The project “Knowledge for Tomorrow – Cooperative Research Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa” opens the possibility for research partnerships between German and African researches. At the same time, it promotes high-ranking humanists and social scientists on their way to a professorship and supports them in building international partnerships and academic networks. Furthermore, this project contributes to the education of young scientists and to the capacity building at African universities.

Funding: VolkswagenStiftung 
Project management: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Reinwald, African History, History Department

Participants: Rahel Kühne-Thies, M.A., African History, History Department and Petra Rothenhäuser, Administration, History Department

The research projects of this funding initiative include several fields of the ‘humanities’ – archaeology, history, linguistics, literary studies, sociology, social and cultural anthropology, religious studies, migration and urban research.
During the first term between 2013 and 2016, postdocs from Ethiopia, Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Chad, Nigeria and South Africa were involved.
The second funding round took place between 2016 and 2019. Meanwhile the third and final funding round has started (2020 to 2022).
The funded research projects received great international attention, not only because they were highly successful, but also because they pursued highly topical issues such as the intra-African migration in Ethiopia and Djibouti, the anti-radicalisation strategies in the Islamic setting of Kenya, the archaeological exploration of early mankind in Tanzania, the issue of cultural heritage in Zimbabwe and the decline of language diversity in Uganda.
Further information can be found here