ranges from an arid west to a wetter eastern escarpment and a Mediterranean south. Socioeconomic pressures remain severe: more than half live below the poverty line, access to basic services is uneven, and youth unemployment is about 34%. Around 20% of citizens are food insecure, driven by high food prices, climate variability, and limited agricultural productivity. Water security is increasingly strained by low rainfall, ageing infrastructure, and rising demand, compounded by invasive alien plants reducing baseflows. Climate change is expected to intensify these risks, placing growing strain on agriculture, ecosystems, and economic resilience.
Pitch & Poster – Winning Team!
Pitch & Poster
Case owner: ChAI
Maize, Tanzania’s main staple food, is grown around Mount Meru and other regions and depends largely on rainfall. A dry spell during flowering can wipe out much of a season’s yield and tighten regional food supplies. An early warning system for crop water stress would help water managers in the Pangani basin act in time, and it starts with understanding how stress has developed in past seasons. Using open weather, satellite and soil data, participants will build a soil water model, reconstruct past seasons and identify the local data a forecast would need. Participants are then tasked with exploring the question: How can a soil water balance model run on historical data lay the basis for early warning of maize water stress around Mount Meru?
Case owner: AfriVolve Group
African water utilities face growing financial, operational and environmental pressures that threaten reliable universal water and sanitation service provision. Water losses, ageing infrastructure, pollution, theft, weak revenue collection and skills shortages undermine utility performance, while constrained budgets limit access to the expertise and solutions needed for improvement. This case challenges entrepreneurs to rethink how these challenges can be addressed through innovative, scalable and commercially viable solutions. Teams must develop a practical intervention and demonstrate how it can support African utilities in overcoming their multiple challenges and generate sustainable revenue. Can you turn Africa’s water crisis into a viable business opportunity?
Pitch & Poster
Pitch & Poster
