On Monday, November 29, 2022, a workshop for Water Resources Scientists and Experts on the validation of the curricula of the specializations of the Master's Program in Water Resources was held at the Congo Basin Water Resources Research Center (CRREBaC) of the University of Kinshasa.

This program is a postgraduate training component of the Ecole Supérieure de l'Eau of the University of Kinshasa, and aims to ensure the training of human resources on water resources issues, to enable them to respond to current challenges, to understand and manage water resources in an integrated and transversal manner, with a view to maximizing the resulting economic and social well-being without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. The program thus offers five specializations that focus on the potential services of water resources available in the Central Africa and Congo Basin region, including:

• Water and Biodiversity,
• Water and Energy,
• Water and Navigation,
• Drinking Water and Sanitation,
• Water-Irrigation and Food Security.

Launched since January 18, 2022, this program has the participation of learners from other African countries, as part of intra-African academic mobility in water resources, and national learners from different provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the city of Kinshasa. They are 11 Agricultural Engineers, 6 Civil and Hydraulic Engineers, 3 Oil and Gas Engineers, 3 Building and Public Works Engineers, 1 Hydrologist, 2 Economists, 1 Geographer, 2 Geologists, 2 Chemists, 7 Environmentalists and 2 Mathematician-Computer Scientists who have been following this program since its launch in January 2022.

At the end of the first and second semesters, which formed the core of the implementation of this program, it was time to look at the orientation of the curricula of the different specializations that make up the third semester before starting the fourth semester, which focuses on research and the dissertation.

The Workshop of Scientists and Experts, which therefore reflects the much sought-after symbiosis between the academic and professional sectors, aimed to:

• Evaluate the content of five specializations of the Master's program in water resources,
• Identify the necessary expertise and make concrete proposals so that the training meets the real needs as expressed during the April 2018 stakeholder workshop on postgraduate training in water resources in the DRC.

This workshop, held in collaboration with WATERNET of SADC and the International Commission of the Congo Basin Oubangui Sangha (CICOS), was attended by 44 people representing 19 national and international institutions involved in water resource management issues in the DRC.

At the end of this workshop, the following results were obtained:

• The teaching units and their constituent elements have been defined for each specialization;
• The human resources to be involved in each specialization (professors and professionals) have been identified;
• Apprenticeship training structures, as well as technical and financial partners, were also identified.

These highly successful meetings were closed by the Rector of the University of Kinshasa, Professor Jean-Marie Kayembe Ntumba, who encouraged the workshop participants and facilitators of the Ecole Supérieure de l'Eau to work hard to make the UNIKIN Solution vision from the DRC Pays Solution a reality in the water resources sector. According to the Rector of the University of Kinshasa, the DRC now has an ambitious and innovative program that will enable it to meet the challenges of managing its water resources and promote socio-economic well-being with regard to its blue economy.