Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data

The Southern Africa FRIEND project is a contribution to the International FRIEND programme which is part of the UNESCO IHP (International Hydrological Programme), in which the central objective is hydrology and water resources for sustainable development. Apart from being a member of the broader International FRIEND community, SA FRIEND is also part of a group of other sub-Saharan Africa networks that are focused on building research capacity in the field of water resources science and management (see the link to Associated Programmes and Networks).

The Southern Africa regional FRIEND group includes all of the SADC countries: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The SA FRIEND programme was started in 1992 and originally the main research participants were the University of Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), who acted as the programme coordinators, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH, Wallingford, UK), the Institute for Water Research, Rhodes University (IWR, South Africa) and the National Hydrological Services of the SADC member countries. Funding contributions for the first research activities came from UNESCO, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Water Research Commission of South Africa and the Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Some of the details of activities during the first three phases of the programme can be found at:

• Phase I - 1992 to 2000
• Phase II - 2000 to 2003
• Phase III - 2003 to 2005
• 4th International FRIEND Conference, March 2002, Cape Town

In recent years it has become difficult to establish any formal funding base for the programme and most of the activities were confined to relatively informal links with other projects (for example the EU funded WERRD and TWINBAS projects on the Okavango basin, in which CEH and the IWR participated). During the last two International FRIEND Conferences (the 5th held in Havana, Cuba during November 2006 and the 6th held in Fez, Morocco during October 2010) it was decided to focus on developing cooperative research projects with a strong emphasis on developing hydrological and water resources research capacity in the region through post-graduate students. Three of the important networks that can contribute to this objective are the WaterNet programme, the Carnegie RISE Sub-Saharan Africa Water Resources Network (SSAWRN) and the NUFU project on capacity building in water sciences for improved assessment and management of water resources (collaboration between SA and EURO FRIEND). Further details of these and other associated programmes can be found through the links below.

This website can be used to:

• Access more information about Associated Programmes and Networks.
• Access information about existing SA FRIEND Members or add your own name as a member of the group.
• Find out more about some of the water research Resources that are available for the southern Africa region.

Last Modified: Wed, 26 Aug 2015 08:39:41 SAST