SA student wins global innovation award

A digital application developed by an engineering student from Stellenbosch University (SU) that provides information about water quality in water supply systems, took third place at a recent international gathering in New York where more than 250 young leaders from 61 countries pitched solutions for sustainable development.

Stanley Chindikani Msiska, a PhD student at SU’s Faculty of Engineering, returned from Camp 2030, which is a project of non-profitable global youth community Unite 2030.

Unite 2030 believes young people can succeed in achieving these SDGs, especially regarding the global challenges of poverty, inequality, injustice, climate change and water and sanitation.

“I’m overwhelmed that my innovation was selected by the judges as a winning solution. This is the news that I worked very hard for and hoped for,” Msiska says.

Msiska and Stefani Terblanche, a BA student in international studies, represented SU at the global event. The delegates were divided into 36 mixed groups that focused on different SDG challenges.

Msiska’s group came up with a website application, Maji, as a solution for the SDG for water and sanitation. “Maji” means water in Tumbuka, a language spoken in Northern Malawi. The app forms part of his postgraduate engineering studies at SU on existing water quality maintenance challenges in Malawi, his home country. He is also a lecturer in chemical engineering at the Malawian University of Technology and Sciences.

Maji is a digital platform that provides maintenance services and information about water quality in water supply systems, especially in developing countries. The process will start by its first implementation in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe.

Msiska’s team members were Ashley Wunsch (Canada), Felipe Contreras (Mexico), Muskaan Waraich (Canada) and Inbar Erez (Israel). This team and Unite 2030’s support is backing him to get his innovation implemented.

The Maji web app will operate on smartphones, computers and even through text messages if there is no Internet.

Msiska says the innovation will also address the challenge of unemployment. “The digital platform will create jobs because community members will be employed for data collection about water and systems. I will now be actively involved with stakeholders in implementing Maji.”

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